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The Make-A-Difference! Programme has launched for this academic year, with teams encouraged to register by Friday 22 January.

This year’s programme launched at an event yesterday attended by potential team members, as well as previous winners. It is open to undergraduate students across Faculties and Departments in º£½ÇÉçÇø.

The Make-A-Difference! programme, which was set up within the Faculty of Natural Sciences in 2014, will grow this year thanks to a new partnership with from the Faculty of Engineering. 

Professor Omar Matar, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said: “We're delighted to further support the Make-a-Difference! Programme. Ensuring Imperiastudents have the space and support to develop their entrepreneurial ideas for real-world problems is a priority for the Faculty of Engineering and we hope that our students continue to sign up to and benefit from the programme.”

Emma Mattin, Make-A-Difference Programme Manager and Education and EDI Coordinator, said: “Engineering students have played a vital role in the success of the Make-A-Difference! Programme, having been able to participate since 2015. Working alongside students from other faculties, including many successful partnerships with FoNS teams, they have contributed to numerous finalist and winning teams. 

“We are delighted to welcome them as a formal partner in the programme, helping even more students from across Imperiato develop their innovative ideas, build valuable entrepreneurial skills, and make a meaningful difference to wider society!”

The Make-A-Difference! Programme challenges students to create impactful, low-cost technologies that address real-world issues. Over an eight-week summer placement, each team gains access to lab resources, funding, and mentorship. 

Those wanting to take part in this year’s programme should register their teams by the deadline of Friday 22 January 2026, before submitting their proposal outlines by the deadline of 12 February 2026.

The winner of the 2025/26 programme was announced at the final event earlier this month. Kalyb, who created a low-cost, electricity-free device that records the number of freeze events experienced by vaccines during transport, took home the £7,000 prize.

The team is made up of Flynn Li, Kaiqi Song and Yubo Gao from the Department of Life Sciences, alongside Bella Zheng from the Department of Physics – all first-year students. 

Ideas workshops

There are a number of ideas workshops taking place that undergraduates who are interested in taking part in Make-A-Difference! but don’t have a fully formed idea or team can take part in.

This year, the team are also running a women’s only workshop for the first time.

The dates of these worships are:

• Wednesday 18 November, 13:00 - 15:00 [Women's only workshop]
• Thursday 19 November, 17:00 - 19:00
•  Tuesday 24 November, 17:00 - 19:00
• Wednesday 2 December, 17:00 - 19:00