• Question: Do you have any ideas for an engineering based EPQ?

    Asked by anon-256861 on 11 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: Andy Timms

      Andy Timms answered on 11 Jun 2020:

      Hello, in terms of my area of interest (not being an engineer) I would suggest something alone the lines of – How can engineering contribute to the production of safe food

    • Photo: Chloe Carter

      Chloe Carter answered on 11 Jun 2020:

      There are lots of things you could study for your EPQ but I would suggest you find something that you really enjoy as you spend a lot of time working on it. I did my EPQ on Chocolate which I really enjoyed.
      Some ideas I can think of for an engineering EPQ are:
      1) Gender imbalance in Engineering
      2) Natural vs Man made engineering
      3) Engineering for flood management – My line of research
      4) Bionic prosthesis
      5) How to improve the engineering methods of X
      6) How to get more people into engineering
      7) Reducing waste in X type of engineering
      8) Chemical/Biological engineering of plants
      9) The engineering behind a chocolate bar – I did some of this in my EPQ
      10) What type of engineering is the best for reducing pollution – structural engineering of green buildings vs mechanical engineering and emissions vs biological engineering making plants that can clean the air

      I hope this helps and good luck with your EPQ!

    • Photo: Alex Holmes

      Alex Holmes answered on 11 Jun 2020:

      Hi! Not engineering related, but I did an EPQ on alternatives to animal experimentation when I was in school and absolutely loved it and I’m pretty sure it’s how I got offers from some of the universities I applied to, so I hope you enjoy it too!

    • Photo: Tiffany Chan

      Tiffany Chan answered on 11 Jun 2020:

      Hi Rachinta! Chloe’s given some great suggestions already, but I think it’ll depend on which branch of engineering you’re looking at researching (engineering is v broad!); maybe we could give you some better answers if you let us know some topics you find interesting?

      I studied bioengineering (+ chemistry), and I’m personally interested in developing new technologies to improve drug delivery / diagnosis (brain diseases are particularly tricky to tackle for a number of reasons…). Good luck with the EPQ!

    • Photo: Amber Villegas - Williamson

      Amber Villegas - Williamson answered on 15 Jun 2020:

      Hiya this is a great question and I answered a similar one recently so here’s my almost identical response!
      I did have to do a little reading to find out what EPQ is as they didn’t have such an option in my day!

      For Electrical Engineering and all EPQ projects that receive high marks are normally the ones that show their thinking and document the whole process by researching your idea, creating a hypotheses, outlining method of testing, recording data, analysing the information and producing a conclusion – in theory posting this very question could be the start of the process 😉

      Documenting projects is key in Electrical Engineering (I did my degree in Electrical & Electronic Engineering) so know all about keeping lab books. Now that I’m working we have multiple documentation control processes..I digress.

      If I had the option to be in your shoes I’d probably be looking at making a Tesla coil from scratch or something using the Micro:bit.

      Also note that it’s okay for things to not go 100% to plan, the most important skill in engineering is to analyse what happened, why and implement steps to avoid the same issue (fyi – this happens everyday in real life).

      Good Luck 😀

Comments

  • Photo: Joe

    Joe commented on :

    A really difficult question, as you probably know the field of engineering is incredibly broad. I think the key to it will be ensuring that it’s something you have a genuine interest and passion for.
    Working in the food industry I would personally be looking at something along the lines of how the EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering Design Group) guidelines influence modern food factory design.
    If I could do anything, I would probably be looking at something I could design, build a prototype of and test such as a scale model of an F1 car rear wing or aeroplane wing. The process of checking theory against real world results was always interesting for me when I was studying.

  • Photo: anon-256861

    anon-256861 commented on :

    Thanks for the ideas everyone! I’m looking to do electrical engineering, so does anyone have any more suggestions more focused to that?