30th July 2024
Climate Friendly Engineering Kickstarts The Smallpeice Trust’s Summer of STEM Programme 2024
The Smallpeice Trust has partnered with the University of Leeds to host the Climate-Friendly Engineering residential course, a three-day event to inspire young innovators to address climate change through engineering. The course gathered fifty enthusiastic students eager to explore the critical role engineering has in fostering a sustainable future.
Day 1: Immersive Civil Engineering and Chemistry Activities
The programme began with an infrastructure and carbon footprint activity, where students designed structures using sustainable materials to minimise environmental impact. They explored how civil engineering can reduce carbon emissions by building bridges from plastic tubes and identifying ways to lower carbon footprints.
In the afternoon, students learned how to transform waste into valuable commodities. They explored the pivotal role chemistry has in sustainability by performing titrations to extract compounds from readily available vegetables to create natural products, demonstrating how these eco-friendly methods could replace synthetic chemicals, paving the way for a greener future.
Day 2: Exploring Diverse Engineering Disciplines
Day two opened with a talk from Education Outreach member of staff Erin Raine, introducing students to university life at Leeds and its engineering programmes. Afterwards, students participated in a mechatronics activity in which they designed robots to tackle everyday problems with sustainability at the forefront of their creations.
In the afternoon, students received a tour of the university campus, followed by lab activities exploring bioplastics, water filtration systems, and nuclear processes. This included a demonstration of the real-world applications of these technologies in promoting sustainability.
Day 3: Hands-On Mechatronics Challenge and Presentations
The final day featured an exciting Mechatronics challenge, where students applied their knowledge to solve real-world problems by building their robots designed during day two to compete in a “sumo” robot competition.
The Smallpeice Trust is proud to have facilitated this enriching experience, in partnership with the Outreach team at the University of Leeds which educated students about sustainable engineering practices and inspired them to pursue careers dedicated to environmental consciousness. The Climate Friendly Engineering residential course in partnership with University of Leeds exemplifies our commitment to fostering the next generation of engineers who will drive positive change for a sustainable future.
Natalie Duffield-Moore, Engineering Lead Officer, STEM Outreach Team, Educational Engagement, University of Leeds said: “The University of Leeds is delighted to host Climate Friendly Engineering 2024 in partnership with The Smallpeice Trust. This three-day residential course has provided great insights into the current challenges faced by engineers working to mitigate the impact, on our climate, of modern engineering. This is a great opportunity to better understand the range of engineering courses available to study at university to work towards developing the required skills for a sustainable future. Finally, it’s a brilliant opportunity to meet other like-minded young people with similar interests at a renowned institution such as the University of Leeds”.