24 July 2007

Mondialogo Awards 2007

Cheng Chen, an MSc student in Energy and Environmental Engineering, has taken part in an international environmental engineering project, which has been nominated for the Mondialogo Engineering Award 2007.

He worked on the Application of Biotechnology for the Treatment of
Dyehouse Effluents in India and Philippines, which has the objective to ensure groundwater quality and to avoid long distance transportation of drinking water. The project was developed with a team from St. Peter’s Engineering College and Anna University, Chennai, India. The Sheffield contact person was Robert Bachmann, himself a member of a nominated team in 2006.

Cheng will attend the Mondialogo Symposium in Mumbai, India, where the best projects will in turn be honoured with the Engineering Award. The ten winning teams can look forward to cash prizes each worth Euro 20,000. Another twenty teams will receive an honorary award, each carrying Euro 5,000 in prize money.

A total of 3,200 students of engineering sciences from 89 countries had registered for the second edition of the Engineering Award.

To receive a nomination for the final, judges looked at the projects' creativity and quality, their pursuit of the United Nations’
Millennium Goals and their feasibility. The intensity of intercultural dialogue and the exchange of knowledge between the trainee engineers also played a crucial role.

Mondialogo is an intercultural dialogue and exchange initiated by DaimlerChrysler and UNESCO. Engineering students in developing and developed countries work together to improve living standards and ensure sustainability in the 21st century.