Students from the Glasgow School of Art have achieved an unprecedented clean sweep, filling the first three places in this year’s Design Innovation in Plastics (DIP) competition.
DIP is the longest-running plastics design competition of its kind for university undergraduates in the UK and Ireland. This year’s contestants were asked to design an off-grid product for independent living, aimed at either leisure or household markets, and to be made primarily of plastics. The panel of industry judges admitted to being blown away by the quality of the designs produced by this year’s finalists in what was a very challenging brief.
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First prize went to Isabel Payne, a product design engineering student from Glasgow School of Art who created SafiCase, a device for cleaning and steam sterilising re-usable menstrual cups, using minimal water. The case is entirely self-powered, using a solar battery for the sterilising circuit, and is targeted at women who want something to use when they’re nowhere near an electricity source, or running water. The device is collapsible, so it can be carried easily.
‘This is a great solution to safely clean a menstrual cup without power, and to maintain hygiene,’ said the chairman of judges, Richard Brown. ‘This product uniquely addresses the off-grid challenge and meets a very clear social need, not just for the traveller but also, for example, displaced people living in refugee camps. It was very well researched and is a worthy winner, with a product idea that could be commercialised.’
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‘It means such a lot to have a platform for dealing with the issue of period poverty, which is rarely spoken about, despite affecting so many people worldwide and around 40 per cent of women in the UK,’ Payne said. ‘I hope this design helps bring awareness for reusable options and helps other people decide to invest time in designing more solutions, as there is very little innovation in this area.’
The judges awarded second place to Jake Lee, also a product design engineering student at Glasgow School of Art, for his product SkinTemp, a cold-water temperature sensor that alerts users to dangerous drops in body temperature. It’s powered using the temperature difference between the user’s skin and the cold water, using what’s known as the Peltier effect.
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In third place was Jem Mitchell, another Glasgow School of Art product design engineering student, who produced Sentree, a solar-powered sonic deterrent that protects trees from being overgrazed by animals such as deer. The product uses foil sensing interfaces that interpret and respond when an animal tries to eat the tree’s bark or leaves.
The highly commended awards were presented to:
· Gargi Agrawalla (product design and technology, Loughborough University) for Ear Boost+, a compact healthcare case that dehumidifies cochlear implants and charges their batteries simultaneously, while being powered independently.
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· Brandon Hopkins (product design, London South Bank University) for Saltbuoy, a free-drifting oceanographic data buoy powered by saltwater batteries that collects real-time data for pollution, weather and climate research.
· Joe Shade (product design, De Montfort University) for Bijou Smart Hive, a smart beehive that uses solar power and sensors to monitor the conditions of the hive and the bees to keep them healthy and productive.
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‘All of the finalists showed they have the skills to bring new, innovative and functional products to market,’ Brown said. ‘Creativity and invention are alive in our future designers, demonstrated in the many entries we received overall.’
The brief for next year’s competition can be found here.