The Big Bang Competition is back for 2024/25!

Date published: 09 October 2024

Calling all future scientists, engineers, and tech innovators

The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition is open for entries for another year! Students aged 11 to 18 across the UK are invited to dream big and get creative by entering a STEM project into The Competition.  

A booth featuring display boards to explain how a scientific competition entry evolved. A young person with their back to the camera bends down and peers at the scale model on display.

The 2025 Competition offers more opportunities than ever before with brand-new special awards from the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and Institute Of Healthcare Engineering & Estate Management (IHEEM). The ECITB Teamwork Award celebrates the importance of teamwork and collaboration as we celebrate projects where young people work together to innovate and create solutions. The IHEEM Innovation in Wellbeing and Healthcare Engineering Award recognises student projects across topics such as healthcare, medication and humanitarian aid.  

Open to students of all abilities, every young person who enters will receive invaluable feedback from real scientists, engineers, and technologists, giving them the chance to learn, improve, and grow. Sarah Ansaf won the Big Bang UK Young Scientist of the Year 2024 award with her project on pain relievers' dissolution rates and their subsequent absorption into the body. She shared her excitement after she won: “I'm really happy, I can't process it right now! It feels like a dream. It means a lot to me, because it's my first time doing a science project!” 

Students can explore any STEM topic that sparks their curiosity and enter either as individuals or as part of a team. They can showcase their ideas in a variety of creative formats, from drawings and 3D models to video submissions. 

Plus, to support teachers and students, the free Big Bang Challenge resource offers step-by-step guidance to create and develop a STEM project. With 7 themes to choose from, the Big Bang Challenges cover topics like AI and robotics, extreme weather, air quality and more.  Each resource helps to bring exciting STEM concepts to life in the classroom. 

Winners will be announced at a spectacular awards ceremony during The Big Bang Fair, which returns to the NEC in Birmingham in June 2025. It's an event not to be missed! Entries for The Big Bang Competition close on 26 March 2025 at 5pm. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the future of STEM.  

I'm really happy, I can't process it right now! It feels like a dream. It means a lot to me, because it's my first time doing a science project!

— Sarah Ansaf, Big Bang UK Young Scientist of the Year 2024