Jun 20, 2024
The new UK Young Scientist, Young Engineer and first ever Young Technologists of the Year were announced at The Big Bang Competition awards ceremony on 19 June. Held at The Big Bang Fair, the ceremony followed a day-long showcase of impressive young talent.
The UK Young Technologists of the Year award, supported by Siemens was presented to a team of 6 students from Liverpool's The Blue Coat School. They believe their innovative design of solar panels that track the sun's movement has the potential to revolutionise energy generation, boasting a 16% increase in efficiency over static models.
The Technology stream was introduced to The Big Bang Competition this year. Mark Wood, Social Sustainability Lead, Great Britain & Ireland, at Siemens commented: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the first UK Young Technologist of the Year Award. Inspiring the next generation of technologists is vital for our economy, our business and to solve the challenges we face across the world every day and in the future. A huge well done to this year’s winners with their impressive design.”
Woodford County High's Sarah Ansaf, 14, was named the UK Young Scientist of the Year. Sarah was overwhelmed to win with what was only her first science project. Her insightful analysis of pain relievers' dissolution rates and their subsequent absorption into the body really impressed the judges.
Sarah carried out extensive research as well as designing and completing an experiment to understand how the way you take medication affects the rate of absorption into the body by gathering and analysing data. Sarah found the drug delivery method with the fastest dissolution rate in water is effervescent/dispersible tablets.
Pacha Pritchard, a Year 12 student from Cardiff's Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern School, earned the title of UK Young Engineer of the Year. Pritchard's portable pollution monitor, which assesses air quality in schools and residential areas, is an innovative tool that uses emojis to communicate pollution levels to the public.
As well as wanting to raise awareness of environmental issues among other young people, Pacha is keen to encourage more girls into STEM. Receiving the award, she said, “I’m a massive advocate for promoting STEM to girls and getting all the opportunities out there, like The Big Bang Fair and Competition. STEM is the future and women are part of that future”.
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