In Association with

For 2025 there were two winners, Sarah Cottee, Immi Health Ltd and David Baulis, Chimneys for Africa, both receiving the same value of award of up to £20,000.

Sarah Cottee, Founder & CEO, Immi Health Ltd

pictured above receiving her Award from Dr Shini Somara with Master Engineer Eur Ing Penny Taylor, JP and Clerk Cdr Peter Gracey VR RN [photo courtesy of Mark Witter Photography] 

Project – “It’s Time to Know’’ 

(Empowering young women through an innovative, low-tech solution)  

Globally, there are 1.9 billion women who menstruate, yet their knowledge of their cycle remains low. In Low and Middle-Income Countries, where over 900 million women lack access to mobile internet and most do not use modern contraceptives, this lack of knowledge around the menstrual cycle can lead to unplanned pregnancies, low education attendance, and long-term health implications. Adolescent childbearing in particular is widespread, with an estimated half a million births each year to girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years, and 12.8 million births to adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years. 

Promoting women’s health has often focused on providing menstrual products.  However, these solutions overlook a crucial need: effective menstrual cycle tracking. Traditional methods, like laminated cards or dial necklaces, are rudimentary and static, failing to adapt to a woman’s unique menstrual cycle length, and relying on the user herself to do the calculations to determine the phases of her cycle. 

IMMI has developed the first low-tech digital watch of its kind that enables menstrual cycle tracking without the need for an app or smartphone. The IMMI watch is designed to learn the user’s individual cycle, providing personalised period warnings and an icon to notify them during their most fertile window. This innovation is not just a tracking tool; it’s a step towards empowering women with knowledge and control over their menstrual and reproductive health, bridging the information gap in a culturally sensitive and technologically appropriate way.

To date, IMMI has conducted a pilot in Burkina Faso and Moldova with UNFPA which resulted in 9 out of 10 girls saying their lives have changed since wearing the watch. Knowledge of the start date of their period and most fertile window doubled in Moldova, and quadrupled in Burkina Faso. Importantly, girls’ ability to prepare for their periods also saw notable gains, with many now knowing when to pack pads or underwear in their bags.

The award will be used in partnership with UNFPA & UNICEF to expand in West Africa through scaling to Liberia and exploring and validating social franchising as a sustainable business model for social innovation.

David Baulis, Co-Founder and Designer, Chimneys for Africa

David receiving his Award from Dr Shini Somara with Master Engineer Eur Ing Penny Taylor, JP and Clerk Cdr Peter Gracey VR RN [photo courtesy of Mark Witter Photography] 

Project – “Chimneys for Africa’’ 

(Improving health and life expectancy by eliminating household air pollution )

It is estimated that over 900 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, and over 30% of the world’s population, cook using open fires or inefficient stoves.   Household air pollution kills 3.2 million people (237,000 of whom are children) every year—more than AIDS and Malaria combined. In many communities in Africa, cooking over indoor fires is a cultural tradition, but the smoke causes birth defects, affects eyesight and contributes to chronic illness.

Some of the factors pertaining to current and continued use include:

  • Cultural practice – this is the way their family has cooked for generations
  • Taste – food cooked over charcoal has a distinct flavour
  • Reliability – fuel supply such as electricity or gas in locations such as Sub-Saharan Africa is increasingly unreliable and unstable
  • Economic – fuel collected from the ground is free in comparison to gas/biofuel/electricity

The development of a prototype chimney in collaboration with local communities has demonstrated a design that is effective, culturally consonant (allowing the use of traditional cooking practices) and simple (able to be made and installed locally).  The chimney significantly reduces household air pollution when an open fire is used indoors.

The award will be used to create a sustainable implementation plan, upskilling local communities to encourage long term local manufacturing, sustainability and adoption. 

A new charitable grant launched in 2023, made by the Worshipful Company of Engineers and UK-based charity for the most creative engineering-based solutions to the alleviation of poverty.

The Worshipful Company of Engineers Charitable Trust (the Engineers Trust) acknowledges excellence in engineering, supports engineering education and research, gives grants and assists in the relief of poverty.

Since its inception in 1996 has led a variety of charitable and social enterprise projects.