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.'