National STEM champions win European prize

Winners of the GSK UK Young Engineers of the Year from Loughborough Schools Foundation in the East Midlands have won an award at a prestigious European science competition – EUCYS (EU Contest for Young Scientists) – held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Grace Lord, Brendan Miralles, and Aalia Sellar showcased their ‘Music Splash’ app, which uses the latest computing techniques to analyse music recitals and provide tailored suggestions to improve performance.

The winners say ‘Music Splash’ helps “guides you to instant perfection and is like a music teacher in an app.”

The 15-year-old students were awarded the GSK UK Young Engineers of the Year title at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition in March. They beat over 200 finalists from the UK to win £2,000 in prize money and have had the opportunity to complete work experience at GSK.

The Big Bang Competition regularly provides opportunities for finalists to compete at international STEM competitions to foster collaboration and to give budding scientists and engineers the chance to learn from contemporaries at a global level. This year alone, Big Bang Finalists have won prizes at 3 major international STEM competitions including a prize at ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair) held in May in the US and a silver medal in China at CASTIC (China Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest) held in July.

Dr Hilary Leevers, CEO of EngineeringUK said: “We’re really proud of our Big Bang Competition winners who have continued to be successful on the international stage. The Big Bang Fair and Competition are a great source of STEM inspiration for young people, teachers and parents, and provide opportunities that not only bring classroom learning to life but are a chance to develop and broaden horizons beyond formal education.”

The GSK UK Young Engineers of the Year won The Bulgarian Summer Research School Award at EUCYS and will have the chance to attend the summer research school for high achieving teenagers, with an interest in the fields of mathematics, informatics and ICT to be hosted at the Amercian University in Bulgaria, Bagoevgrad, next year.   

The GSK UK Young Engineers said: “Our mission is to make the learning of playing an instrument available to everyone by opening the doors of musicality through our revolutionary app Music Splash.”

The Big Bang programme brings classroom learning to life for young people, celebrating their achievements and inspiring them to consider a future in STEM. It comprises The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair, The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition and Big Bang Near Me. 

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. Online Competition entries are open until 8 November 2019

EngineeringUK is a not-for-profit organisation, which works in partnership with the engineering community to inspire tomorrow’s engineers and increase the talent pipeline into engineering. EngineeringUK leads engagement programmes The Big Bang and Tomorrow’s Engineers, creates inspiring engineering careers resources and produces a body of research including the flagship State of Engineering report.