Over 100 students from 22 Engineers Without Borders student societies took part in the Chapters Design Challenge will culminated at Birmingham University last week.

Four teams made it through to the final, with our Queen Mary team being crowned the overall winners against runners-up from Bath University, University of Leeds and Cambridge University.

Over the past five weeks, the teams had been working on a design brief, focussed on helping a community of Torres Strait Islanders – indigenous Aboriginal communities in Australia, trying to answer the question “How can we support people’s ability to survive, thrive, and flourish in remote landscapes?”

The team came up with a high-impact solution: a permeable road system integrated with an underground water storage system, which would help reduce flooding and maintain road access for communities in Cape York Australia. During monsoon season, the system would gather and store water to then be used during drought season.

Team member Rajdeep reflected “This challenge was a wake-up call that there is no "best" strand of engineering. I learned that the magic happens when different pathways collide. Collaboration across disciplines is just as important as the technical math behind it.”

“As a Foundation Year student—and one of the youngest at the event—I was initially nervous. However, seeing my input directly contribute to a winning success has been a massive confidence boost. It proved that you don't need to wait until your final year to start thinking like a professional engineer.

I’m walking away from this with more than just a trophy; I’m taking away a new perspective on how to apply my future Mechanical Engineering degree to solve global challenges. Onwards to the next one!”

The pitching team, Rayan Amjad, Yara Elsaadany, Nicole Kirk, Khadidja Cheref, Heba Mansour, and Rajdeep Singh Bhachu are all Engineering students across Robotics, Chemical, Mechanical and Design Engineering programmes. The new Engineers Without Borders society at Queen Mary was only founded in September and is not yet six months old. As a relatively new society, this is a huge achievement and one they should be very proud of.

“In such a short period of time, seeing the chapter grow, collaborate, and achieve milestones like this has been incredibly rewarding” said Rayan.

The win comes with £1000 prize money to fund more student projects. At the end of last year, they hosted The Big Pitch, and we can’t wait to see what this ambitious new society does next.