Young scientist and engineer of the year 2022 winners announced

Connie (left) and Avye (right) are the top winners!

Congratulations! Two teens have won the 2022 Young Scientist and Engineer of the Year awards at the Big Bang Fair UK.

14-year-old Connie from Liverpool and Avye from London, took home the top prizes in the competition for their solutions to real world problems.

Connie won the UK Young Scientist of the Year award, for her unique research into bird feathers, and Young Engineer of the Year was won by Avye, who invented a device which measures the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) there is inside a building.

The two received their awards at the Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Fair, one of the biggest celebrations of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people in the UK.

'Why can't some birds fly?'

Connie using a microscope to look at some feathers

As part of her research into bird feathers, Connie wanted to figure out why it is that some birds can and can't fly.

Connie said she first became interested in the topic when her father bought her a copy of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" book.

She was helped in her research by the Natural history museum and Hitachi, who leant her a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) - which is worth around £80,000! - to get a closer look at the feathers.

'Why can't buildings adapt to those inside?'

Avye showing off her invention

Avye built a device that can measure the amount of CO2 in a building, and using a model, showed how the building could adapt and change to the levels to improve the lives of the people living or working in it.

For example her model can open a skylight, activate moving external walls and fans, and generate different air quality alerts based on the CO2 levels recorded by her device.

Avye said her solution can benefit all sorts of spaces such as classrooms, offices or restaurants.