Eight students have beaten hundreds to clinch the coveted titles of UK Young Scientist of the Year, UK Young Engineer of the Year and UK Young Technologists of the Year in this year’s nationwide Big Bang Competition. Conservationist and TV presenter Megan McCubbin crowned the STEM superstars at the Big Bang Fair at the NEC, Birmingham on 19 June.
A group of six teenage boys from Liverpool’s the Blue Coat School were collectively crowned UK Young Technologists of the Year 2024, supported by Siemens for their impressive solar panels, which move to face the sun.
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Archit Chinnari, Ayush Shah, Benedict Dooley, Ciaran Scanlan, Rakesh Vaddepalli and William Dan, all Year 12 students from the school in Wavertree, Liverpool, hit on the idea when one of them was having solar panels fitted to his home and he wondered why the panels were static and didn’t move to follow the sun. The winning design, which uses an app to automate the panels, creates 16 per cent more energy over a year than static models. The students believe their design ‘could have a massive impact’ on green energy.
Year 9 student, Sarah Ansaf, from Woodford County High, Essex, has been crowned UK Young Scientist of the Year for her ‘passion for science and STEM’ and project analysing pain relievers by measuring how quickly they dissolved. Sarah carried out extensive research as well as designing and completing an experiment to understand how the way you take medication affects the rate of absorption into the body by gathering sufficient data and analysing it.
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And Cardiff student, Pacha Pritchard, who is in Year 12 at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern School, was awarded the UK Young Engineer of the Year for her impressive portable pollution monitor, designed to test air quality in schools and residential areas, reading local air pollution data and featuring emojis (happy and unhappy faces) to show if the pollution is good or bad. After receiving her award, Pacha commented, ‘I’m a bit shell shocked, I think I’m going to cry but I’m incredibly happy. My project is to help raise awareness of eco issues to younger people.
‘I’m a massive advocate for promoting STEM to girls and getting all the opportunities out there, like the Big Bang Fair and Competition,’ she added. ‘STEM is the future and women are part of that future.’ She hopes to have a career in environmental engineering and sustainable legislation.
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‘Huge congratulations to our three UK winners. All three projects were exemplary,’ said Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK. ‘I am particularly pleased to see two girls in our top awards who are bucking the research that shows girls are switching off from science – I think this shows how switched on to STEM so many young people are, which is fantastic!’
You can find out more and discover all of the winners of the Big Bang Competition 2024 here.