The BT Young Scientist Exhibition kicks off in Dublin today, with thousands of people expected to attend the annual event at the RDS over the next three days.
A total of 550 projects have qualified to take part in this year's event, including 24 from schools in Kerry.
Mercy Mounthawk secondary school in Tralee has the most qualified projects of any Kerry school this year, with a total of 11.
Among them is a project entitled 'Coping through Chaos: A longitudinal study of the stress and anxiety levels of teenagers and the effectiveness of stress and anxiety coping strategies'.
Pobailscoil Inbhear Scéine in Kenmare got four projects accepted for this year's exhibition, including one on 'Healthy Gut Bacteria' in the 'Health and Wellbeing' category.
Presentation Secondary School in Listowel is entering three projects this year; while CBS The Green Tralee and Presentation Tralee have two each.
Gaelcoláiste Chiarraí in Tralee and Presentation Milltown each have one project in this year's competition.
Originally founded in 1963 by two Physics researchers from UCD, the Young Scientist competition is open to second-level students from Ireland, north and
south, who are aged between 12 and 19 years.
It has a prize fund of over €50,000 and this year there will be over 200 awards up for grabs for qualifying project.
The winners will be announced on Friday.
