Meet the Everyday Engineering competition winner
Eleria’s Menstrual Cup Portable Cleaning and Sterilising Case
Eleria is a portable cleaning and sterilising case suitable for all size A menstrual cups, making the public toilet cleaning and at home sterilising processes quicker, simpler and more discreet.
In an average lifetime women, and those who menstruate, will send two minibuses full of menstrual product waste to landfill, and spend around £5,000 on those products, the equivalent of buying a latte every day for the next four years.
A big congratulations to two young entrepreneurs from Bristol who designed a menstrual cup portable cleaning and sterilising case beating entries from across the UK to win the national Everyday Engineering competition, which aimed to prove that everyone has the potential to become an engineer.
The competition, launched by the Royal Academy of Engineering in partnership with Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden, asked entrants to share their ideas for inventions that could help make daily life more sustainable. It encouraged people from all walks of life to release their “inner engineer” and recognise that everyone has the capability to think like an engineer as engineering habits – like problem spotting and creative problem solving – can come from anyone.
Using a menstrual cup can significantly reduce single-use plastic waste associated with sanitary products. In the average lifetime, women and those who menstruate will send two minibuses full of menstrual product waste to landfill, and spend around £5,000 on those products, the equivalent of buying a latte every day for the next 4 years.
Kira Goode (24) and Monica Wai, (24) designed the case, Eleria, (previously known as CupSquared) as a portable, multifunctional menstrual cup cleaner that helps to make adopting the menstrual cup easier and more convenient, especially on the move. They want to make cleaning the cup at public toilets and at home sterilising processes quicker, simpler and more discreet. Eleria is currently a prototype, with Kira and Monica seeking investment to allow them to develop the product further.
Invented by Kira Goode (24, Bristol) and Monica Wai (24, Bristol)
Kira and Monica have won the chance to meet Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden and get her advice on their idea, as well as an award from the Royal Academy of Engineering and a mentoring session from its Enterprise Hub – a unique accelerator for engineering entrepreneurs - to take their idea to the next level.
In their entry, Kira, co-founder, said “At University I was trying to find a cheaper and more sustainable period product and I started using a menstrual cup and wondered why more people weren't using it. After conducting research with thousands of people it was clear the main barrier was that women were unsure how to clean and sterilise cups on the move, and it that was really off-putting. We created Eleria to make these products more convenient and save money!”
Eleria has previously secured funding through the University of Bristol and Enterprise Nation, won an award for the best Green Startup, and secured a place on NatWest’s Entrepreneur Accelerator Hub.
New tube map celebrates engineering icons
We have partnered with Transport for London (TfL) to launch a new ‘Engineering Icons’ themed Tube map with 274 Tube and Elizabeth line stations named after leading engineers.
The engineering-themed version of the iconic London Underground map, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary, can be viewed online at the TfL website.
Everyday engineering competition
Our national competition was open to all the UK’s kitchen table engineers, with ideas and innovations that could make or are making our daily life more sustainable. A public vote held on National Engineering Day, 1 November 2023, decided the nation's favourite sustainable idea or innovation. The winner has the chance to develop their ideas and innovations with experts and high profile entrepreneurs including Dragons' Den's Deborah Meaden and mentorship from the Enterprise Hub.
Meet the Everyday Engineering competition finalists
On National Engineering Day, we asked you to help show the nation that everyone has the potential to be an engineer.
The competition ran throughout October in partnership with Dragons’ Den investor Deborah Meaden.
The competition has served as a reminder that everyone has the capability to think like an engineer and that engineering habits – like problem spotting and creative problem solving – can come from anyone.
Phyto
A hanging pendant light made from 3D printed algae-based bioplastic, invented by Sam Bird Smith (23, London)
The Phyto Light is made from nuisance algae, which when allowed to spread out of control, can damage surrounding marine life. This algae is extracted from the water before being dried and processed into bioplastic. The clean water is then pumped back into the source, restoring life to the area. This process not only creates a new, sustainable material, but also protects marine life and provides local areas with clean water.
Eleria
Eleria is a portable cleaning and sterilising case suitable for all size A menstrual cups, making the public toilet cleaning and at home sterilising processes quicker, simpler and more discreet.
In the average woman’s lifetime, the person will send two minibuses full of menstrual product waste to landfill, and spend around £5,000 on those products, the equivalent of buying a latte every day for the next four years.
EcoPonics
A customisable vertical farming unit for gardens, invented by Anvith Sujay and Ashwin Madhusudhanan (both 16, Bristol)
Each 0.5m cubic unit, or 'cell' has space for multiple plants and contains a pink LED light, allowing for the fastest rate of photosynthesis, and a piping system to allow the water to easily be changed, as the cells use hydroponics. EcoPonics saves space in gardens, allowing more plants to be grown per area and more efficiently, without the need for fertilisers.
National Engineering Day impact by year
National Engineering Day 2022: improving lives through engineering
This is Engineering Day returned on 2 November 2022 as National Engineering Day with a focus on showcasing how engineering improves lives.
We produced a video featuring Great British Bake Off stars, Andrew Smyth, Giuseppe Dell'Anno and Rahul Mandal showcasing how engineering and baking are interlinked. We also launched the #EngineeringCakes social media challenge which encouraged the public to bake a vegan chocolate with an inspirational engineering decoration.
