2018

As a society, we are failing to help young people by not connecting the science, design, technology and maths they learn in the classroom with the exciting and important engineering problems and solutions in the outside world.

Sir James Dyson Inventor

Our mission is to inspire the next generation of engineers.

Welcome 05

Inspiring the next generation 07

Spreading the word 13

Our resources go where we can’t 23

Measuring our impact: the Schools Project 33

The James Dyson Award 47

Overcoming financial obstacles 57

Supporting our commmunities 73

2019 vision 77

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I joined the James Dyson Foundation because I felt lucky to have accidently fallen into an engineering education, both at school and university. However, so many young people miss out, as they’re misinformed or, quite simply, not introduced to engineering as a potential career at all.

We continue to face a global shortfall of engineers. Failing to address this problem is expected to cost the UK economy alone £27 billion every year. Put very simply, we need more engineers.

That is why James set up the James Dyson Foundation in 2002 – to combat the shortage by inspiring the next generation of engineers.

The James Dyson Foundation brings real-life engineering into the classroom through school resources and workshops. In 2018, we reached over 200,000 students through these programmes.

We want to empower young people to excel as engineers, and remove the barriers that might prevent them from

achieving their potential. That’s why we also offer financial support for students, through bursaries and partnerships with top universities.

James feels strongly about giving young people a platform to develop and commercialise new ideas. And his international design competition, the James Dyson Award, does just that. It’s continuing to work with more budding inventors – the 2018 competition was our biggest yet.

This report sets out some of the highlights and achievements from the James Dyson Foundation’s year. We’ve worked with some of the world’s brightest minds – and we look forward to inspiring even more young people about the possibilities of engineering in the year to come.

Lydia Beaton Global Head of the James Dyson Foundation

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INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION

The James Dyson Foundation works on a global scale to inspire young people about the exciting world of engineering. We work with primary school children through to university students and graduates, to ensure they have the knowledge and support needed to pursue their engineering ambitions. We also support medical and scientific research projects, and charitable causes that are local to Dyson.

We work across 27 countries and regions globally, with a focus on the UK, US, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore. We’re a registered charity, supported by Dyson and, to date, have donated over £60m to charitable causes.

In 2018, the Foundation expanded the James Dyson Award – an international design engineering competition aimed at university students and graduates. We also ran an international school research project, in which we developed a new practical engineering curriculum and evaluated the results and findings. To support this, we invested in our digital platforms – launching new global websites to make sure our resources are widely accessible. Our total 2018 spend was £1.17m.1

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The James Dyson Foundation provides the mentorship, materials and money that budding inventors need, so they can get hands-on with problems, think laterally, and find solutions. To date, the James Dyson Foundation has donated over £60 million to charitable causes.

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Engineering plays a central role in driving innovation, technological progress and economic growth throughout the world. Yet the gap between the demand and supply of engineers is widening in many countries.We believe that addressing this global shortage of engineers starts in the classroom.

SPREADING THE WORD

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We run rapid-prototyping workshops in schools and universities, which challenge students to think like engineers and turn their ideas into working prototypes. They are taken through the design process of mind-mapping, sketching, constructing prototypes and presenting their ideas – just like Dyson engineers.

And who better to deliver this than our very own Dyson team? The James Dyson Foundation trains Dyson people to run the workshops, giving them the opportunity to have a positive impact in the community, and to act as role models to young people.

In 2018, we ran 150 workshops with 400 Dyson volunteers, reaching 7,000 students.

Working with the James Dyson Foundation has introduced me to lots of interesting, inquisitive young people. It’s really exciting being able to talk about the variety of activities I get involved in at Dyson. There are always one or two pupils in the room whose faces light up, realising this is exactly what they want to do for their career. They just didn’t know it was an option before.

Dominic Dyson Mechanical Engineer

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It’s great being able to break down pre-existing perceptions of what the term ‘engineer’ means, and to promote problem-solving principles to students of all ages.I enjoy being able to go into schools and get kids excited about engineering. It’s what I think was missing in school for me.Laura and Sam Dyson Design Engineers

Our volunteers also help us at ad hoc events throughout the year:

In July 2018, 65 Dyson volunteers joined a challenge event at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. They interacted with over 6,000 young people across three days.

To celebrate Women in Engineering Day, some of our Noise and Vibration engineers ran a workshop with female students from schools local to Dyson’s Malmesbury HQ.

We also ran events at the Singapore Art Science Museum, the SS Great Britain, Newbury Festival of Engineering and the Dyson summer parties.

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In 2018, we helped to inspire over 200,000 students across the world about engineering – all through our free educational resources.

