Chemical Engineering students honoured with IChemE Young Engineers Award

Winners of the IchemE Young Engineers Award

Undergraduate students recognised for their work on powering healthcare.

A team of students from Imperial College London's Department of Chemical Engineering have been recognised with the prestigious IChemE Young Engineers Award for Innovation and Sustainability, celebrating their outstanding contribution to engineering solutions. 

The award, presented by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), acknowledges the innovative work of young engineers addressing global challenges aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Imperial team of third-year undergraduates - Ani Ahmed, Eylül Akgök, Tony Na, Daniel Bull and Helen Lee - were honoured in the Food, Health and Wellbeing category and the Overall Undergraduate category for their design of EcoMed, a solar powered vaccine refrigerator which tackles the urgent challenge of vaccine storage and transportation in off-grid, resource-limited regions.

We are overly excited to receive this recognition from IChemE. Our project aims to transform healthcare access for under-served communities through integrating sustainable technologies, and this award validates our commitment to solving real world problems. Ani Ahmed UG team leader, Department of Chemical Engineering

EcoMed improves healthcare accessibility by ensuring stable vaccine storage in remote areas, directly supporting malaria eradication efforts in Kano (where malaria prevalence is 32.4%). By reducing vaccine wastage, it enhances immunisation efficiency, strengthens public health infrastructure, and supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for health and climate action.

The solar-powered design eliminates fossil fuel dependence, reducing environmental impact while providing affordable, sustainable refrigeration for vulnerable populations.

The design can also be adapted for various applications beyond vaccines, including blood storage, insulation preservation, and food security.

The IChemE Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability were established to celebrate the ideas and innovations emerging in the chemical engineering profession, supporting IChemE’s vision of engineering a more sustainable world.