International #STEM Award for UK’s Young Engineer Champions

Winners of the GSK UK Young Engineers of the Year from Loughborough Schools Foundation in the East Midlands have won a silver award at an international science competition in China.

Grace Lord, Brendan Miralles, and Aalia Sellar, 14-year-old students who were awarded the GSK UK Young Engineers of the Year title at The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition in March 2019, showcased their ‘Music Splash’ app, which uses machine learning to analyse music recitals and provide tailored suggestions to improve performance.

The team won second place in the international CASTIC (China Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest) category, winning silver medals and certificates and receiving interest from a Chinese business to develop their app.  

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

Over 220 international students from 51 countries took part in the competition, with over 400 Chinese young scientists with 300 projects in 13 scientific categories.

Since being crowned GSK UK Young Engineers of the Year the team has had the opportunity to complete work experience at GSK as well as representing the UK at CASTIC, they will compete in a prestigious European competition – EU Contest for Young Scientists – in September, held in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Commenting on how winning the Big Bang Competition has provided them opportunities to continue on their STEM journey, Aalia said:

“The chance to go to China was completely unexpected for us and to be able to present our project around the globe and to connect with more people… it’s just been an amazing experience.”

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 8th 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.