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OUR RESOURCES GO WHERE WE CAN’T

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The resources are based on Dyson’s approach to engineering. They focus on the process behind developing new products and the stories of our people. This way, we can give a true insight into the life of a working engineer.

All our resources can be taught by non-specialist teachers, and contain lesson plans, Dyson machines and videos. We loan them to schools, managing the ordering process through our website.

In 2018, we sent 2,000 resources out to schools across the UK, US and Japan.

In 2018, the Japanese government’s Ministry of Education included our Engineering Box in their new study guidelines. They are highlighting it as an exemplary way to teach their new curriculum.

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Our volunteers can’t visit every school, so we send Dyson resources out for free to teachers, and make them available to download from our website.

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Challenge Cards

The Foundation worked with Dyson engineers to develop challenges specifically designed for children to try at home or in the classroom. The cards come in a pack of 44 and are distributed at events and workshops. They were downloaded, for free, 28,300 times in 2018.

The Design Process Box

We send this resource to primary schools for six weeks, so they can understand how the Dyson Air Multiplier™ fan works. The activity introduces students to product design by challenging them to find inspiration in everyday objects, and to use this inspiration to develop new ideas.

Engineer stories and design icons

We work to inspire young people about engineering by telling the stories of engineers and iconic inventors. On our website, we explain key inventions – from the Great Western Railway, to windscreen wipers. We also tell stories about our Dyson engineers.

The Engineering Box

This focuses on the Dyson DC39 vacuum cleaner and Tangle-free Turbine Head. Students take the machine apart (using the specialist screwdrivers provided) to better understand how the technology works.

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MEASURING OUR IMPACT: THE SCHOOLS PROJECT

The Foundation believes that a Design and Technology curriculum based on iterative design and problem-led, project-based learning is more relevant and engaging to students. As a result, students enjoy D&T more and their perception of engineering improves – so more students opt to study D&T at GCSE and A Level. And, in time, more young people choose to become engineers.

The James Dyson Foundation project has made me braver. I have taken more risks by giving the students open-ended briefs. It has made me really question what they are learning and why. Fiona England Head of Product Design, Wellsway School

We partnered with several schools in Bath, Chicago and Tokyo, donated technical equipment, and worked with teachers on a new curriculum. International collaboration between the schools was also encouraged, with ‘global make-athon’ events.

The largest of these research projects was set up in the UK. Here, primary and secondary students’ closest experience of engineering is through Design and Technology (D&T). However, nationally the outlook for D&T in schools is poor, with only 3% of GCSE exams taken being in D&T in 2017.

Since 2002, The James Dyson Foundation has supported schools with engineering education resources. However, from 2012 to 2018, we ran a more formal research project to test whether a problem-based, practical approach to engineering education in schools could encourage uptake of engineering-related subjects and increase awareness of engineering careers.

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To test our hypothesis we began the project with five schools in Bath. We donated £75,000 to each school, which they matched with £25,000 of funding to create industry-standard lab spaces. We also worked with the schools’ teachers and an educational consultant to develop strategies and schemes of work, to help transform teaching and learning in the D&T classrooms.

The Bath Schools Project

After six years, the project concluded in August 2018. Data from the schools and annual surveys was collected, which highlighted the key successes and learnings. The results will be published in full in the James Dyson Foundation Schools Project report.

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Below are some key findings:

Across the schools we worked with in Bath, 37% of students are choosing to study Design and Technology at GCSE – a 44% increase from the start of the project.

Two and half times more students are interested in engineering careers as a result of the project.

Nearly double the number of students said they enjoyed D&T lessons, compared to the start of the project.

Lesson plans and schemes of work from the project are now free to download from the James Dyson Foundation website, for all schools to access.

We’ve never had more pupils opting for D&T, in particular girls, so the male/female ratio is balancing out more and more every year. Traditional D&T needs to be a thing of past.Dom Pridham Curriculum Lead for Design and Technology, Ralph Allen School

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Similar projects were run in the US and Japan. In both countries, Design and Technology isn’t incorporated into the national curriculum. As a result, the James Dyson Foundation had to break new ground to introduce engineering education into the partner schools.

In Japan, the James Dyson Foundation implemented rigorous and extensive technology lessons in three junior high schools in Tokyo.

As with the other global projects, lessons were created that challenged students to use their technical knowledge to engineer solutions to everyday problems. Survey data collected from the schools in 2017/2018 showed an increase in students who considered engineering to be important to our lives, and who were interested in engineering careers. The project was recognised by the Japanese government, and Japan’s Ministry of Education has since embedded ‘problem-led learning’ into the national technology education program of study.

