Mayo student wins Naughton Foundation Scholarship worth €20,000

Dr. Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel have announced the winners of the 2020 Naughton Foundation Scholarship Awards with Mayo student, Ewan Duffy, being awarded a scholarship worth €20,000.

Supporting academic and innovative excellence in Irish students, this scholarship award is an investment in the future of Ireland's reputation as a country with outstanding graduates.

A former student of Ballinrobe Community School, Ewan has accepted a place at University College Dublin where he is studying engineering.

Ewan joins 35 exceptional Irish students who were awarded third level scholarships towards their studies in the areas of engineering, science, technology and maths.

Since its establishment in 2008 scholarships worth over €4million have been awarded to over 300 students.

The scheme started in three counties and has continued to expand annually to become a nationwide scheme in 2016.

There is one guaranteed scholarship (€20,000) for each participating county, with some counties awarded more than one scholarship.

Each scholarship is worth €5,000 per annum for each year of a student’s three or four year undergraduate degree.

Traditionally the awards are presented by founding patrons of The Naughton Foundation, Dr Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel, at a ceremony with the students’ schools and families in attendance.

But as a result of current restrictions this event was deferred for this year.

More than 200 schools have also benefited from this prize to date with some schools receiving it on more than one occasion.

Ewan’s former secondary school, Ballinrobe Community School received a prize of €1,000 towards their school’s science facilities, for their support of these students.

Last year's recipient of the Naughton Foundation Scholarship Award in Mayo was Dara Ludden from St. Gerald’s College, Castlebar.

Speaking about the growth of the programme over the past twelve years, Dr. Martin Naughton commented: “We have been awarding scholarships to encourage and reward students for their undergraduate studies in the STEM area since 2008.

"After the difficult academic year that 2020 was, we are particularly delighted to announce this year’s scholarship winners and their schools.

"We are both really looking forward to celebrating with them in person next year and welcoming them to our community of over 300 Scholars and Alumni.”