Engineers are increasingly required to work at the forefront of social and environmental challenges. Despite this, only 7% of UK engineering firms with a sustainability strategy say they have the skills to fulfil it. The Engineering for People Design Challenge, a flagship initiative by Engineers Without Borders UK and South Africa, addresses this gap by empowering the next generation of engineers with the skills and insights needed for globally responsible engineering.

This year’s design context

The 2024/25 Engineering for People Design Challenge, delivered in partnership with Makers Valley Partnership and Engineers Without Borders South Africa, invited students to explore Makers Valley, a vibrant but under-resourced neighbourhood on the eastern edge of Johannesburg. Home to around 46,000 people, Makers Valley is a community rich in creativity, activism and entrepreneurial spirit, yet it faces complex challenges, including high unemployment and urban decline. 

Supported by a detailed written brief, video case studies, and an interactive map of the area, students were encouraged to engage with the voices of local residents and organisations to understand the social, environmental and economic context. Through this immersive learning experience, they developed sustainable engineering solutions to support the community’s vision – tackling issues such as access to clean water, green energy, and safe public spaces.

Now entering its fourteenth year, the challenge has reached over 87,000 students across five countries, equipping the next generation of engineers with the skills and mindset to address real-world issues through globally responsible design. This year’s challenge brings another exciting opportunity to make a lasting difference.

The UK and Ireland Grand Finals

The top 30 student teams and their educators gathered at Sheffield Hallam University for a day packed with creativity and connection.

The event kicked off with pitching presentations, where teams showcased their designs to a panel of expert judges who evaluated projects based on their social, ethical, environmental, and economic impacts. Alongside the pitches, students participated in an interactive workshop led by RS Group and took part in activities designed to spark idea-sharing and build professional connections.

The University of Cambridge teams

For the 2024/25 academic year the Cambridge Product Design course was reformatted to facilitate full participation in the Engineering for People Design Challenge. This involved shifting to a team-based approach, requiring both poster and video submissions from the teams. The reformatted course was initiated with four lectures from Professor Nathan Crilly. Each team was then supported with teamwork coaching from the Centre for Languages and Inter-Communication (CLIC) and project mentoring from Esdras Paravizo and Ana Boskovic, researchers working on design and sustainability.

Engineers Without Borders selected two Cambridge teams to participate in the national finals at Sheffield Hallam University on June 20th 2025.

Here is what the students wrote when submitting their projects:

Team 33: Left to right - Leo James, Abbey Jones, Benjamin Gombala, Jaiden Patel, Ana Ilie & Oliver Clements

Team 33 (From Jesus and Christ's Colleges)
Abbey Jones, Oliver Clements, Jaiden Patel, Ana Ilie, Leo James, Benjamin Gombala, Amelia Hubbard, Eddie Hindson.        

Project title: H2GO

Design area: Water

Proposal description: H2GO is a water decontamination system combining a two-stage filter with UV light sterilisation - effectively removing cholera bacteria. H2GO is cheap, accessible, and adaptive to the unreliable energy grid, improving health of the local community.

Summary: Our idea is to create an inexpensive household water decontamination system to address the poor water quality in Makers Valley. As a result of an outdated sewage system, most water utility companies do not provide water that meets global standards and water quotas are in place due to low supply leading to illegal tapping of the infrastructure. Also, the Juksei river is a source of cholera outbreaks. Hence, our idea intends to improve the water quality and so the general health of the population.

Key design highlights: The FRP casing (strong material, long lifespan, suitable for outdoor usage) is stackable, ergonomic, and aesthetic. The first layer of the filter (silica sand and gravel) removes large particles. The second layer (porous ceramic with pore size 0.1 - 0.5 µ) blocks Vibrio cholerae bacteria (0.2 - 0.5 µ). Next, UV sterilisation is achieved using a rubber spiral lined with LED strips to ensure the desired UV exposure. LED UV lightning was chosen over Hg due to its longevity (less waste), and to avoid environmental and health risks. The filter support is an upcycled wooden plank, and the UV chamber, where the filtered water is stored, is a corrosion-resistant upcycled bucket. Most materials are either upcycled, or local to South Africa.

Team 39 (From Christ's College)
Boyang Li, Amitan Joseph, Tin (Thanh) Nguyen, Jia Xuan Tan, Alex Lander, Marcus Lee, Zhen Yang Shen. 

Project title: Improving Digital Literacy in Makers Valley

Design area: Digital

Proposal description: A custom Linux-based OS that can be installed to a mobile phone, allowing it to be used as both a phone and a desktop computer. A keyboard and monitor are also supplied. A selection of software is pre-installed, optimised for children learning.

Summary: The problem we are addressing is the lack of access to technology and digital literacy. By providing a cheap device with useful software, we can provide skills to those who most need them, solving multiple issues at once: Children can break out of the cycle of poverty, Young Adults will have more to do (avoiding violence) and Women can gain an increased independence. Since many in Makers Valley have phones, we designed a device to extend their function to be a full desktop computer.

Key design highlights: The core of the design is a custom Linux-based OS. It will be optimised for efficiency over performance, to maximise battery life. It can be installed on Android phones that can be supplied or are already owned by users. During ordinary use, the phone acts as a typical mobile device. When plugged into the keyboard, the desktop mode starts. Here, open-source desktop apps can be used: e.g. Office Suites, Browsers & Code Editors. Inspired by OLPC XO, the device will also have a large part of Wikipedia stored on it offline, allowing for learning even through load shedding. Outside of the OS, the keyboard will have an integrated battery to power the device for longer and the monitor is refurbished to reduce costs and reduce waste.

Engineers are increasingly required to work at the forefront of social and environmental challenges. Despite this, only 7% of UK engineering firms with a sustainability strategy say they have the skills to fulfil it (IET, 2021). The Engineering for People Design Challenge, a flagship initiative by Engineers Without Borders UK and South Africa, addresses this gap by empowering the next generation of engineers with the skills and insights needed for globally responsible engineering.