In the US, we worked with three schools in Chicago. Each school was given funding to equip their classrooms with industry-standard machinery, and we delivered over 100 hours of teacher training to develop new courses. These were well received by students – enrolment in design and engineering increased across all three schools. 2018 survey results also showed that over one third of students were interested in a career in engineering.

In 2018, the Mayor of Chicago visited one of the schools and spoke of the Foundation’s work as a ‘gold standard’ for corporate citizenship.

Our partnership with the James Dyson Foundation has created a paradigm shift in teaching and learning at Amundsen. Our Dyson Design and Innovation program is exceptional and very popular with students. The grant from the Foundation allowed us to create a functional maker space, and to train our teachers on how to use and teach the latest cutting-edge technology.Kristi, Amundsen school

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The James Dyson Award is the James Dyson Foundation’s international design competition. It celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. It’s open to current and recent design and engineering students.

Over £100,000 is awarded in prize money each year, with £30,000 going to the overall international winner.

In 2018, The James Dyson Award welcomed four new regions to the competition: the UAE, the Philippines, Sweden and Mexico. Entries increased by 20% versus the previous year, with a total of 1,275 entries submitted. To support and drive this growth, we developed our website to make it easier for students to enter, and to improve the management process for the Foundation team.

A platform for great minds with great ideas

THE JAMES DYSON AWARD

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As a result, the calibre was high and the competition fierce. We saw many innovative and futuristic inventions, including a robot that removes plastic waste from water, a plastic substitute made from potato starch and a prefabricated ant’s nest.

81 national finalists were selected by their country/region’s judging panel, with each panel being made up of engineering experts and leaders from the country/region’s technology industry.

These 81 were whittled down to an international top twenty by a panel of Dyson engineers. From this, an international winner and two runners up were chosen by James Dyson.

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The 2018 international winner was O-Wind Turbine – a new type of wind turbine that generates renewable electricity in cities. It was invented by two students from Lancaster University Nicolas Orellana and Yaseen Noorani.

Traditional wind turbines only capture wind travelling in one direction. This makes them inefficient in cities, where the wind is multi-directional. Using a simple geometric shape and vents, O-Wind captures horizontal and vertical winds – so it’s perfect for harnessing chaotic urban air.

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Nicolas Orella and Yaseen Noorani International 2018 James Dyson Award winners

The competition gathered global interest from the press, with coverage in major media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Bigger Picture, CBC, Business Insider, The New Zealand Herald, 20 Minuten, Smart Dubai and Fast Company. In total, we saw over 1,300 pieces of press coverage – a powerful way to expand the positive message of engineering.

We also reached nearly 2.5 million people on social media, with over 700,000 people watching our announcement video.

Winning the international James Dyson Award has validated our concept. The attention we’ve received so far has been humbling and given us the confidence to see the development of this concept as a future career. Already we’re in discussions with investors, and we hope to secure a deal in the coming months.

OVERCOMING FINANCIAL OBSTACLES

The brightest minds and best ideas don’t always have the support they need to flourish. And studying at university is an expensive venture – especially for a practical engineering course, where students need access to materials and equipment.6

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This is why the James Dyson Foundation provides engineering students with bursaries, scholarships and project funding. It’s just one way to make their path to a future in engineering easier.

Malmesbury school scholarships

The Foundation is currently supporting four students from Malmesbury School with university scholarships. Their tuition fees will be covered for up to four years.

Toby Chamberlain, Adrien Fauvarque, Abigail Morgan and Jack Carpenter are all studying science, engineering or maths-related degrees. They were selected for this competitive scholarship because of their clear focus and passion for their chosen subject.

Project bursaries

The Foundation has also awarded seven project bursaries of £1,000 to students studying engineering at the Dyson Centre for Engineering Design at Cambridge University.

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Abigail Morgan Malmesbury school student

Mary Dyson scholarships

In 2018, we awarded Natalia and Rosie with a £2,500 Mary Dyson scholarship from Murray Edwards College at the University of Cambridge. These scholarships, named after James’ mother (who studied at the college), provide financial support to female engineering students.

Natalia

Natalia has a passion for the practical application of physics in engineering. She won the department prize for her third-year project on Aircraft Wing Analysis. She’s now pursuing an ambitious fourth-year project, in which she’s using solar cells to improve the range of electric aircraft. Her ambition is to complete a PhD before pursuing a career in the commercial sector.

Rosie

Rosie’s engineering interest lies in the medical sector. She has previously completed placements at Oxford University Hospital and GE Healthcare Life Sciences, and hopes to attend a specialist medical engineering course at Harvard to gain more experience. She has also recently joined a university society to support Remap, a charity that custom-makes equipment to help disabled people live more independent lives.

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PHD support

In 2018, the James Dyson Foundation supported two PhD research students in the UK.

