Imperial students impress at Engineers Without Borders UK Challenge Finals

Two Imperial Horizons teams presented their work at the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UK Challenge Finals on June 20th.

Over 4,600 students had taken part in the competition to design ‘real, inspiring, sustainable cross-cultural development projects’ for the community of Bambui in Cameroon.  The Finals showcased the best work from across the UK and, as you might expect, it was an inspiring event to attend. As a Teaching Fellow in the Global Challenges field within Imperial Horizons, I accompanied our teams along with their tutor, Dr Mike Hughes.

The event was held at the Siemens Crystal building at the Royal Victoria Dock in East London, appropriately dubbed as ‘one of the world’s most sustainable buildings’.  However, there was little sun for the solar panels as we arrived in pouring rain at 9am.  Nonetheless, by 10am the venue was full of posters and buzzing with students ready to be judged by industry professionals.

36 design proposals were presented, ranging from water filters to mapping protocols for Bambui. Representing Imperial College were Claudia Caravello, Christopher Parsonson and Jonathan Risley with their proposal for ‘Waste for Power’.  Their ‘Biodigester and Biobox Scheme’ used waste to create methane and fertilizer. And, Jaime Fernandez de Santaella presented his group’s design for a ‘Healthy Public Toilet’ in the farmers’ market of Bambui.  

The format of the competition was certainly challenging, but the students were prepared and ready to share and defend their ideas. Sure enough, praised by the judges for their rigorous analysis and thorough outline of their scheme, the ‘Waste for Power’ team qualified for the final assessment and presented to the entire competition.  Again the team spoke very professionally, using an animation to explain their design that palpably grabbed the attention of the room.  It was therefore no surprise that they stimulated the most questions from the judges.

Ultimately though, students from Sheffield Hallam were awarded first prize for their Efficient Modular Stove Burner – potentially of great benefit to the people of Bambui.  However, the Imperial Horizons teams had acquitted themselves exceptionally well. In fact, such was the interest in ‘Waste for Power’ that Imperial students were answering questions from students and academics until the end of the day.

Overall, it was a stimulating day, celebrating the work of students and promoting the importance of social, economic and environmental context when designing development and engineering projects.  Thanks go to Dan Craddock and the team at Engineers Without Borders UK for organizing a great event that was a fitting end to this year’s challenge.  Personally, I am already looking forward to next year’s!