Honorable Mention - Middle School, International

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

  • Goal 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions

2023 Youth Design Challenge

This design concept was developed by participants in the Institute’s Youth Design Challenge. The descriptions below are from the team’s competition entry materials.

School: College Francais Bilingue de Londres
Location: London, England
Coach: David Berland
Team members: Emilie M., Emma L., Felicie D., Maelys S., Margaux S.

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Innovation Details

What is the problem your team solved for this challenge? What is the problem addressed? How is the problem connected to the selected SDG?

In London, women and girls don’t feel safe and even around their own homes, as they are constantly getting harassed. This happens throughout the city, including on public transport and in the streets. This problem is very important as it happens on a daily basis to women and girls in the city. Our problem links back to the SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions as harassment is considered unlawful, because the victims do not give consent. In addition many of the victims that report these cases are often dismissed, which is the contrary of a strong institution.

How was your solution inspired by nature? What (at least two) organisms did you learn from? How effectively did you combine the biological strategies for the final design?

We’ve learnt about biological models that helped create our object. Green bomber worms create light underwater, by releasing sacks filled with bioluminescent fluid that dissolve. We have also learnt about the adjustable glue created by limpets, which is made using a liquid composed of water, carbohydrates and proteins. Finally we have learnt about how the proboscis monkey’s large nose works as an amplifying chamber for sound to resonate into.

We’ve added an amplifying chamber , along with a capsule filled with the limpet’s glue and another capsule filled with water and paper sacks containing bioluminescent powder to our design.

What does your design solution do? How does it solve or mitigate the problem you selected? How did what you learn inform your design?

Our design solution is made to protect women and girls from harassment in London in many different ways. Our goal is for women to feel safer. With the object that we have created, we believe that this can help women defend themselves . To begin, we installed a GPS so that parents or police can locate the person. We have also added a light that has mirrors surrounding it to increase the brightness and allow people to notice you. We have put in place a system that lets out moderately loud sounds to attract people and distract the attacker.