“This award is a great motivation for me in the difficult path of a scientist. Often, young people are encouraged to choose informatics or medicine, perhaps law. By accepting this award, I believe I can motivate young people to choose science as well,” said Surdokaitė in her acceptance speech.
Meda Surdokaitė, a KTU student of applied chemistry represented Lithuania at the European Union Young Scientists Competition held in the Netherlands and won first place. This is one of the best results in the history of Lithuania. In the prestigious competition for young people aged 14–20, Meda competed with young scientists from 33 countries – prize winners of science competitions not only in Europe but also in the USA, Canada, Israel and other countries. At the competition, Surdokaitė presented research in the field of chemistry “Optimisation of the synthesis of the fluorescent dye Nile Red”.
The methods presented by the young scientist make it possible to abandon the toxic substances used until now, thus ensuring accessibility, adaptability, and safer work. Thanks to cooperation with other researchers, the optimisation method is already successfully used in various research.
As stated in the LRT press release, the nominees were proposed and selected by the National Broadcaster’s Annual Awards working party, which has been actively working for the third year, made up of journalists from different fields, who have been closely following Lithuanian events throughout the year. This year, the winners were chosen only by the visitors of the Lithuanian National Broadcaster’s internet page, LRT.lt.
