Nov 20, 2024
Dr Hilary Leevers and Pacha Pritchard
The UK’s top STEM superstars and finalists in The Big Bang Competition were invited to Westminster as part of EngineeringUK’s annual Big Bang at Parliament event, to meet MPs and Lords and showcase their impressive projects.
A total of 12 students from 6 schools across the country attended the event, with Parliamentarians, guests from the engineering community and Siemens, who support the technology strand of The Big Bang Competition.
Swansea students from Olchfa school, the current Big Bang winners of the junior technology award, supported by Siemens impressed guests with their fast fashion project, as did Betsey Ellis, a student at Invicta Grammar in Maidstone, Kent, who won the CAA Future in Aviation Award for her AI travel project. Additional finalists from Olchfa School also attended with their LED tinted window project to help prevent epilepsy attacks. Tottenham student Eva-Marie Pornaris demonstrated her Epi-pen design, and Sam Fricker from Surrey showcased his portable water pollution probe, called AQUABlu.
Pacha Pritchard, a Year 13 student from Cardiff, awarded UK Young Engineer of the Year 2024 in The Big Bang Competition, showcased her portable pollution monitor which uses emojis to highlight good and bad air quality. She gave a speech, saying “Growing up, I’ve watched as pollution and climate change impact people’s lives and health, and I knew I wanted to make a difference. I’ve always been interested in understanding how things work, and engineering has given me a toolkit to create solutions for real-world problems. The Big Bang Competition gave me the perfect platform to turn my curiosity into a project that could bring positive change.”
Toby Perkins, Labour MP for Chesterfield, who hosted the event, said to the finalists, “Your passion and enthusiasm for STEM is inspirational and gives me real hope about the future of our country in general and engineering and the sciences in particular."
Entries to The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition 2025 are open as EngineeringUK looks to uncover more STEM talent.
EngineeringUK Chief Executive, Dr Hilary Leevers said, “Congratulations to The Big Bang Competition alumni who have joined us today and wowed us all with your talent – you really are STEM superstars. And we need many more young people like you to be interested and excited by STEM and to take that interest into careers in engineering and technology. Programmes like the Big Bang, and events like today, really help generate that excitement and interest. EngineeringUK currently works with around 350 organisations to showcase their work to young people, but engineering and technology is a diverse and broad sector, and we’d love to work with even more organisations to inspire even more young people into STEM careers.”
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