The winners of a competition inspiring the next generation of the South West’s top engineers has been announced. The “Leaders Awards” backed by the West of England Combined Authority, led by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, took place at the University of the West of England last Friday.
Over a thousand pupils, aged between 4 and 18, have been designing engineering solutions to a problem in every-day life. Girls make up over half of applicants, which is important as women represent only 16% of the current engineering workforce, according to research from EngineeringUK.
The winners include:
Adriana – a year 12 student at St Katherine’s School in Abbots Leigh, for her ‘steam blocker’ stopping people from being hit by irksome hot steam when opening their ovens during cooking.
Jacob – a six-year-old pupil at Bristol’s Horfield Primary School, for an ‘animal whistle’ helping people communicate with our non-human friends.
Now, expert University of the West of England engineering teams will bring these ideas to life, creating prototypes from the winning designs.
Metro Mayor Dan Norris said: “The most famous engineer in the whole of history hails from Bristol and now we’re inspiring the next generation of 21st century Brunels. Just taking the climate emergency, it is clear there are so many challenges we will need super-talented youngsters with incredible ideas to solve. Congratulations to Adriana – I think your idea is ingenious, especially for older people and to Jacob – I’ll have to test that one with my dog Angel. I’m delighted to back these awards showing the passion and ingenuity of our young people”.