Young UK engineers win gold, silver and bronze
UK students were among thirty student engineering teams from around the world awarded a Mondialogo Engineering Award at a ceremony held in Stuttgart on Monday 9 November. The awards were presented for innovative engineering projects addressing some of the major challenges of the 21st century.
Student engineers from the University of Bristol, in partnership with counterparts from Cuba, won the top prize for their project proposal on sustainable and low cost hurricane-resistant housing in the Caribbean.
A Silver award was given to a group from the University of Glasgow who, in coordination with student engineers from the University of Brasilia, proposed microbial fuel cells which might be used to convert chemical energy provided by wastewater into electricity, which could then be used to power remote areas of Brazil.
Bronze status was awarded to students from the Cardiff School of Engineering who teamed up with the Indian Institute of Science to present a plan which would utilise fly ash and phosphogypsum, both industrial by-products, in the production of FAL-G (fly ash lime gypsum) bricks in India. These bricks would be cheap, produced locally and would not need to be burned, helping to reduce CO2 emissions.
The thirty finalists attending the Stuttgart ceremony were selected from among 932 project entries addressing the UN Millennium Development Goals, particularly poverty eradication, sustainable development and the mitigation of the negative impacts of climate change.
Professor Paul Jowitt, international jury panel member and member of the UK National Commission’s Sciences Committee, said: “The UNESCO Daimler project is an excellent initiative to encourage teams from the developed and the developing world to work together to tackle some of the most important issues facing our world today. It is truly inspiring to see young engineers from different cultures and backgrounds working together to produce such outstanding projects.”
The Mondialgo Engineering Award is in its third year and is the result of a partnership between UNESCO and Daimler, with a focus on bringing young people together to foster meaningful development and exchange between cultures.
For further information about the Mondialogo Engineering Award, and details of all of the winners and entries, click here.
Written: 10/11/2009 , last modified: 10/11/2009
UK winners receive their awards 
UK engineering students with other prize winners 
UK winners receive their awards