Engineering students from the University of Aberdeen are among the top 20 teams in the UK aiming to reach the final of the Royal Academy of Engineering's Global Grand Challenge student competition.
The team of six students – all from different disciplines and years – took part in a recent interactive workshop at the Royal Academy, where they worked with experts to develop their idea, which aims to tackle environmental pollution by fully replacing plastics with bioplastics.
The team will now develop their idea ahead of a competition showcase in June, where five teams will be selected to compete in the competition final against teams from China and the USA.
Members include Atia Azad, Muna Mohamed, Franciszek Gebka, Konstantin Zirkelbach, Jason Main and Team Leader Lisa Rossi.
Lisa, a final year Chemical Engineering student who will graduate from the University in June, said the workshop was invaluable in the development of their idea, the full details of which remain a closely guarded secret while the competition is underway.
She said: “The experience was incredible because we were able to focus on other aspects that need to be considered to make our idea applicable.
“The workshop gave us the possibility to think about framing the issue, and consider how we think about stakeholders and consumers.
“We also had to pitch it and received feedback. Meeting students from across all the UK was extremely beneficial as it gave us a chance to broaden our perspective about ideas and innovations which could help shape global issues and shape the future.”