Engineering Award

Three students from Nahar International School in India won the Engineering Award for their research into sustainable, biodegradable menstrual pads.

Disappointed to find that conventional pads use non-biodegradable components like perforated plastic sheets, synthetic chemicals, polyester and polyethylene, team members Anavi Chopra, Rajvi Hemant Lakhotiya and Naina Joshi were motivated to create a model that was low cost and sustainable without reducing absorbency.

The teams identified that they needed three separate layers to create a working prototype:

1. Top permeable and soft layer
2. Absorbent layer
3. Impermeable layer to prevent leakage

They tested the absorbent properties of cotton, recycled bamboo cloth, corn husk, isabgol (also known as psyllium husk), gond katira (sap of the Astragalus plant) and cornstarch bioplastic by weighing the material, adding water and then weighing again. Experimenting with different combinations, the students eventually chose bamboo cloth for the top, permeable layer, a mix of isabgol, gond katira and corn husk for the absorbent middle later, and a stable cornstarch bioplastic for the bottom layer. They even added air dried turmeric and garlic to the middle layer for their antiseptic properties.

Amazingly, the team’s prototype was able to absorb more than 100ml of water without leaking, cost six-times less to produce than the market average, and weighed roughly the same.

Extremely excited and impressed with the team’s study, Christine Özden, Global Director, Climate Education at Cambridge said: 'This engineering project to create sustainable, biodegradable menstrual pads could have a global impact on women’s health and wellbeing as well as the environment. It was wonderful to see an engineering approach in action, using scientific thinking and the testing process to iterate different design ideas, which led to a prototype product. Further work could now be completed to refine the aesthetics and comfort of the product before taking it to market. We wish the team well for the future.'

Reflecting on their project, the team wrote: 'Ultimately, we wanted to choose a topic which was close to our hearts and which would come of great use to the upcoming generations while ensuring the sustainability of our environment.'

A team of three students from Tzu Chi International School Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia won the first ever Engineering Award for their research into how to protect crops from flood and drought.

Conducting research into the effects of climate change, Poon Han Kim, Chong Cheng Yi and Douglas Yip Shi Jie found that between 2021 and 2022, floods caused a huge total loss of MYR138.6 million (GBP22.9 million) in agricultural, fisheries and livestock sectors in Malaysia alone.

Inspired to find a potential solution, the team used 3D modelling to design a barrier, named Flood Blox (FBx), that would fill with flood water to protect crops up to a height of 1.2 metres. This water could then be stored in the barrier and used when needed. The team even constructed two working prototypes using tarpaulin and water pipes, testing them by floating them in a tray of water and using a pump and waterproof switch to fill.

Team member Douglas Yip Shi Jie said: 'The growing dangers of climate change have made natural disasters harder for humans to control. Therefore, our team decided that we wanted to come up with a solution to protect others around the world from the unstoppable natural disasters.'

The judges were impressed with the project and said: 'This team identified a local problem with increasing global relevance. They took an engineering approach to develop an ingenious working prototype on a small scale, scaled it up to produce a larger prototype and used comprehensive calculations to show how the system would work on a large scale. The judges were highly impressed by their approach and by their dual-purpose solution.'