The Academy published new research revealing that the UK is an engineering powerhouse, with the profession generating up to an estimated £645bn gross value added (GVA) to the UK’s economy annually – equivalent to 32% of the country’s economic output. A map was produced highlighting that hotspots of engineering appear all over the UK, with a high proportion of local populations of Mid Ulster, West Cumbria, and Flintshire and Wrexham working in the profession.
Over the course of the Day, and thanks to an incredible community of partners and supporters we:
- Achieved over 77 million potential impressions this year across social media, more than double last year's equivalent number.
- Trended at #3 on Twitter in the UK
- Amassed more than 200,000 video views for National Engineering Day activities
- Organised a parliamentary reception and panel hosted by Lord Mair. The event was attended by over 70 people including nine Parliamentarians, industry partners, professional engineering institutions, Fellows and representatives from the This is Engineering campaign.
- Secured widespread media coverage including in the Metro, the Express, Daily Mirror, The Times. As well as mentions on BBC Radio 2 and a dedicated slot from Steph McGovern on her show Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4
This is Engineering Day 2021
In 2021, This is Engineering Day landed at the start of COP26, when public conversations were focused on what we need to do to tackle climate change and become net zero by 2050. Through reimagined artworks, we envisioned what landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes would look like in a net zero world in 2050. From agriculture to travel and energy to housing, we shared how engineers can mitigate the effects of climate change and help us live a more sustainable life tomorrow.
The Academy worked with a digital artist who reworked masterpieces by Monet, Van Gogh, Constable and Pissarro to inspire a conversation about the engineering advances that could help to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Innovations such as agricultural robots, smart thermochromic windows, vertical farms and flying taxis have been woven into the reimagined impressionist masterpieces to depict what a more sustainable world may look like in the future.
Over the course of the Day, and thanks to an incredible community of partners and supporters we:
- Achieved a total media reach of 33 million
- Hashtags from the day were seen over 30 million times
- Set up a pop-up art installation at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, the host city for COP26
- Hosted a special Green Skills themed panel discussion as part of our COP26-linked Ask the Engineers event series
- Secured widespread media coverage including in The Mirror, The Sun, Channel 4, Radio 4, The Times, and on Steph’s Packed Lunch with engineers who feature in This is Engineering and the Great British Bake Off.
This is Engineering Day 2020
This is Engineering Day 2020 saw the Academy’s plans to launch a new, pandemic-proof, virtual museum: the Museum of Engineering Innovation on Google Arts and Culture, with an inaugural collection showcasing the engineering behind Paralympian Jonnie Peacock’s blade, vaccine manufacturing and Shakespearean theatre.
We also hosted five online Q&A sessions for students, attracting over 420 registrations from schools and the engineering community. The discussions were recorded and are available to view here.
Media highlights included features on BBC World Service and Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch, and articles in the FT, The Metro, Daily Express, and Forbes.
Engineers and engineering organisations across the country got involved in the day both online and offline. Highlights included:
- Transport for Greater Manchester provided over 170 poster sites around their network featuring the Museum QR code
- Network Rail shared campaign content on over 50 screens in stations across the UK
- Amazon re-programmed Alexa to answer questions about engineers and This is Engineering Day and created an Alexa engineering quiz, and special engineering book list.
- The Mercedes F1 Team and Lewis Hamilton created a bespoke new video for their social media accounts, which generated over 836K views and 316K likes
This is Engineering Day 2019
In 2019, we hosted our very first This is Engineering Day on 6 November 2019, in the middle of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, a day to raise awareness of what engineers really do and celebrate those who are shaping the world we live in.
To challenge the narrow public perception of engineers and engineering, we launched a new public image library of more representative images of engineers, a new Instagram channel @ThisisEngineering, and a challenge to help us change image search results for the word ‘engineer’.
Engineers and engineering organisations across the country got involved in the day both online and offline:
- Over 130 organisations signed a pledge to increase the public visibility of more representative images of engineers and engineering
- Over 780 images were dontated to our free engineering photo library by over 40 partner organisations
- Amazon Alexa answered questions about This is Engineering Day and the role of engineers, and Amazon ran engineering-focused tours of Amazon’s fulfilment centres
- Network Rail showcased real images of engineers on 60 screens across 15 stations in the UK, and across the Virgin train network
- Facebook created and promoted new engineering video content featuring their engineers
- Google hosted an engineering takeover at its Portsmouth Digital Garage
- Celebrities including F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, author and present Konnie Huq, astronaut Tim Peake and Great British Bakeoff finalist Andrew Smyth marked the day on social media, helping #ThisisEngineering reach over 12 million people on 6 November alone
Related content
Looking for images of engineers?
Our This is Engineering image library has contemporary images that represent the diversity of today's engineers across all disciplines. All our photo's are free to use.
More resources
Visit our This is Engineering website for more content about how to become an engineer and the different career paths in engineering.
This is Engineering
National Engineering Day is part of the This is Engineering campaign which aims to bring engineering to life for young people, and give more people the opportunity to pursue a career that is rewarding, future-shaping, varied, well-paid and in-demand.