Formula SAE is Europe’s most established educational engineering competition. The competition aims to develop enterprising and innovative young engineers and encourage more young people to take up a career in engineering. The format of the event is such that it provides an ideal opportunity for the students to test, demonstrate and improve their capabilities to deliver a complex and integrated product in the demanding environment of a motorsport competition.
UWE
is in its sixth year of entering the competition, and for 2019 took on the dual
challenge of the home competition at Silverstone as well as Formula student Netherland
at the TT track in Assen.
Through four days of inclement
weather, the team produced a strong display in Assen. Completing all seven
elements of the competition for the first time. Resulting in a sixth place
overall finish out of 28 combustion teams on the Thursday.
The main event for the team is
always the home event at Silverstone, where they entered with confidence their
engineering was good and well tested in the Netherlands. The team surpassed
their previous efforts achieving their best ever statics and dynamics points
haul. The final outcome, an overall seventh place out of 81 teams and fourth
best of the UK teams.
Work is due to be completed in summer 2020, with the facility contributing to the University’s vision of being one of the top engineering schools in the country through promoting multi-disciplinary, collaborative learning and supports the predicted increase in demand for skilled engineering graduates across the region. Find out more here.
The Leaders Award sets this challenge to encourage children to identify a problem that engineering could solve, and devise a solution. Philippa’s invention was picked as a winning design for the South West, and then selected to be turned into a working prototype by a team of UWE Bristol engineers. Philippa’s design displays variable red lights on the back of a vehicle to alert other drivers of the severity of the braking and levels of attention needed.
The prototype was unveiled at the South West Leaders Award exhibition at UWE Bristol on Friday 14th June 2019 by Philippa, Katy and Miriam. The prototype, along with this year’s shortlisted entries, was also on display on Saturday 15th June at the University’s Exhibition and Conference Centre (ECC). Hundreds of visitors of all ages were able to try it out, as well as taking part in exciting STEM activities provided by the MOD, Aerospace Bristol, and UWE. The displays included having a go with drones, Lego Mindstorm, and a virtual reality tour of the new Engineering Building.
Congratulations to Philippa and the team for designing and creating a fantastic new engineering solution!
The UWE Bristol MEng Aerospace Engineering course, and student Prisilla Johnson who has also gained a private licence with a UWE Bristol partner flying school in the US, have been featured in The Guardian.
“Prisilla Johnson always dreamed of becoming a pilot. Now, studying MEng aerospace engineering at UWE Bristol, she’s not only making her dream come true, but also playing her part in boosting gender equality in engineering“
It’s great to see in the article that Prisilla feels that she has been able to grow at UWE Bristol through the opportunities that have been offered to her. The full feature can be read here.
The winners of the 2019 Leaders Award gathered at UWE Bristol for the South
West awards ceremony on Friday 14th June.
The
competition challenged children to answer the question: ‘If you were an
engineer, what would you do?’ by identifying a problem that engineering could
solve, and devising a solution.
From magnet wielding helicopters that tow broken down cars skyward, to
surveillance parrots that alert wildlife trusts to hunters – the children’s
designs tackled a great diversity of problems in modern society.
Minister
for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Chris Skidmore joined UWE
Bristol Vice-Chancellor Steve West and MOD DE&S Air Marshall Julian Young to
congratulate those who entered the competition. While the competition launches
by using online interviews with real-life engineers to inspire the
children, they all agreed that in the end it’s the children’s designs that inspire
engineers!
Throughout
this year, engineers in EDM have been supporting the competition, by grading 4385 entries, and taking part in the
final judging panel. UWE Bristol is the
South West regional supporter alongside Defence Equipment and Support
(DE&S) – the Ministry of Defence’s procurement organisation.
The ceremony finished with a flourish, with student engineers Katy O’Hara
Nash and Miriam Cristofoletti from the EDM WISE
society, presenting the prototype they have made based on the
winning design from last year’s competition. The system, designed by Year 8 pupil
Philippa Griffiths, displays variable red lights on the back of a vehicle to
alert other drivers of the severity of the braking and levels of attention
needed.
Year 8 pupil Philippa Griffiths who designed the Red Line Braking System in 2018.
