A student from Brunel University London has scooped a £10,000 prize for her unique water heater design at the inaugural Heatrae Sadia Award.
Jennifer Wong, 23, from Hong Kong, received the accolade after impressing judges with her design for a new, problem-solving electric water heating product. Her winning idea, which involved using a heat storage materials to increase capacity, was presented to the judges at Heatrae Sadia’s head office in Norwich in July.
The market-leading electric water heating brand launched the awards last year, in an effort to encourage more young people into the industry.
“It was real surprise to me,” said Jennifer, who graduated from Brunel’s Product Design BSc programme last summer. “They gave me really great support at Heatrae Sadia and I think this prize is a really good opportunity.”
Jennifer received her £10,000 cheque from representatives of the company at a special event held at Brunel. Whilst she’s not yet made up her mind as to how to spend the money, she hopes to use it running her own project.
Dr Eujin Pei, Programme Director, BSc Product Design, said: “Industry partnerships like this bring the programme and the course to life. They give students the chance to tackle real-world challenges.
“I could really see Jennifer’s progress as she worked on this project, from ground zero, all the way to something that really worked. It was impressive to see her look at the project from different directions – from usability and servicing, to the type of materials and cost. She did more than was expected – I think that really helped her stand out from the competition.”
Paul Rivett, Managing Director at Heatrae Sadia said: “The standard of entries we received this year was extremely high, which has highlighted to us just how many talented designers with promising futures there are out there.
“We’d like to pass on very well-deserved congratulations to Jennifer, who impressed the judges with her thoroughly considered and excellent design and presentation. We’re very much looking forward to seeing what next year’s awards will have in store.”
To find out more about the Product Design BSc programme at www.brunel.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/Product-Design-BSc
Reported by:
Tim Pilgrim,
Media Relations
+44 (0)1895 268965
tim.pilgrim@brunel.ac.uk