9 teams have now been selected to go through to the next stage of the competition, where they will work on detailed project proposals.

Following the launch of the Faculty of Natural Sciences Make-A-Difference! Competition 2015 at an event in January, 14 teams registered to take part, having attended Ideas and Teambuilding Workshops run by the Competition Organising Committee.

Having submitted outline project proposals in March, 9 teams have now been selected to go through to the next stage of the competition, where they will work on detailed project proposals, to be submitted in May. 

The competiion, which is affectionately known as “FoNS-MAD!”, challenges all undergraduates in the Faculty of Natural Sciences to harness their creativity to develop innovative solutions to problems facing society. The competition, which takes place in three stages, seeks to identify the best student ideas for a low-cost technology with a positive social impact and develop them from idea to proof-of-concept.

The top three teams, as shortlisted by a panel of VIP judges, are given access to facilities to develop their project over eight weeks over the summer, with each student receiving a bursary of £1,500.  

As last year, the competition will be judged by a VIP panel of experts comprising of Professor Lord Robert Winston; Professor Sir John Pendry from the Department of Physics at Imperial; Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. New to the panel this year will be Dr Ruth Allan, an Imperial College alumna who works in a project management role at Deloitte and is a member of their Women in Technology network.

More details of the competition can be found on the FoNS-MAD! website.