A Derry girl has been named the young scientist of the year for her environmentally friendly sunscreen invention.
Kaycee Deery, a 15-year-old student at St Mary's College, won the "Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition" for her creation.
Her sunscreen is designed to avoid chemicals found in commercial sun creams which damage the environment, a spokesperson for the awards said.
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Competition organisers said: "Kaycee was inspired to create sunscreens based on natural ingredients after seeing articles detailing potentially harmful chemicals in commercial sunscreens entering UK water systems.
"Chemicals present in sunscreen, such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are washed away after swimming in the sea, pools and showering.
"Once in the water system, these chemicals can harm and kill vital marine life and coral. Kaycee set out to find a solution to this problem by creating natural sunscreens with UVA protection, derived from naturally occurring oils."
After selecting a range of oils, including vitamin A and E oils, Kaycee tested their ability to absorb and protect against UVA radiation.
Designing a homemade lightbox containing UVA light, she tested each oil for its ability to provide SPF protection.
Following her experiments, she was able to create several natural sunscreens ranging from SPF9 to SPF34 protection. She plans to further her experiments by testing for UVB protection help avoid damage to skin such as burning and increased skin cancer risk.
Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK which runs the competition, said: “Huge congratulations to Kaycee on her UK Young Scientist of the Year award.
"She has worked incredibly hard on her sunscreen project, innovating her own lightbox and experimenting to extract natural oils from plants and vegetables."
She continued: "The judges were really impressed with her creative ideas, problem solving and determination – all important elements in science. I look forward to seeing how Kaycee develops her sunscreens and what she achieves in the future.”
Accepting her award, Kaycee said: “This is surreal. I don’t feel like I’ve done it, but I did! I decided to do this project to create a more sustainable, biodegradable and eco-friendly sunscreen. This award will help me continue and advance the project and hopefully, some day have an actual product to give people”.
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