Project 2050: What can we do today to change the fate of our world? - Food Shortage

Jaimini Solanki, Jordan Walsh, Samuel Rhodes and Thomas Thomas, Cohort 2019

As part of Project 2050, SELA Cohort 2019 wished to demonstrate how engineering could have an impact in tackling the myriad sustainability issues which plague our society before irreparable damage is done. The exhibition is now live, in Festival of the Mind 2020 – both as an in person event, and a digital interactivity.

As our population rapidly grows, we need to find new ways of farming food to meet the demand. If this is not done, it is very likely that humans will not be able to produce enough food for this ever-growing population, regardless of any efforts made. Our SELA Food Shortages Team had the challenge of applying engineering solutions to solve future food shortages.

Project 2050: What can we do today to change the fate of our world? - Antibiotic Resistance

Nadine Shawkey, SELA Cohort 2019

As part of Project 2050, SELA Cohort 2019 wished to demonstrate how engineering could have an impact in tackling the myriad sustainability issues which plague our society before irreparable damage is done. The exhibition is now live, in Festival of the Mind 2020 – both as an in person event, and a digital interactivity.

As a group we identified that one of the areas which are predicted to be a huge problem in 2050 in regards to the biomedical engineering field is Antibiotic resistance. 300 million people are predicted to have died because of antibiotic resistance by then.

Lockdown Blues – Getting Your Mojo Back for the Next Academic Year

Jack Trethewey, Cohort 2018

As we rattle our way briskly through August, the start of the next academic year looms ever closer, mired with a complex feeling of uncertainty and excitement. I personally have found myself so engrossed in my new lockdown life, that I find it hard to imagine a time where I didn’t wile away the hours baking bread, ferociously cleaning my kitchen and rearranging my sock drawer. In fact, as June approached, I managed to get myself into a slump. I had recently learned that three placement offers I had secured had been cancelled. In an instant, my summer plans were blown wide open. At the time, I felt this loathsome feeling of self-pity, as if I was being personally targeted by this pandemic and that COVID-19 had made it its mission to derail my life.

Three Skills We Developed Through Working WIth Industry

Rob Bowland & Sam Maxwell, Cohort 2018

Throughout this year, members of SELA conducted year long projects revolving around the central theme of Big Data, and its increasing prevalence in all aspects of the modern world. Our group worked with industry partners at Tinsley Bridge on a project exploring data-driven manufacturing. Part of this, that we both worked in, was the analysis of existing data sets, with the intention of providing insights into company operations and potential opportunities for improvement, as well as to highlight the value of a data-driven approach to decision making.

SELA Success in Collaboration Awards and Six Tips for Online Collaboration

SELA is proud to announce that members Grace Faulkner, Kristel Bedregal Portugal, and Jaimini Solanki are members of the second place winning team of the Neil Rackham Foundation Award, for their project Anyone Can Engineer (ACE). This award recognises and celebrates the success of University of Sheffield students working on group projects during the COVID-19 lockdown. The award recognises the ACE Team’s project, inspired by SELA, to create an accessible introduction to the diversity of engineering roles, to inspire young people to recognise engineering as an opportunity for their future.

What does the future of engineering look like? A Biomedical Engineering Perspective

Ella Leatt, Cohort 2019

Biomedical engineers are professionals which combine the disciplines of biology and engineering in order to apply engineering principles in medical fields.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, biomedical engineering has come to the forefront of future technologies as a light has been shone on the need for virtual healthcare. Engineers will be required to develop technologies which will alter the way we manage our healthcare. We have already seen a shift in the way we view our own health with apps and smartwatches, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Five steps to changing your habits: An insight into mental resilience

Sam Casadei, Cohort 2019

As humans, we have an instinct to crave safety, an evolved desire that if left untreated, can become a hindrance to development. We all want to be comfortable in what we do, and we prefer to be in familiar surroundings. But at what cost? Why is Mental Resilience Important?