Twelve students on an Imperial Horizons course made it through to the finals of the Engineers Without Borders National Challenge on 13 June.

This year was the first time that students from Imperial entered the competition, which gives young people the opportunity to apply technology to tackle poverty.

Working in teams, students were asked to develop conceptual designs for engineering projects identified by EWB's community partners. This year’s community partner, Habitat for Humanity, asked students to come up with practical solutions to address the social, environmental and economic challenges facing communities in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam.

Imperial’s students submitted ideas they had developed on Global Challenges, one of the courses offered by Imperial Horizons. The top twenty designs were shortlisted, including three from Imperial. One team proposed an idea for a new roofing material which could collect and purify rainwater; the second group came up with durable stilts to prevent houses from flooding, the third team’s proposal suggested the use of locally sourced materials to filter water.

Every university entering students into the competition tackled the Challenge differently in their own institutions. Some students worked on the Challenge across a whole year, while others spent just a week, or a few hours working on the project.

The students presented their proposed solutions to a panel of judges at the Challenge Finals, which also included role play sessions and key note talks.

Dr Elizabeth Hauke who runs the Global Challenges course said: “I am very proud of the achievements of our students, who completed their projects in just sixteen hours of class time. Their designs were among the most technically advanced, and they really pulled together as teams to present their ideas and represented Imperial magnificently."

Students from Durham University were announced as the winners of the Challenge for their idea to produce energy from waste materials. Prizes were also awarded to individual students, including Raunaq Bagchi who was praised for his positive contributions to the role play sessions.

Imperial's students at the Engineers Without Borders National Challenge Finals

Chemical Engineering student, Duncan Lomax said: “Overall it was a very rewarding trip, despite not winning the top prize, the experience allowed us to continue to build upon our ideas and knowledge we had gained from the global challenges horizons course, as well meeting loads of great like minded people from across the UK.”