Young engineer of the year revealed

(l-r) Mike Sewart, Chief Technology Officer at Thales, Kanav Jain (winner) and Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive, EngineeringUK

The winners of The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition have been named. Held at The Big Bang Fair, the spectacular awards ceremony followed a day-long showcase of talented young innovators.

The Big Bang Competition, run by EngineeringUK , is a prestigious national competition for young engineers, scientists and technologists aged 11 to 18. There are a range of awards and prizes up for grabs, recognising and rewarding talented STEM innovators. The top 3 winners each receiving £1,000 prize money.

Kanav Jain, a student from Broxburn, Scotland has been crowned UK Young Engineer of the Year, supported by Thales, for his project ‘AeroAid: autonomous VTOL quadplane’. Kanav is currently in S4 and entered via a community group – First Step Robotics.

Kanav was inspired to help people in rural and remote regions where the delivery of essential emergency supplies is challenging due to lack of reliable road access. Using his passion for drones, he has designed and developed a small, low-cost autonomous aircraft that can carry and deliver medicines and other essential supplies quickly and efficiently. Kanav hopes his low-cost, accessible invention will help provide critical humanitarian support and save millions of lives.

He commented “The moment they say your name you completely zone out. Because of how much effort you put into it, and to see all of that come to life is really great.”

James Mackay, head of STEM, UK at Thales commented: "Congratulations to The Big Bang UK Young Engineer of the Year. We were delighted to see the creativity and impressive STEM skills from all the finalists. Kanav’s project really impressed the judges, along with his tenacity, dedication and drive.

“The Competition is a great reminder that the next big breakthrough could come from anyone. We need many more young people to pursue STEM careers. It’s been great to see so many students thinking about how they can innovate and create real-world solutions with engineering.”

The UK Young Technologists of the Year, supported by Siemens, were named as Daniel Brownlee and Luke Johnston, year 11 students from Cookstown High School in Northern Ireland, for their project ‘TrailTalk: AI-powered experience mapping’.

The talented team created an app to help travellers find experiences that match how they want to feel, instead of prioritising popularity and ratings as existing platforms do.

Jessica Dowdall, Lauren Dowdall, Martha Pugh, and Meike Oakes, a team of year seven students from Hexham Middle School in Northumberland were crowned UK Young Scientists of the Year for their project The plant perfectionists: how does different masses of biochar affect plant growth?

Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK, said: “Massive congratulations to all the winners and runners-up. Their curiosity and creativity have driven them to produce some brilliant STEM projects addressing some really big societal problems. Competitions like The Big Bang Competition help young people connect their passions with making a real-world difference, it shows young people a future in engineering and technology is possible for them.”

To discover all the winners and runners-up of The Big Bang Competition 2026 visit: www.thebigbang.org.uk/competition-winners