Latest news from Loughborough University
| 22 May 2008 | PR 08/66 |
Loughborough’s success in design competition continues
Two Design and Technology finalists from Loughborough University have
been awarded top prizes at this year’s RSA (Royal Society for the
Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) Design Direction Awards.
| Robert Curtis received the RSA Fellows Award of £1,000 for his design called ‘Safuse’ – an infusion pump system for hospitals which, through the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, aims to lower the risk of tampering and reduce the occurrence of user error during the drug administration process. |  |
| Jonathan Fenton received the Mark Wilkinson Designers Award of £3,500 for ‘Bio-Pod’, an air-tight kitchen-top storage vessel that utilises vacuum ionisation to delay the decomposition of food waste and thereby reduce unpleasant smells and health hazards in the home. |  |
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Two other students,
Robert Taylor and Lauren Whitby, were given formal commendations
for their work. Robert’s design, ‘Gluco-Buddy’,
allows the parents of a diabetic child, or even the child itself,
to monitor their blood sugar levels day or night. Lauren’s
idea, the ‘Floating Mushroom Garden’, was devised to
provide farmers in Budikote, India, with stable crop production
during periods of extreme climate conditions, such as monsoons and
droughts, and thereby afford them financial security. |
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The work of a fifth Loughborough student, Jason Kline, was also shortlisted at the awards.
The RSA highlights the best of British and European design. The Design Directions Awards, launched in 2003, are the RSA’s student awards scheme that challenges young designers to respond to projects with a strong social context and intend for them to question the role of the designer in the modern world.
“Yet again our students have excelled themselves in the RSA competition,” said Paul Wormald, a lecturer in Loughborough’s Department of Design and Technology. “The range of successful projects is a clear demonstration of the highly innovative, creative and professional nature of the Industrial Design and Technology students in the Department.”
The students’ designs will be among hundreds featured at Loughborough University’s forthcoming Industrial Design and Technology degree show, entitled Ideation, which will take place on the University campus from 13 to 16 June.
– Ends –
For all media enquiries contact:
- Hannah Baldwin, Head of PR, Loughborough University,
T: 01509 222239, E: H.E.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
- Images of the students’ work are available on
request. Please contact Hannah Baldwin, T: 01509 222239, E: H.E.Baldwin@lboro.ac.uk
- Loughborough is one of the country’s leading
universities, with an international reputation for excellence in teaching
and research, strong links with industry and unrivalled sporting achievement.
It is a member of the esteemed 1994 Group – a set of internationally recognised, research intensive universities – and has a reputation for the relevance of its work. Its degree programmes are highly regarded by professional institutions and businesses, and its graduates are consistently targeted by the UK’s top recruiters.
Loughborough is also the UK’s premier university for sport. It has perhaps the best integrated sports development environment in the world and is home to some of the country’s leading coaches, sports scientists and support staff. It also has the country’s largest concentration of world-class training facilities across a wide range of sports.
In the 2007 National Student Survey, the University was voted fourth in the UK, with 23 out of 29 of Loughborough’s subject areas being ranked in the top ten for overall satisfaction. Loughborough is also ranked in the top fifteen of UK universities in national league tables. It was named winner of the 2006 and 2007 Times Higher award for the UK’s Best Student Experience and winner of the 2007 award for Outstanding Support for Overseas Students. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, the University has been awarded six Queen's Anniversary Prizes – an achievement bettered by no other university.