Female students crowned Young Scientist and Young Engineer of the Year
Release Date: 22 Jun 2022
For the first time, two young women have been named UK Young Scientist and Engineer of the Year in the prestigious Big Bang competition. Connie Gray and Avye Couloute, both aged 14 have walked away with the top prizes at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition announced in time for International Women in Engineering Day
Connie’s unique research compared the structure of birds’ feathers from different climates using microscopes to see how they differed. Her work aims to help with conservation efforts in areas of the world affected by climate change.
The year 9 pupil from Liverpool first became interested in the topic when her father bought her a copy of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”. She was aided in her research by the Natural History Museum and Hitachi, which loaned the school some equipment.
Avye invented a device which measures the amount of CO2 inside a building. She designed a scaled down pavilion to demonstrate how indoor spaces react to the air quality inside – and how that can be improved for people in the building.
The model monitors CO2 levels within the structure and automatically opens a skylight, activates moving external walls and fans, and generates different air quality alerts based on the environment.
A student at Surbiton High School, Avye said her solution can benefit all sorts of spaces such as classrooms, offices or restaurants.
The awards, which invite young people to invent something to transform people’s lives or use scientific research to find solutions, culminated at this year’s Big Bang Fair on 22 June, at the NEC Birmingham.
Congratulating the winners, Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, which organises The Big Bang Competition, said:
“For the first time in the history of The Big Bang Competition, we see two young women being crowned UK Young Engineer and UK Young Scientist of the Year and on International Women in Engineering Day no less. A huge congratulations to Avye and Connie, whose innovative projects impressed the judges.
“We’ve been blown away by the quality of the hundreds of entries received from the finalists – not only for their brilliant new ideas but for how eloquently they spoke about them to the judges - we’d like to extend a huge congratulations and heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated.”
Both young people will receive a prize of £2000. Previous winners have gone on to enjoy a range of other achievements on the back of their successes – including, getting backing from businesses for their projects, setting up their own businesses taking part in conference presentations to industry professionals as well as appearing on the television and radio shows to talk about their projects.
The Big Bang Fair, is largest celebration of STEM in the UK and runs over 3 days (Wednesday 22 June to Friday 24 June), which is aimed at 11 to 14 year olds. The free to attend event features scores of quality hands-on activities to inspire young people to discover and explore what a career in STEM can offer. Families, home educators and school groups have the chance to visit at The Big Bang Fair Unlocked, taking place on Thursday 23 June from 4pm to 8pm.
For more information about The Big Bang Competition and Big Bang Fair visit here: www.thebigbang.org.uk
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Issued on behalf of Engineering UK by HROC PR Ltd. For further information, imagery, or to arrange to an interview with the school or finalist please contact:
Lucy Kendrick
HROC PR Ltd
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 07545 340729
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About The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair
The Big Bang Fair Unlocked is a chance for families, home educators and school groups to visit us from Thursday 23 June from 4pm to 8pm. Register for free here:
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
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.
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