Make-a-Difference Impact Challenge- winners announced!

Congratulations to ZymeDeal! The winning team of the Faculty of Natural Sciences Make-a-Difference Impact Challenge.

The Faculty of Natural Sciences launched its Make-a-Difference Impact Challenge Competition in January 2014. The FoNS-MAD competition, running for the first time this year, challenged teams of undergraduate students in the Faculty of Natural Sciences to apply their skills and creativity to develop a low-cost technology that would have a positive impact on Society.

In June 2014, three teams of students were selected to go through to the final stages of the competition:

• BioMilk: Alan Chang, Timothy Yin Ho Hui, Tin Shing Lee, Xin Zhan
• FunGu(Y)s:Tim Pauwels, Vasily Shenshin
• ZymeDeal: Jiawen Dou, Evelyn Yi, Sijia Yu, Qiyun Zhong

The successful teams were given access to funds and facilities to develop their project to a proof-of-concept stage over eight weeks this summer, with each student receiving a bursary to cover their living costs.

At an event on Tuesday 28 October 2014, the three teams presented their projects to an invited audience and a VIP panel of judges comprising Professor Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies, Imperial College London; Professor Sir John Pendry, Chair in Theoretical Solid State Physics, Department of Physics, Imperial College London; and Professor Lesley Yellowlees, Vice-Principal and Head of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

The judges deliberate, from left: Prof Sir John Pendry; Prof Lord Robert Winston; Prof Lesley Yellowlees

The judges announced the winner as ZymeDeal, a team formed of students Jiawen Dou, Evelyn Liu, Sijia Yu, Qiyun Zhong. The winners were presented with certificates and a cheque for £1000.

The winning team, ZymeDeal, with Prof Ramon Vilar and their mentor, Dr Anita Hall

Jiawen Dou, one of the winning team members, said of her experience, “The product we designed in the competition is not just beneficial for its potential users but most importantly, with each moment that we worked on it, it really made a difference in our own lives! I would recommend that students participate in competitions such as FoNS-MAD! You can meet new friends, develop team working and presentation skills and lots more.”

Competition organiser Professor Ramón Vilar from the Department of Chemistry said, “It has been a real pleasure to see the three finalist teams develop their projects throughout the year. They have shown great creativity, hard work and enthusiasm to tackle problems that will ultimately benefit Society. I am very impressed by the high standard of the work they have produced.”

Professor Maggie Dallman, Dean of the Faculty Natural Sciences, who opened the final event, said, "The FoNS-MAD! Science competition was designed to provide UG students with a forum to come up with projects that could benefit Society and take them from conception to implementation. The three finalist teams have demonstrated the incredible capacity, drive and ability that our students have to solve challenging problems."

Following the success of this year’s event, the Faculty have confirmed that the competition will run again next year, with the launch event being held in January 2015.

For more information on the contest see:

//www3.imperial.ac.uk/impactchallengecompetition