The School of Computing at National College of Ireland has announced the winners of its annual Project Showcase, highlighting exceptional student innovation across computing, data science, technology management and creative digital media. This year’s event carried special significance as it formed part of NCI’s 75th anniversary celebrations.
The Showcase, supported by leading industry partners including Citi (Gold Sponsor), Health Service Executive (HSE) (75th Anniversary Award Sponsor), Laya Healthcare (Silver Sponsor), and Fidelity Investments (Bronze Sponsor), reflects the strong and growing collaboration between academia and industry in addressing real-world challenges through technology.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Gina Quin, President of National College of Ireland, said:
“The Project Showcase has always been one of the most inspiring moments in our academic calendar. I am deeply proud of the creativity, technical excellence, and ambition demonstrated by our students in their final year projects. It is especially meaningful to see this year’s event aligned with our 75th anniversary, reflecting both our heritage and our future in shaping talent for a rapidly evolving digital world.”
Prof. Paul Stynes, Dean of the School of Computing, added:
“This year’s projects demonstrate the extraordinary breadth of talent within our School, from applied artificial intelligence and data science to interactive storytelling and community-driven platforms. Our students are not simply building technical solutions; they are addressing bias, improving healthcare insights, enhancing digital creativity, and developing the next generation of intelligent systems. We are incredibly proud of their achievements.”
This year’s Showcase also featured keynote contributions from industry leaders, reflecting the increasing collaboration between higher education and industry.
Prag Sharma, Director of Emerging Technologies at Citi, congratulated the final-year students:
“The range of ideas and technical execution across AI, data science and software development is genuinely impressive. The level of preparation and capability on display reflects a strong academic environment, and it’s encouraging to see that coming through so clearly. Citi is proud to support initiatives like this that help develop the next generation of innovators.”
2026 Award Winners
Overall Best Project (Sponsored by Citi)
Winner: Siddarth Thirunavukkarasu for Agent Flow, a secure AI agent development platform that enables developers to build and manage AI agents with built-in observability and policy enforcement.
75th Anniversary Award – Best Project in BSc. (Hons) in Data Science (Sponsored by Health Service Executive (HSE))
Winner: Manuel Amir Freer Valdez for Bias Assessment of Small LLMs Incorporated on RAG, a research project examining bias across seven small language models using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
Best Project – BSc. in Computing (Sponsored by Laya Healthcare)
Winner: Niamh Staines for Between the Pages, a first-person 2D narrative puzzle game set in a mystical library world.
Best Project – BSc. (Hons) in Technology Management (Sponsored by Fidelity Investments)
Winner: Chimnonyerem (Jaelyn) Disu for InkLink, a community-focused book platform designed to connect readers and foster engagement among book enthusiasts.
Ada Lovelace Award – Celebrating Excellence in Women in STEM
Winner: Vrynsia for GlamAI, an AI-powered beauty recommendation system that delivers personalised makeup suggestions and virtual try-on experiences.
Celebrating 75 Years of Innovation
This year’s Project Showcase also forms part of National College of Ireland’s 75th anniversary celebrations, marking more than seven decades of academic excellence, industry engagement, and graduate impact across Ireland’s technology and business sectors.
As the College reflects on its legacy, the 2026 Project Showcase underscores its continued commitment to producing graduates who are shaping the future of AI, data science, software engineering, and digital innovation.