Blogs and News - St George's School, Edinburgh

A Big Bang Win for Girls in Science at St George’s!

Congratulations to Sophie and Iman, Lower 6 students, for their outstanding runners-up award at the prestigious Big Bang Science competition.

Sophie and Iman developed a design for a 'Water-Powered Flood Barrier' in response to the global issues caused by flooding each year. Their entry features a versatile barrier using recycled materials, such as plastics, creating an eco-friendly solution. They qualified for the Big Bang main competition through a first-class video entry (see below) and the girls were invited to attend the finals in person.

They had been disappointed when the event, which is the biggest STEM event in the country, was called off due to concerns about COVID-19. However, the competition moved online and the girls submitted their video entry instead. See below.

Their entry won the 'Runners Up' Award in the 'Intermediate Engineering' category, earning them a trophy and a £250 award to share. Sophie and Iman's remarkable concept is also being considered for the UK 'Water Prize', which will likely be decided over the coming months after it to has had to move online.

Speaking on behalf of Iman, Sophie commented on their recent win:

“The issue of global flooding has elevated dramatically in recent years due to climate change and this prompted us to design an eco-friendly and locally sustainable solution. We wanted to mitigate the devastating impacts of flooding on surrounding areas and utilise the problem of flooding to power the solution. 

 “Taking part in the competition has been an amazing journey and has inspired us. I am now thinking of pursuing a career in Engineering.”

 Alex Hems, Head of St George’s, commented:

 “We are absolutely delighted for the girls.  It is a real achievement to see how their initial idea has developed throughout the whole process and a great outcome after the many hours of hard work they put into their project."