Kaycee Deery wins top young UK boffin award over innovative sun cream
Kaycee Deery, a pupil at St Mary’s College in Derry, designed the product to avoid harmful chemicals found in some commercial sun creams which damage the environment.
She received the top honour in the Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers competition.
Kaycee (15) said she was inspired to create sunscreens based on natural ingredients after seeing articles detailing potentially harmful chemicals in commercial sunscreens entering UK water systems.
“This is surreal,” she said, accepting her award during The Big Bang UK Fair at the NEC in Birmingham. “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.”
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. Using a homemade lightbox containing UVA light, she tested each oil for its ability to provide sun protection. She was then able to create several natural sunscreens ranging from Factor 9 to 34.
She plans to further her experiments by testing for UVB protection to help avoid damage to the skin such as burning and increased skin cancer risk.
Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK, which runs the competition, congratulated Kaycee.
“She has worked incredibly hard on her project, innovating her own lightbox and experimenting to extract natural oils from plants and vegetables,” Dr Leevers said.
“The judges were really impressed with her creative ideas, problem solving and determination — all important elements in science.”
Northern Ireland was well represented among the winners at The Big Bang Competition, with Nikita Morrison and Becca Connolly also from St Mary’s College, Derry winning the Intermediate Science category award.
Alley Ho, Gianna Tsui and Wing Hei Cheung, from Ballymena Academy took home the Siemens SMART Technologies Environmental Award.
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