Wednesday June 10th 2026
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Two students from the Scotland have scooped awards in The Big Bang Competition, a prestigious nationwide competition for young engineers, scientists and technologists.
The winning students are from First Step Robotics, a community group in Broxburn, and Madras College in St Andrews.
Kanav Jain, a student from Broxburn, has been crowned UK Young Engineer of the Year, supported by Thales, for his project ‘AeroAid: autonomous VTOL quadplane’. 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.
Upon winning Kanav commented “It’s so surreal! 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.
“Supporting these future engineers is truly exciting for us at Thales. 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.”
Suhandan Thangadurai, a year 10 student from Madras College won the Intermediate Technology award with their ‘Tree hugger’ project. They designed a robotic system to detect early signs of tree disease to support forest conservation. The results show that affordable, sensor-based robots can successfully identify tree stress, offering a solution to protecting forests and ecosystems.
The winners of The Competition, which recognises and rewards talented young innovators, were announced at an awards ceremony at The Big Bang Fair. The Fair is the UK’s largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people held at Birmingham’s NEC over 9 June to 11 June. Run by EngineeringUK, The Fair is supported by organisations across the engineering and STEM sector including major supporter Rolls-Royce, easyJet, EDF Energy, Royal Aeronautical Society, The Wildlife Trust, University of Cambridge and V&A museum.
All the winners impressed the Competition judges, who commended them on their innovative projects.
Dr Hilary Leevers, Chief Executive of EngineeringUK who run The Competition said: “Massive congratulations to Kanav and Suhandan. Their curiosity and creativity have driven them to produce some brilliant STEM projects addressing some really big societal problems. They should all be very proud of their dedication and hard work. 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 find out more and discover all the winners and runners-up of The Big Bang Competition 2026 visit: www.thebigbang.org.uk/competition-winners
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