The winning project
Harris and his partner, Alan O'Sullivan, investigated gender stereotyping in young children: at what age children begin to associate particular roles, traits and occupations with one sex, and how strongly. Silicon Republic reported the win on 10 January 2020, describing the Coláiste Choilm students as the top prize winners at that year's exhibition.
Social science projects rarely take the BT top prize, which usually goes to laboratory or engineering work. Winning with survey-based research means the judges accepted the method as rigorous, which is the harder test for this kind of study.
What BT Young Scientist is
The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition has run since the 1960s and is the largest event of its kind in Ireland, drawing entries from schools across the country to the Royal Dublin Society each January. The winner represents Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
Harris and O'Sullivan are also recorded as winners at the 2020 European contest, which puts their project at the top of both the Irish and the European fields in the same year.
A long alumni list
Silicon Republic returned to the competition in January 2025 with a feature on how the exhibition creates future innovators, tracking what past winners went on to do. Harris appears in it as a third-year medical student at University College Cork.
That follow-up is more useful than most prize coverage, because the usual problem with teenage achievement stories is that they end at the trophy. Here the record continues: a 2020 winner in a lecture theatre five years later, studying medicine in the same city.
What the research argued
The finding that carried the project was about age: gender stereotypes are already present in children far younger than most adults assume, which has consequences for how schools and parents talk about careers and ability.
The sources used here summarise the project rather than reproduce its data, so this page does not quote figures or effect sizes. Anyone wanting the numbers should look for the project's own write-up rather than rely on news summaries, including this one. What the coverage does establish is the shape of the work: a survey-based study of young children, carried out by two secondary school students, judged strong enough to beat a national field.
What is documented and what is not
Documented: the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition win in January 2020 at 16, shared with Alan O'Sullivan, for research on gender stereotyping in young children; their school, Coláiste Choilm in Cork; a listing as 2020 European Union Contest for Young Scientists winners; and his position as a third-year medical student at University College Cork in 2025.
Not documented here: his date of birth, the project's data and methods in detail, and anything after early 2025. The birth year on this page is derived from his reported age at the time of the win.
Watch: Cormac Harris on camera
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lauren Hodge | United States | Winning the 13-14 age category of the first Google Science Fair, in 2011… | Age 14 |
| Cormac Harris | Ireland | Winning BT Young Scientist 2020 with Alan O'Sullivan | Age 16 |
| Sophie Healy-Thow | Ireland | Co-winning the Google Science Fair grand prize in 2014 | Age 16 |
| Viney Kumar | Australia | Winner, 13-14 category, Google Science Fair 2013 | — |
| Calvin Rieder | Canada | 2015 Google Science Fair global finalist | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won BT Young Scientist 2020 at 16 with Alan O'Sullivan (Silicon Republic, 10 January 2020)
- Project studied gender stereotyping in young children
- Students at Coláiste Choilm, Cork; also listed as EUCYS 2020 winners
- Third-year medical student at University College Cork as of January 2025
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published; the birth year here is derived from his reported age
- The project's data, sample and methods are not set out in these sources
- Nothing after January 2025 is documented
Questions people ask about Cormac Harris
What did Cormac Harris win?
The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in January 2020, shared with Alan O'Sullivan.
What was the project about?
How gender stereotyping develops in young children, and at what age it appears.
How old was he?
16 at the time of the win. No date of birth appears in these sources.
Where did he go to school?
Coláiste Choilm in Cork.
What is he doing now?
Silicon Republic reported in January 2025 that he was a third-year medical student at University College Cork.
Did the project win anything in Europe?
Harris and O'Sullivan are also listed as winners at the 2020 European Union Contest for Young Scientists.
Is Cormac Harris on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article is recorded for him. The Silicon Republic reports are the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Cormac’s story?
What did Cormac Harris's winning project study?
Which competition did he win in 2020?
What is he studying now?
Sources
- Coláiste Choilm students win top prize at BTYSTE for research on gender stereotyping — Silicon Republic, 2020-01-10
- Success stories: How BTYSTE creates future innovators — Silicon Republic, 2025-01-08
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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