The EDGE educational foundation promotes vocational learning throughout UK. As its contribution to IPY project 343 it launched the ICE-Edge competition in January 2007 in which teams of schoolchildren aged 13-17 from 10 regions in England and Wales submitted project ideas for tackling issues of climate change and environmental problems.
The prize - a once in a lifetime trip to Svalbard to see for themselves the changing Arctic environment, meet polar researchers and get involved in polar projects.
The response was fantastic with well over 2000 entries submitted and from these entries 37 teams were selected to appear in a Grand Final held on 5th May at Imperial College, London. A team of expert judges (including Cynan Ellis-Evans from the IPY International Programme Office) assessed presentations by each of the teams and the standard proved to be very high. At the end of a long day of competition, 12 winning teams were announced.
The winning ideas included using the sulphur waste from coal to generate additional electricity, window blinds that function as solar panels, carbon credit cards and strategies for eco-community living.
The 42 winning youngsters will be heading North in July with a BBC film crew to record their experiences and on arrival in Svalbard will be interacting with scientists from the University of Norway in Svalbard (UNIS) and with international researchers at the Ny-Alesund research village.
More information can be found on the Ice-EDGE website.
