National Young Engineer Champions to Compete in China

Grace Lord, Brendan Miralles, and Aalia Sellar will be showcasing their ‘Music Splash’ app, which uses machine learning to analyse music recitals and provide tailored suggestions to improve performance. 

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

The 14-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 2019.

They beat over 500 finalists from across the country who were selected to show their ideas at The Big Bang Fair, and as part of the shortlisting process had to impress VIP judging panel that included Andrew Smyth (Rolls-Royce aerospace engineer and former Great British Bake-Off contestant), Dr Ozak Esu, IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2017 and Roma Agrawal (structural engineer on The Shard, STEM promoter and TV presenter).

The team won £2,000 in prize money and have had the opportunity to complete work experience at GSK, and this month have the chance to represent the UK at the prestigious international STEM competition in China (China Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest – CASTIC). 

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

CASTIC takes place in Macau, China and winners will be announced on 26th July.

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.