The delegation from Luxembourg (from left to right: Daniela Arcone, Séléna El Hafidi, Paula den Otter, Alexandra Senn, Simone Thill, and Carlo Hansen) / © FJSL
The 15th edition of the Tunisian competition I-FEST2 (International Festival of Engineering Science and Technology in Tunisia) has just come to an end and the Luxembourg delegation left with medals and an honourable mention.
Luxembourg was awarded silver medals and an honourable mention for three young researchers supported by the Fondation Jeunes Scientifiques Luxembourg (FJSL): Paula den Otter (19), Alexandra Senn (19) and Séléna El Hafidi (17).
The winning research projects had been selected in the “Jonk Fuerscher” 2023 contest, and they have also impressed the I-FEST² judges.
From left to right: Alexandra Senn, Paula den Otter / © FJSL
Paula and Alexandra won silver medals for their work entitled “How do certain lifestyle factors of university
students affect the prevalence and location of back pain?”. They carried out a statistical study of the back pain experienced by their fellow university students, in order to encourage them to change their behaviour and adopt better positions.
Their study was conducted with the help of a third student, Arvidas Anderson (20), who was unfortunately unable to travel with the delegation.
You can watch their original presentation here.
Séléna El Hafidi
Séléna received an honourable mention for her comprehensive review of the specialised literature on early
breast cancer diagnosis, entitled “Methods for detecting Telomerase in breast cancer diagnosis”.
Check out Séléna's presentation.
The I-FEST² (International Festival of Engineering Science and Technology in Tunisia) is a major event in the world of informal science education on the African continent. It brought together around 250 participants, aged between 14 and 24, from some forty countries, who competed in 8 categories (computer science, business and social science, physical science, environmental science, life and biology, mathematics, engineering, and multimedia).
Alongside the showcase, an exchange protocol between the representative of AFAST (the Tunisian Association for the Future of Science and Technology) and the President of the FJSL, Carlo Hansen, was signed. This means that Tunisian students ranked highly in I-FEST² will have the opportunity to participate in the Luxembourg International Science Expo (LISE).
LISE is a non-competitive fair for young scientists that attracts around a hundred eminent budding researchers from the four corners of the globe to the Grand Duchy every autumn.
