Northern Ireland pupils receive awards for STEM achievements at Ulster University 

An awards and exhibition event was held on 25th June at Ulster University in Belfast, which showcased and celebrated local school pupils across Northern Ireland for their engineering ideas submitted to the Primary Engineer annual UK STEM competition.      

These pupils had taken part in a national competition, run by educational not-for-profit Primary Engineer, where they answered the question “If you were an engineer, what would you do?”. Pupils interview an engineer, learn how to think like an Engineer and are tasked with identifying a problem in the world around them and coming up with a creative solution to that problem.  

Entries were then graded by local industry professionals before going to a regional judging panel were they picked two winners and two highly commended for each year group.   

The highly commended and winning pupils were awarded trophies and framed certificates of their ideas, with 41 pupils from schools across Northern Ireland being celebrated.  

Congratulations to all the pupils, including p7 pupil Eliza from Portavogie Primary School, whose idea “Asthma Aid” stood out for the judges and won the special ‘Judges Award’. The idea, which was inspired by herself and her brother who both have asthma, monitors oxygen levels and can detect extreme wheezing telling the person if they need to take their inhaler. It also features an alert and GPS track so family members can be aware of the situation.   

Every year University and Industry Partners of Primary Engineer select an idea to turn into a working Prototype from the previous year’s winning designs. There were two prototypes unveiled at the ceremony. The first was the Titanium Brace Knee Protector prototype, brought to life by Ulster University, based on the idea of Blake from Lisnasharragh Primary School.  And the second was the I CAN Swing prototype, brought to life by Thales, based on the idea of Malachy from St Oliver Plunkett Primary School. 

Primary Engineer were joined by David Crieghton, Engineering Director at Thales and Dewar Finaly, Head of the School of Engineering at Ulster University for the presentation to pupils on the night.  

“If you were an Engineer, what would you do” is an annual, national competition free to enter for all 3-19 school pupils.  Entries are open now for 2025-2026 and schools can register now at www.leadersaward.com  

Primary Engineer Public Exhibitions and Award Ceremonies continue all over the UK through to July, with thousands of pupils engineering ideas being displayed for all to see.  Find out more: https://leadersaward.com/exhibitions-and-events/