Elsie Neale, a student from The Grangefield Academy in Stockton-on-Tees, impressed MPs and Peers last week after being invited to showcase her innovative Big Bang Competition project at Westminster.

Elsie joined 20 other students from 8 schools across the country in attending the prestigious Big Bang at Parliament, which celebrates young people's creativity and innovation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The students were joined by parliamentarians, guests from the engineering and technology community and Siemens, who support the event and the technology strand of The Big Bang Competition.

Elsie showcased her project ‘Changing the world is as easy as changing what we eat’. The project is a literature review assessing the impact agriculture has on the environment and a comparison of the environmental footprint between animal vs plant-based diets.

Elsie commented, “It's exciting to be here! A lot of people have been amazed about how diets affect the planet. The Big Bang Competition was really fun. I would like to do science in the future.”

Grace Palmer, a T Level student from Solihull, awarded the senior engineering winner in The Big Bang Competition 2025, delivered an inspiring speech at the event. She spoke alongside Toby Perkins MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Select Committee (and event sponsor), and Dame Chi Onwurah MP, Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee.

Toby Perkins, Labour MP for Chesterfield, said, “Huge congratulations to all The Big Bang Competition entrants that are here today. I hope that passion for STEM that has been unleashed through this project will stay with you going forwards in your careers.”

“We’ve got a really amazing array of different ideas on display – they cover such a range, which demonstrates the breadth of directions in which STEM careers can now take you.”

Also delivering a speech, EngineeringUK Chief Executive Dr Hilary Leevers thanked the students for attending and encouraged them to “keep doing what you are doing – which includes your fantastic STEM work, but also your commitment to sharing your stories and enthusiasm with others, especially your fellow students.”

Dr Leevers also commented, “I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the nature of the projects that are here. You’ll see how incredibly purposeful and caring they all are – targeted at improving physical and mental health, environmental sustainability, and safety and accessibility. The fact that the students made these choices makes me feel so optimistic for the future, as much as the actual skills that we are seeing.”

Referencing the ongoing skills shortage and the need to bring more young talent into the engineering and technology sector, she urged industry to “continue to give young people the opportunity to understand what careers are out there and provide older students with work experience and industrial placements.” She also urged parliamentarians to “ensure that working with younger students is a key part of skills strategies”.

Other prominent attendees included Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP (Environment Secretary), Lucy Rigby MP (Economic Secretary to the Treasury), and Saqib Bhatti (Shadow Education Minister). In total there were 15 parliamentarians in attendance, with 6 of those having project teams from their constituencies.

Entries to The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition 2026 are now open.