University of the West of England and Primary Engineer

University of the West of England are one of our University Prototyping Partners for South West England as part of our annual engineering competition which asks pupils aged 3-19 ‘If you were an engineer what would you do?’ and encourages pupils come up with creative solutions to real-world problems.

The below information was originally featured on the university website.

The Leaders Award ‘If You Were an Engineer…’ national competition is partnering with UWE Bristol to again support this year’s competition, and bring to life an exciting prototype from one of last year’s winning young engineers.

The competition asks school children to imagine a creative and innovative solution to a problem, and design an inspiring prototype. The competition aims to bring together real-life engineers and schools, to provide STEM outreach, and also inspire the next generation of engineers.

A group of engineering students led by MAKERS Team member Hollie Lewis, are now planning to turn one of last year’s winning designs into reality. The team are working on creating a prototype project of an accessible shower design. The design aimed to try to make showering easier for those with disability, and also add some smart features to make finding the right temperature and pressure more convenient.

The group recently visited a retirement village to gain an insight into what is currently in use, and began making plans to innovate and improve. The group also spoke to a resident with mobility issues to learn from his perspective about the challenges that showering can pose.

Not only a valuable and challenging exercise for the team, it is hoped that the design will go on to form part of a student module project assessment. Students will move through the engineering design process to improve and refine the prototype with the support of School of Engineering technicians.

The UWE Bristol School of Engineering has hosted the judging panel and awards ceremony for the ‘If You Were and Engineer…’South West region in previous years, and will be again this year. The winning designs from this year will be on display in the School of Engineering after the event and during the upcoming Family Fun Day taking place on Saturday July 6th. You can find out more information about this by contacting [email protected]