The Leading Engineering Endeavours Project is undertaken by second-year engineering students at Birmingham City University (BCU). Students work in interdisciplinary teams drawn from mechanical, automotive, electronic, and manufacturing disciplines. The teams were set a challenge by the Environment Agency to design and prototype a low-cost anemometer. The context was to provide a means of measuring air pollution dispersion in urban environments by using a network of anemometers.
Great emphasis was placed on the contextual issues surrounding air pollution, and students were tasked with undertaking a detailed PESTEL analysis. In addition, they were asked to provide feasibility studies and a business case to justify their final choice of design. The rationale of the project is to make BCU engineering students think beyond the boundaries sometimes imposed by conventional teaching methods, and to take account of wider social, environmental and commercial considerations. The course team believes that this makes for better engineers with more employability skills.
The teams were tasked with producing a marketing brochure, a video pitch and a prototype. These were presented at Innovation Fest which is an annual showcase for engineering and technology students, held at BCU and attended by academics, representatives of industry and potential employers.