Elena

Elena is in the final year of her research at Imperial College London. She’s exploring the potential of using waste chicken feathers in new, sustainable materials. This is the basis of AEROPOWDER – a company she co-founded – which aims to create useful materials from waste.

Fidel

Fidel graduated in Aeronautical Engineering from Loughborough University. He’s soon to complete his PhD at the University of Bath, in which he’s researching the unsteady aerodynamics of wings in extreme wind conditions.

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Building inspiring spaces

The James Dyson Foundation has made a number of major donations to universities, resulting in new engineering departments and teaching spaces. These partnerships with academic institutions allow us to impact engineering education for even more young people.

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Imperial College London

In 2014, a £12 million donation was made to Imperial College London to open the Dyson School of Design Engineering. This helped to purchase and transform the old Post Office building on Exhibition Road into a fitting home for the new design-focused engineering department. It has state-of-the-art design studios, research labs and collaborative working spaces.

Since 2015, the Dyson School at Imperial has offered a four-year Master’s degree in Design Engineering. Now in its fourth year, the school has 40 staff and over 400 students, and has a 43% female cohort (compared with a national average of 16% of engineering students being female).

The original cohort of 36 MEng students are now in their final year, and are set to graduate in June 2019. 51 students are currently in their third year, and have just finished industrial placements at top international engineering companies. The course is on track to receive full CEng accreditation from professional institutions in 2020.

Refurbishment of the building on Exhibition Road is close to completion, with four of the five floors now occupied with students and researchers. The official opening will take place in May 2019.

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We remain deeply grateful to the James Dyson Foundation for their exceptional commitment to our vision for Design Engineering at Imperial. The support is enabling us to nurture the talents of our students, and provide them with the skills and knowledge to become design engineering pioneers of the future. Professor Peter Childs Head of Dyson School of Design Engineering

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Projects at Imperial

Students at the Dyson School of Design Engineering were part of a team that designed a wheelchair fencing frame for the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). The aim of the project was to provide a more affordable alternative to elite-level equipment.

University of Cambridge

The James Dyson Building at the University of Cambridge opened for use by PhD research students in May 2016, following a £6 million donation from the James Dyson Foundation. Now used by 1,200 postgraduate engineers, there have been some exciting discoveries and world-leading research conducted in the new space.

The Foundation also gave £2 million to set up the Dyson Centre for Engineering Design – a prototyping lab that’s open to all undergraduate engineering students at the university.

Imperial College London\Thomas Angus

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The Malmesbury community

The James Dyson Foundation offers financial and educational support to local projects, schools and charities in Malmesbury, where Dyson HQ is based.

In total, we donated £25,000 to the local community in 2018. This includes more than £15,000 worth of Dyson machines, and £10,000 in donations to local Malmesbury charities, schools, and events like Malmesbury carnival.

Global charities

We also support Dyson’s chosen charities through match-funding. This year, we helped raise £85,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK, Ann and Robert H Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Breast Cancer Foundation, Movember Foundation, Teach for Malaysia and VIVA Foundation.

Beyond inspiring the next generation of engineers, the James Dyson Foundation supports medical research and charities local to Dyson.

SUPPORTING OUR COMMUNITIES

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The Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care

Most notably, we helped build the Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care at the Royal United Hospital in Bath. Following a £750,000 gift from the James Dyson Foundation, the hospital was able to construct a new sustainable building for premature and sick babies. It was designed to enhance natural light to help the babies develop, and to be a more efficient space for staff.

The centre opened its doors in 2011, and has since cared for almost 4,000 babies and their parents.

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The Dyson Cancer Centre

We’re now funding the construction of the Dyson Cancer Centre at the Royal United Hospital, with a donation of £4 million. This will support state-of-the-art medical equipment and dedicated research facilities, as well as art and pastoral gardens. It’s due to open in 2020.

The James Dyson Foundation’s donation will enable us to vastly improve cancer care in the region, in the same way that the Dyson Centre for Neonatal care has already done for premature babies.John Cullum Chairman, Forever Friends Appeal

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Our vision for 2019 is to continue to inspire the next generation of engineers through our resources, workshops and projects. Having brought the James Dyson Foundation Schools Project to a close, we are developing the schemes of work to make them available to educators across the UK, as well as promoting the findings of this project through a report.

2019 VISION

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We are working to develop a new workshop, which will teach 16–18-year-old students about software, mechanical and electrical engineering. We will also continue to provide a platform for great minds as the James Dyson Award enters its fifteenth year. Our aim is to encourage more entries by developing more relationships with universities across the world.

You can find out more about James Dyson Foundation educational resources online at www.jamesdysonfoundation.co.uk

The James Dyson Foundation is a charity supported by Dyson Ltd.