Four teams have been selected to go through to the final of the Make-A-Difference Competition 2017

The Faculty of Natural Sciences first launched its Make-a-Difference Competition in January 2014. The competition challenges teams of undergraduate students to apply their skills and creativity to develop an idea that would have a positive impact on society.

On Friday 26 May, the teams taking part in this year’s competition presented their formal project proposals to a VIP panel of judges comprising Professor Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies, Imperial College; Professor Tom Welton, Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences; and Professor Oscar Ces of the Department of Chemistry and member of the management team for the Imperial College Advanced Hackspace.

The judges selected the following four teams to go through to the final stage of the competition:

Team 'TBD' (Tuberculosis Detect)

• Mark Pollock (Physics)
• Jacob Robson-Tull (Life Sciences)
• Bibi Honey Ryder Wood (Life Sciences)
• Federica Raguseo (Chemistry)

Team Matoha

• Martin Holicky (Chemistry)
• Hans Chan (Chemistry)
• Isabel Esain Garcia (Life Sciences)

Team Debac

• Mingke Pan (Life Sciences)
• Kim Ngan Luu Hoang (Life Sciences)
• Gi Young Park (Physics)
• Thomas Caganek (Life Sciences)

Team ThinAir

• Emily Neoh Gaik Kin (Biochemistry)
• Muhammed Maktari (Materials)
• Samuel Bruggen (Life Sciences)
• Jonathan Risely (Life Sciences)
• Jansen Teng Weng Nang (Life Sciences)

The successful teams, will now be given access to facilities to develop their project to a proof-of-concept stage over eight weeks this summer, with each student receiving a bursary to cover their living costs.

The teams will submit a detailed summary of their findings at the end of the 8 weeks and the competition will culminate in an event open to staff, students and the general public on 25 October 2017, where the teams will present their final projects to the VIP judges and an overall winner will be announced.

More information on the contest can be found on the website