All Hands on DEC - October 2007
This Months Stories:
- Design Engineering student is IED Prize Winner
- Award for DEC Research Group
- More success for pop-up tent
- IT Kidz of Africa Update
- DEC home two National Cycling Champions!
- Promotion for Visiting Professor
- Floodstop in the news
- Green power
- An overview of this month's activities
- How to submit future stories
- Next Newsletter
Congratulations to Samuel Barnes who has won the Institution of Engineering Designers 2007 Prize.
Samuel designed an oil skimmer for his winning final year project a mechanical device which collects oil from the surface of the water. The device excels in the open ocean environment, where waves, debris and currents are encountered. Samuels design is superior in its ability to perform well by being reliable, easy to handle, maintain and operate.
Samuel will receive a trophy, a certificate endorsed by the IED and one years free graduate membership of the Institution.
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Award for DEC Research Group
The Creative Design Research Group was presented with the award for best poster presentation at the 9th International Conference of Engineering and Product Design Education, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, on 14 September.
The research group, led by Dr Bob Eves, won the award for their paper Shaping the Future of Shape. The group Bob Eves, Peter Hogarth, Martin Mathias, Xavier Velay and Jon Hewitt were presented with a certificate and a years subscription to New Designer magazine.
At the same Conference, Professor Peter Hogarth was appointed to the Organising Committee, and International Advisory Panel, for the 10th International Conference of Engineering & Product Design, Barcelona 2008.
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More success for pop-up tent
Franziska Conrads Quickpitch pop-up tent has already achieved commercial and critical acclaim, and now a new contract has been signed between Gelert, Franziska and BU Innovations. The new contract is for Frans new double-skin design of the tent. Fran will also be the official face of this new product.
Fran designed the original version of the tent as part of her final year project, and is currently studying here at BU for her masters in Sustainable Product Design.
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IT Kidz of Africa Update
Billie Sule and Matthew Baker have returned from Nigeria to complete their BSc (Hons) in Internet Communication Systems. Billie and Matthew spent their placement year setting up the charity IT Kidz of Africa providing facilities and equipment, as well as teaching computer skills to disadvantaged children in Ijede, Lagos. IT Kidz of Africa differs from other computing charities as it provides education rather than just donating computers.
Billies inspiration for setting up the charity was sparked during a lecture here in DEC, where she first became aware of the shockingly low figures of internet usage in Africa.
Setting up the charity was not an easy process; Billie and Matthew battled malaria, shipment and money problems, as well as power cuts to get IT Kidz up and running. Billie and Matthew were involved in every stage of the set up including painting the building and laying the driveway! When asked what she had learnt from the experience Billie said: No matter how doomed something may seem if you are determined you can achieve anything. It was a combination of this determination and passion to make a real impact on the lives of these disadvantaged children that kept Billie and Matthew committed to making the charity a success.
Here in DEC Gary Toms and Andrew Main were both a great help to Billie and Matthew, Andrew said: It was a privilege to be able to help Billie and Matt, who put so much creativity and energy into this wholly admirable project.
Whilst Billie and Matthew complete their degrees the charity continues to run and is staffed by eight employees appointed by Billie and Matthew and paid by the local government in Lagos. Billie and Matthew are extremely passionate about the charity and so far it has been a great success, they plan to use the experience from their current pilot project to launch the initiative in other areas of Africa. Dean John Vinney said: Its great to see DEC students making such a positive impact in other parts of the world. Matthew and Billie should be incredibly proud of this fantastic achievement.
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DEC home two National Cycling Champions!
Congratulations to Bryce Dyer and Louise Burman who achieved great success in the National TT Championships.
The event was held in Andover and consisted of a ten-mile time trial, followed by a four-mile hill climb. Louise won the ladies event, and Bryce not only won his age category, but was also overall winner.
We wish Louise and Bryce the best of luck for the new season which starts in Easter.
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Promotion for Visiting Professor
Congratulations to Dr Ben Azvine from British Telecommunications PLC, one of our visiting professors in the Smart Technology Research Centre, who has been promoted to the Head of the IT Futures Research Centre within BT. We wish him every success in his new role.
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Floodstop in the news
Wednesday 10 October saw DEC graduate Simon Phelps in the news. Simon provided a demonstration of his Floodstop portable flood barrier to the Press Association and numerous local news crews including Original 106, 2CR FM and Wave 105, and was also featured in the South Today news. Media interest in the barrier was sparked by reports that day that householders who are at risk of floods could lose their insurance cover if the government does not invest more money in flood defences.
Simon produced the Floodstop for his final year project on the BSc (Hons) Computer Aided Design course. Simon spent the first half of this year as an Entrepreneurship Fellow in the US after being selected by the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship and the Ewing-Kauffman Foundation. This year Simon has also won the regional final of the Shell Livewire competition and was named top Young Entrepreneur in the South West.
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Green power
On 14 October DEC was represented at Greenpower, an event which promotes careers in technology and engineering to school children. School children from across the country travelled to Goodwood race circuit to take part in the event which challenges them to design and produce electric cars and then race them.
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An overview of this month's activities
- 31 October Postgraduate Open Afternoon
- 7-8 November Design Your Future, London
- 17 November General Open Day
- 26-27 November Design Your Future, Manchester
- 28 November Dyson workshop for Product Design students
How to submit future stories
If you have a story you would like included in the next issue of all hands on DEC please send it to Emma Bennett . Each month the next deadline will be found at the bottom of the newsletter and a document can be found in the I drive (I:\DEC\Private\Marketing\All Hands on DEC) with all copy/story deadlines for the rest of the year.
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Next Newsletter
Story deadline is: 13 November
Newsletter will be sent out: 30 November
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