Young innovators from Kenya’s drought-prone counties secured the top two prizes, highlighting practical AI and automation solutions for climate and food challenges.
Students from Kenya’s arid and semi-arid regions have won the top two awards at the ninth Young Scientists Kenya National Science and Technology Exhibition, with projects using artificial intelligence and automation to address drought, water scarcity and food production challenges.
Hafsa Ibrahim Adan and Asha Harun Yarow from Senior Chief Adano Girls Day Secondary School in Wajir County won First Place Overall for an AI-based environmental monitoring and drought risk prediction system designed for climate-vulnerable communities in northeastern Kenya.
Their system gathers data from sensors monitoring soil moisture, temperature, humidity and rainfall. An artificial intelligence model analyses the information to produce a drought-risk score, along with the probability of drought and the confidence level of the prediction. It also estimates how many days remain before drought conditions are likely to develop.
The early warning system could give farmers and communities time to prepare irrigation systems, manage limited water resources and protect crops and livestock before drought conditions become severe.
Second Place Overall went to Halima Aila Mohamed, Sake Hussein Tadicha and Manal Mohamed from Zad Muslim School in Marsabit County for Eco-Guard, an automated smart garden system designed to protect plants, conserve water and improve environmental cleanliness.
Developed in response to Marsabit’s arid climate and food-production challenges, Eco-Guard combines a protected greenhouse structure with automated irrigation and temperature control. A soil-moisture sensor activates a water pump when the soil becomes dry and stops watering once the required moisture level is reached.
A temperature sensor opens an automated roof when heat inside the garden rises beyond a set level. The system is designed to conserve water, protect crops and support food production in dry regions through affordable automation.
The exhibition, held at Moi Girls High School in Nairobi under the theme “Shaping Kenya’s AI Future Using STEM”, brought together 308 finalists from 125 schools. The finalists were selected from more than 1,500 project submissions received from across the country.
Girls made up the majority of participants at the 2026 exhibition and featured prominently among the winners. More than 20 students from refugee camps also took part with support from UNICEF, with several securing awards in different categories.
Chief Guest Mahboob Bajwa, Deputy Representative for Programmes at UNICEF Kenya, said the projects demonstrated the importance of placing young people at the centre of Kenya’s technological development.
“Kenya’s AI future will not be built by algorithms alone. It will be built by young people,” Bajwa said.
Bajwa said artificial intelligence is changing how societies learn, work and solve complex problems, adding that the students had shown that young Kenyans can apply AI and STEM knowledge to challenges affecting agriculture, education, health and climate resilience.
As the overall winners, Hafsa and Asha each received KSh 50,000, a fully funded STEM course scholarship at Strathmore University and a smartphone courtesy of Safaricom. They will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to represent Kenya at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin, Ireland.
Evelyn Maris, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Ireland in Kenya, reaffirmed Ireland’s long-standing partnership with Young Scientists Kenya. Ireland was among the initiative’s founding partners in 2017.
“The programme aligns with our ambitions around innovation, science and education,” Maris said.
She said Young Scientists Kenya builds on the experience of Ireland’s Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, which has operated since the 1960s and contributed to the development of Ireland’s STEM ecosystem and economy.
All category winners will also join the Young Scientists Kenya STEM Boot Camp, where industry partners will support them in refining their prototypes, understanding intellectual property protection and developing their ideas beyond the exhibition.
Participants also engaged with technology professionals and industry partners. At the Oracle booth, students explored how enterprises use AI and cloud technologies for data analysis, automation, research and decision-making, connecting their classroom projects with real-world applications and emerging STEM careers.
Dr. Victor Mwongera, National Director of Young Scientists Kenya, said the diversity of participants and winners was one of the strongest measures of the exhibition’s success.
“It is not a lack of resources that hampers innovation, but rather a lack of opportunity,” Dr. Mwongera said.
He said students from refugee communities had competed strongly and won awards, while female participation had increased both in project submissions and among winning teams.
As Young Scientists Kenya prepares for its tenth year, the organisation plans to increase participation from 308 finalists to more than 500, attract more members of the public and deepen collaboration with industry and development partners.
It also plans to create dedicated opportunities for former participants who have completed higher education, entered employment or started businesses to return as mentors for younger innovators.
Since its establishment nine years ago, Young Scientists Kenya has reached more than 280,000 students nationwide, helping build a growing pipeline of scientific and technological talent for Kenya’s innovation economy.
