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With tough competition from university teams from the length and breadth of the country, Sheffield Hallam’s Team Affinity rose to the top to be crowned the winners of the Design Challenge 2025.
"It's been great to see what teams have done at the finals today and it's been a very tight competition; the top teams in particular scored very high on points," remarked Davide Migliorini, Event Chair for the finals.
UCL Team B also took home the trophy as the overall winner of the foundation class teams, continuing their run of good results at the Design Challenge.
This year's competition in action
From the initial 75 student teams who entered this year, the finalists from each of the regional heats were given the opportunity to present their work and poster detailing the design and build of their device, which was a device to simulate a autonomous charging system.
The afternoon event provided an opportunity to see their device in action, where they were graded on the accuracy and reliability of their solution to meet the challenge’s goal.
"It's a fantastic event and seeing so many teams with so many different ways of achieving the goal and the accuracy they're managing to achieve is fantastic", commented IMechE President Matt Garside, who joined as a guest timing judge. "The teamwork is immense and I'm really proud to be here. I'm proud to be inspired by these groups of young engineers."
Congratulations go to all our award winners:
Advanced Class:
- Design Winner: Sheffield Hallam University – Team Affinity
- Poster Winner: Bournemouth University – Team FrozOhm
- Presentation Winner: Robert Gordon Uni - Mechanizers
- Design Excellence Winner: Bournemouth University – Team FrozOhm
- Main Competition Winner: University of Central Lancashire - UCLAN1
- Overall Winner: Sheffield Hallam University – Team Affinity
Foundation Class:
- Design Winner: UCL - team B
- Poster Winner: UCL - team B
- Presentation Winner: Bournemouth University - Spare Tyre Squad
- Design Excellence Winner: UCL - team A
- Main Competition Winner: UCL - Team B
- Overall Winner: UCL – Team B
Design Challenge overview
The Design Challenge offers students from universities and university technical colleges (UTCs) an opportunity to experience real-world engineering. Participants are tasked with designing, building, presenting, and operating a device that meets a defined technical specification.
With an accessible entry point, the challenge provides valuable hands-on experience in engineering projects while also developing business acumen and interpersonal skills—all within a set timeframe. It is designed to complement academic studies and can be incorporated into official coursework or pursued as an extracurricular activity.
Next year’s challenge
Opportunities to get involved are already available, with the full device specification and ruleset for the 2026 Design Challenge ready for teams to start the design phase. We look forward to welcoming new and returning teams to the competition and seeing how they meet the requirements of the new device specification.
Could you be part of a winning team? Find out more about the competition, 2026 rules, and how you can get involved.