Imperial College London students to dominate Engineers Without Borders Finals

Three teams of prospective year two students dominated a 2,500 strong national field from thirteen Universities to secure a place in the Engineering Without Borders Challenge Finals taking place at Coventry University next month. The teams, consisting of individuals from multidisciplinary backgrounds (outside of Engineering) endeavoured to solve complex problems affecting the impoverished community of An Minh, Vietnam. All work was co-ordinated in context of the ‘Global Challenges’ field of Imperial Horizons. Their success manifests the core skill bases championed by Imperial Horizons tutors; many hope that it will mark the inception of more future success related to the ancillary courses.

The project took place over an eight week time frame. The students were essentially left to their own devices, being required to assimilate a system for solving a problem affecting An Minh, Vietnam. The students proved that they were commensurate to the task by hypothesising their own question and then creatively solving it. While the project required a significant component of Engineering the organisers stress those team players from non-Engineering disciplines were invaluable, contributing to the cohesion that delivered success in competition. Two PhD students mentored and channelled the efforts of the students, liaising with the teams to construct a portfolio recording the design process.

Raunaq Bagchi, one of the students that competed, said: “The Engineers Without Borders Challenge has been a great exercise from the start. The process of coming up with ideas and running through all the possibilities to try and design the best solution for people in other parts of world, is a great way to open one’s eyes to the troubles many face. Now entering the final stages of the competition, I would say it’s a bonus and an opportunity to see how our designs appeal to experts in the field.”

The fruits of their labour were presented to judges at the national competition and as mentioned above three of the four teams will proceed to the Finals. The dominant team from each university is entitled to a place with seven additional places awarded based on merit. As cited by one Imperial Horizons member of staff,

“It is…an outstanding achievement that in our first year of running the Challenge we have managed to take two of those additional seven places.”

As well as the competition the students will be offered opportunities to participate in ‘innovative’ workshops that seek to convey living conditions in An Minh and how the local community will benefit from the endeavours of the students.

Congratulations are in order for the following individuals (see box), who have served as remarkable ambassadors for Imperial College London and highlight the potential of the intellectual arsenal imparted to students while studying at the university.

Imperial Horizons extended an invitation to anyone interested in next year’s Engineering Without Borders competition – it is required that they enrol for the ‘Global Challenges: Engineers Without Borders Challenge’ on the website enrolment page. Applications close on June 6th.

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The teams in full are:

Team 1

Marcus Bishop

Shiladitya Ghosh

Aswhin Bhanot

Monal Patel

Team 2

Raunaq Bagchi

James Metcalfe

Ahmad (Luq) Mohamed Ali

Iacopo Russo

Team 3

Ashira Bindels

Bethan Doyle

Jimmy Lin

Duncan Lomax