Bedford student wins Big Bang prize for her app to prevent Type 2 Diabetes

Bedford Girls School pupil Serena Jacob has won a major award after creating an app to prevent or potentially even treat Type 2 Diabetes.

The Year 9 student was voted the winner in the junior engineering category of The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition

For her project - called DM2.Prevent - Serena created an app that targets reversible risk factors for the disease and provides ways to reduce them.

Based on data inputted by the user, the app calculates personalised risk scores and generates a user-specific plan to reduce it.

Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK, which organises The Big Bang Competition, said: “There is no denying that students have had to deal with a lot of disruption to their learning in recent months, and the quality of this year’s entries is a testament to their talent, dedication and creativity under these difficult circumstances.

"Huge congratulations to Serena."

More than 200 young people submitted projects to The Big Bang Competition, an annual contest designed to recognise and reward young people's achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), as well as helping them build skills and confidence in project-based work.

Serena wins £750 in prize money to continue on her STEM journey as well as a trophy and certificate.