The 14-year-old is all about providing solutions, so is developing a SharkMate app focusing on shark conservation to increase the public’s knowledge of shark locations.

The project, which also looks to reduce the stigma and fear associated with sharks, secured The Illawarra Grammar School student a major international award.

In fact the judges at the Future Problem Solving Program’s International Conference 2017 were so impressed, Sam scored an ‘’unprecedented 100 per cent’’ from all 18 evaluators.

The year 9 student was also awarded Grand Champion in his age division, at the competition at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in the US.

‘’Judges commented that they were impressed that my project not only brought awareness to the problem. It offered solutions,’’ Sam said.

‘’The problem is around the stigma and perceptions around sharks and how our conservation efforts have not worked to actually reduce shark culling. There is so much stigma around sharks that we haven’t been able to conserve them and they play a vital part in our oceanic eco-system.

‘’Without sharks our oceans will be unhealthy and there will be little biodiversity. If we are actually going to make a difference to save sharks, then the first step is to reduce the stigma and the myths and conceptions around sharks.’’

The SharkMate app calculates the probability of a shark’s presence at a beach by analysing factors known to scientists and displaying it as a numerical value from one to 10.

Sam is working closely with University of Wollongong researchers to progress the app to make it as ‘’reliable as possible’’.

‘’The interest around my project really shocked me,’’ Sam said.

‘’I thought people didn’t really care about sharks. I thought people thought they were monsters of the ocean and disregarded as useless.

‘’But when I went to the competition, the amount of support I got for actually making an effort to change this horrible ordeal for sharks, stunned me and that’s driven me to progress things in my project.’’