Dr Lisa Brodie, Head of Department for Engineering Design and Mathematics said:
“We are always inspired by the children’s designs for the Leaders Awards. This year our female engineering students have gone one step further by actually taking a design, and building a prototype. It shows the passion and ingenuity in our region, both from local children, but also our own students. Through these public events we want to demonstrate our commitment to developing STEM technologies and a highly-skilled workforce which can enhance our future together.”
The prototype, along with this year’s shortlisted entries, were on display on Saturday 15th June at the University’s Exhibition and Conference Centre (ECC). Hundreds of visitors of all ages were able to try it out, as well as taking part in exciting STEM activities provided by the MOD, Aerospace Bristol, and UWE. The displays included having a go with drones, Lego Mindstorm, and a virtual reality tour of the new Engineering Building.
This year, 6500 students from Universities across the UK took part in the challenge organised by EWB-UK. Fewer than 200 got through to the Grand Finals. The UWE team (Amelie, Marwan, Liberty, Conrad, Caner and Nicholas) were amongst the talented few. They presented their PEEPOWER inspired solution with much enthusiasm.
Last year, Sam ‘Wheels’ Harper-Miller, who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, was carried up Snowdon by his friends. Now, the UWE Bristol Engineering Technical team have redesigned a wheelchair to allow him to conquer Ben Nevis.
Special mention to Doug Nash, our composites technician (seen here testing the chair), for the redesign of the base.
Sam and his friends made the trek up Snowdon, which he would not have been able to undertake without help, to raise money towards a new wheelchair. During the climb, Sam’s friends carried him for six hours on a stretcher, which they made themselves and integrated the top of a wheelchair.
The chair was uncomfortable and unstable, so the UWE Engineering Technical team have redesigned a new one with a bespoke composite frame and new seat – a special thank you to Cobra Seats Limited for helping with the seat and harness.
The next challenge the team plan to undertake is to reach the summit of Ben Nevis. For Sam, the mountain ascents are about far more than raising money, and with his new chair the next one should be much more comfortable.
UPDATE: We were very pleased to hear on 24/06/19 thatSam’s team successfully carried him up and down Ben Nevis the previous weekend. Videos and photos can be seen on the Wheels Up The Ben Facebook page. Congratulations to Sam and everyone involved!
Bristol Tech Fair is a celebration of technology, engineering and science for young people and families in Bristol.
It will be a full day of hands-on activities to explore the latest developments in Virtual Reality, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in engaging and affordable way.
Bristol Tech Fair is a free event which aims to get young people and children to explore, learn and get excited about the opportunities that new technologies are bringing into our lives.
Hosted at Colston Hall, a prime location at the heart of the city, the fair will be using four floors for exhibition and display of technology, engineering and science -related projects and products.
Bristol Tech Fair is a featured event within Bristol Technology Festival 2019. This is a brand-new platform that seeks to raise the profile of the Bristol tech sector locally, nationally and internationally, by showcasing the existence of a broad breadth of activity in sectors and technologies.
The school is happy with our outreach project and are very keen for more outreach and other engagements with the project. Based on the feedback, the students are very happy with the outreach activities that took place and would like us to make a return visit.
Below is some of the feedback from the students:
“Excellent: it was fun, exiting and very interesting. The robotics coding was very fun, especially when we were controlling the robots”
“I thought it was very good and inspiring and I liked making the turbines and playing with the robots. I want the outreach to happen again on a Thursday”
“It was nice and fun when we listened to the talk and was given the opportunity to code and control the robots”.
This feedback means a lot to me and I am looking forward to the next phase of this project.
Women in Nuclear are hosting a free workshop on self-awareness and individuality in Bristol on 20th June.
Greater self-awareness and awareness of others is key to increasing conscious inclusion. Caroline Brown and Emily Hutchinson will share the Strengths Approach used to shift our focus from the collective to the individual.
The Strengths Approach has its origins in Positive Psychology and has been proven to improve happiness and wellbeing, as well as performance and success, and inclusivity (and hence diversity).
They will explain the approach and you will have the opportunity to identify your own strengths and to explore how using them could make a difference to your performance. This understanding will also help you to be able to ‘strengths spot’ in others and help them to also embrace their individuality and operate at their best.
For information and to register please see the event page on Eventbrite.
