Inspiring Early Careers in Green Engineering: The Rivers Trust at the BCU Innovation Festival
Communications Officer, Gwen Mainwaring joined colleagues from The Rivers Trust Technical team and Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions as a judge for the Leading Engineering Endeavours module, part of this year’s Birmingham City University (BCU) Innovation Festival, hosted by STEAMhouse.
29/06/26
The BCU Innovation Festival is a week-long celebration of innovation across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. It brings together students, academics and industry to explore real-world challenges and enables young people to build on the skills and experiences that shape early careers. For the past three years The Rivers Trust has worked with BCU to support the Leading Engineering Endeavours competition.
This year, 26 teams of students from across all engineering disciplines took part in the module which counts towards their degree. The final presentations at the innovation festival showcased not just technical ability, but a growing understanding of green engineering solutions and the very real need to start prioritising nature’s recovery.
Building Green Skills Through Real-World Challenges
The Rivers Trust was the ‘Client’ and set a brief around “making space for water”, a critical issue linked to climate resilience and sustainable urban design. Each team were asked to develop a prototype model or engagement tool demonstrating how Nature-based Solutions (NbS) could address environmental challenges, highlighting at least two benefits of their chosen NbS.
Prior to the final presentations, each project team was interviewed by the ‘client’ and gave a progress update of their understanding of the specification; the initial design & costing and a review of project risks and opportunities.
The final showcase mirrored a trade fair environment, with each team given 10 minutes to present and pitch their final model. This format gave students valuable experience in communicating and presenting complex ideas clearly and applying technical knowledge to a practical context. All transferable skills we hope will support successful transitions into early careers.
Why This Matters for Early Careers and Sustainability
Practical course modules like this are increasing in importance because they ensure that students leave college with the skills required by employers and awareness of the knowledge required for green jobs, sustainable engineering and climate-focused roles. Students explored how NbS can:
- Improve resilience to climate impacts
- Support sustainable water management
- Enhance biodiversity
Encouragingly, many also recognised the wider social value of their work, highlighting how access to nature can improve mental health, wellbeing and the liveability of communities.
This broader perspective is crucial to accelerate both wider societal understanding and the scale of investment and delivery into NbS. We urgently need more diverse voices and early careers workforce with both technical expertise and an interest and understanding of systems thinking.
Innovation, Creativity and Real-World Thinking
The range and creativity of projects demonstrated how students are already thinking beyond traditional engineering solutions, from adapted family board games and catchment and river models to a reforestation drone. Their prototypes were designed for a wide range of audiences too: many focused on children and young people, while others targeted farmers, developers and community fundraisers.
The winning team stood out for the clarity and impact of their design: a simple but effective marble run demonstrating how river channel design influences flooding and pollution. By comparing straightened and natural river systems, the model clearly illustrated the value of re-naturalising channels and making space for water along the river’s edge.
Supporting the Next Generation of Engineers
As a communicator and someone who values the importance of finding and nurturing advocates for rivers and nature across all of society, one of the most positive aspects was the passion and confidence students showed when speaking about rivers, sustainability, and nature-based solutions. It’s a strong reminder that diverse perspectives strengthen innovation and that opportunities like this help younger generations to see themselves in future green careers or at least see how they can become advocates for a greener future.
Creating space for students to develop, test and communicate their ideas is essential if we want to build a workforce capable of addressing the climate crisis. We’re excited to see how these students continue to develop their ideas and carry this experience forward into their own careers.
The BCU Innovation Festival demonstrates the value of embedding green skills, sustainability and innovation into education. It highlights the importance of reaching beyond the individuals and groups who grew up with a passion for the natural world, so that we can better understand and respond to the challenges of our changing world and cease the opportunities to create a greener future for all of us.
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