Danish students win science awards for deposit system and endometriosis screening

A new deposit system concept and a screening tool for endometriosis have won Denmark’s top youth science competition, Unge Forskere (Young Researchers), state broadcaster DR reports.

The senior category was awarded to three students from Pulsen Gymnasium in Roskilde—Mathias Steen Pagels, Linus Bolvig Knudsen, and Anders Visholm Madsen—for their “pantscanner” concept. Their project aims to recover the seven percent of deposit containers in Denmark that currently go unredeemed, according to Dansk Retursystem.

The students developed a QR-code-based system with the deposit marking placed on the bottom of cans, paired with a scanner capable of reading damaged or deformed containers. The idea originated at Roskilde Festival, where they observed discarded cans littering the ground.

In the junior category, 14-year-old Helena Binzer from Skt. Josefs Skole in Roskilde won for her endometriosis screening tool. The condition, where tissue resembling the uterine lining grows outside the uterus, often causes severe chronic pain and reduced fertility, particularly in women aged 25–35.

Binzer said she was shocked to learn about the widespread yet under-researched disease. “I was outraged by the lack of priority and awareness,” she told DR. Her tool aims to accelerate diagnosis and raise public understanding of endometriosis.

Both projects received a 25,000 kroner prize. The senior winners will represent Denmark at the International Science Fair, while Binzer also received a sponsorship award from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).