Big Bang announce UK Young Scientist of the Year
Release Date: 23 Jun 2022
Connie Gray, a year 9 student from Liverpool Life Sciences UTC, has won the title of UK Young Scientist of the Year for her project she entered into The Big Bang Competition. Her research comparing the structure of the features of birds from different climates and environments to each other aims to help with conservation efforts in areas of the world affected by climate change.
Connie has been awarded £2000 to continue her STEM journey.
More prizes were awarded to some brilliant young people. They include:
Lucy Coleman, a year 13 student at Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College in Merseyside, is a double award winner and has won the senior science category. Her project ‘Working Healthy’ aimed to redesign the way in which people work from home with a unique design of a weather-proof open-air office. She also won the Intellectual Property Office award for outstanding innovator.
Anastasia Herries, a year 11 student from St George’s School in Harpenden, has been awarded the winner’s prize in the intermediate science category. Her project titled ‘Essential Oils as Slug Repellents’ was designed to address the need for alternative and eco-friendly slug repellent.
Erin Carr, a year 8 student from Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone, has won the junior science category for her project titled ‘How the brain adapts to the loss of senses’. Erin’s aim was to investigate comparisons between using all senses and the loss of 1, with the hope of finding out how fast the brain adapts.
The UK Young engineer of the Year title was given to Avye Couloute, a year 9 student from Surbiton High School. Avye impressed the judges with her invention of a scaled down model of a pavilion designed to automatically open skylights, activate moving external walls and fans and generate different air quality alerts when indoor CO2 hit dangerous levels.
Congratulating the winner, Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, which organises The Big Bang Competition, said:
“Huge congratulations to Connie whose innovative project has seen her awarded UK Young Scientist of the Year. We received hundreds of incredible entries and the quality of the work undertaken impresses us each year. Young people have shown incredible resilience and determination during the past couple of years and the ambition, passion and enthusiasm the students show for their projects are truly inspiring.
“It certainly bodes well for the future that the scientists, engineers and inventors of tomorrow are already producing such astute and creative project work.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
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Media contact: Macy Richardson ([email protected] / 07597 858947)
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About The Big Bang Competition and Fair
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition aims to recognise and reward young people's achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and provide them with the opportunity to build their skills and confidence in project-based work. It is open to 11- to 18-year-olds from across the UK who have completed a project or activity in any field of science, technology, engineering or maths. The winners of The Competition will be announced at The Big Bang Fair.
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people in the UK. Taking place from 22 to 24 June at The NEC in Birmingham, The Big Bang Fair is an award-winning combination of inspirational talks, interactive workshops, hands-on exhibits and careers information from STEM professionals. The Big Bang Fair is made possible through the collaborative efforts of over 200 organisations. www.thebigbang.org.uk
EngineeringUK is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with the engineering community to inspire tomorrow’s engineers. We lead the engagement programmes: The Big Bang, Robotics Challenge and Energy Quest and help schools bring STEM to life through real-world engineering via Neon. We bring engineering careers inspiration and resources together through Tomorrow’s Engineers and manage The Code, which drives change at scale to increase the number and diversity of young people choosing academic and vocational pathways into engineering. We base everything we do on evidence and share our insight widely. www.engineeringuk.com