Sustainable bag made from courier uniform

Design graduates team up to turn waste ‘gig economy’ uniforms into sustainable bags

A Product Design graduate has earned a collaboration with alumni Tom Meades’ sustainable design studio, gomi, to make bags from waste courier uniforms.

Angus Clifford, who graduated from the university this summer with a degree in Product Design BSc(Hons), has teamed up with Tom Meades, co-founder and chief designer at gomi, to bring Angus’s final year university project to life.

Each year, millions of courier uniforms for companies including Deliveroo, Just East, Uber Eats – and many more – are handed out, most of which ultimately end up in landfill. Angus’s project, which was among the many innovative solutions showcased by Brighton students at this year’s Graduate Summer Shows (Instagram), focused on finding a sustainable response to this waste challenge.

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Life Cycle Analysis of Electric Vehicle Batteries – final year MEng project work

In this second post, we learn from Erin, Connor, Sadiq, Ade and Don, the STEP Lab master’s team on Life Cycle Analysis theme, as they graduate with MEng degrees in Aeronautical and Mechanical engineering between them. 

What is LOBSTER

The aim of our project was to estimate the CO2 impact of second life, and end of life (EOL) processes of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, considering the batteries destinations i.e. recycling, energy storage etc., state of health, and battery types/compositions. To do this, we used data from literature and Ecochain Mobius. Results were summarized as a new piece of software written by the STEP Lab team, offering Logical Outputs Based on Statistics and Testing for End-of-life Re-purposing (L.O.B.S.T.E.R).

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Product design students showcase their projects in exclusive Dezeen article

The architecture and design online magazine Dezeen, which has over three million monthly readers, recently featured a selection of product design students from the University, showcasing the impressive work they completed as part of their final-year projects.

The Product Design BSc(Hons) course at Brighton prepares students for a career in design through collaborative work that mirrors a real-world industry environment. This article highlights just a handful of projects that our students undertook, which now serve as the foundation for their professional portfolios.

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Marius wearing his final project, a knitted jumper

Graduates 2024: Marius Moen Holtan: Sustainable Design MA

I’ve benefitted hugely from the support from both Tom Ainsworth and Sally Sutherland during my time on the course. Tom’s constructive disruption and Sally’s deep empathy has inspired me to push and advocate for the value and impact of my work. 

Please tell us a bit about your work and your influences.

My work employs knitting as methodology to explore ways of knowing and the connection between wearers, clothing and cultures. I’m influenced by the relationship between the physical and meta-physical, design narratives and the intersection between practice and research. 

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Istvan Hanzo standing infront of a University of Brighton building

Computing project exhibition 2024: Istvan Hanzo, Computer Science with Cyber Security

Studying and working with lecturers and other students has been a great experience. The good relationships I developed with my lecturers really stood out and made my experience more memorable. It genuinely felt like they do what they do because they enjoy teaching, and they are good at it, which is truly motivating.

Tell us a bit about your project.
I had two different ideas for my final year project. One was an application for tracking online user activity based on browser fingerprints and integrating AI to create user profiles based on this – a similar concept to how personalised advertisements work – and the other one was creating a password manager application that uses passwordless authentication. I am interested in these topics because they both apply modern technologies to address cyber security problems without compromising privacy or usability.

The final product was influenced by both ideas. Choosing Password Spray attacks as the main aim of detection was a great challenge, as it already bypasses basic defence mechanisms, and even large companies like Microsoft are falling victim of it. The final product – if enhanced further – could either function as a vulnerability testing mechanism to audit the effectiveness of existing security protocols, or as an additional function embedded in an existing Intrusion Detection System (IDS) or Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

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bag collection on an orange background

Graduates 2024: Angus Clifford, Product Design BSc(Hons)

The best aspect of my studies would be the strong studio culture we have on the course, I’m basically in five days a week and have a permanently allocated space which has given me the opportunity to set up what feels like a mini studio.

Please tell us a bit about your work and your influences

Throughout my time as a designer, I have been exploring effective ways of rebreathing life into waste materials. I have more recently been focusing on how design can be used as a tool to raise awareness of social and environmental issues by not just developing a beautiful object, but also communicating a compelling story behind it which I believe is equally as important.

My final year project: ‘ReUSed’ is a critical design project that raises awareness of the social issues takeaway couriers face, as well as the environmental impact of their discarded uniforms.

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Student Bouchra holding a phone showing the app she designed

Computing project exhibition 2024: Bouchra Mohamed Lemine, Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence BSc(Hons)

Studying Computer Science with AI at the University of Brighton has been an invaluable experience that fostered my creativity and helped me develop a wide range of technical skills. The rigorous curriculum and hands-on projects equip students with a strong foundation in both theoretical concepts and practical applications of computer science and AI.

Tell us a bit about your project

My project was about diagnosing skin cancer using computer vision. It involved developing a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that classifies skin lesion images as benign or malignant and creating a mobile app called Skan, which enables users to scan and diagnose their skin abnormalities.

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Alex Moore sitting in cafe smiling at the camera

Computing project exhibition 2024: Alex Moore, Computer Science for Games

“The lecturers are great, all are passionate about their subjects and are easy to talk to. A key moment in my course was getting my final year project’s dynamic difficulty adjustments to work. I was aiming to create a game using procedural generation, with guidance from one of my lecturers, my idea was expanded to also create a system to change the difficulty of my game based on player performance.”

Tell us a bit about your project
I made a roguelike game using procedural generation and dynamic difficulty adjustments. When starting my project, I was aiming to create a game using procedural generation, a topic I am very interested in. However, with guidance from one of my lecturers, my idea was expanded to also create a system to change the difficulty of my game based on player performance.

When approaching the project, I initially researched papers on the topics and any surrounding areas, and planned out everything using Gantt charts and an agile approach. My supervisor and other lecturers provided ample support for the project offering advice or guidance throughout the process. Additionally, when testing my project I was able to use the university computer to test on other students on the course.

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Izzy Hobbs smiling at the camera standing next to her project poster

Engineering project exhibition 2024: Izzy Hobbs, Aeronautical Engineering MEng

Izzy Hobbs is studying Aeronautical Engineering MEng. We caught up with her as our final year students were preparing to show their project posters at the Engineering Project Exhibition, to find out more about her project and life at Brighton.

How did you choose your course and what was your route into engineering?

I chose to study a MEng in Aeronautical Engineering after completing my EPQ (Extended Writing Project Qualification) during sixth form. Since year 9 I knew I wanted to study engineering, but I wanted to go into a specific discipline. For my EPQ, I decided to write a dissertation on “How rockets have evolved.” and I loved it, so I chose aeronautical engineering.

How would you describe your course and your time at Brighton to someone who is thinking of coming here?

I have enjoyed my time studying at Brighton. Despite joining during 2020 and experiencing lockdowns during my studies, I have made some amazing friends and made memories that I look back on fondly. My course has been challenging as expected when I first decided that I wanted to study it, however, I believe that it is manageable especially if you make sure to take during the week for yourself. For me, this has been by playing rugby with the university team and local club, everyone is in the same boat and it’s really benefited me to have this time to enjoy what else the university has to offer.

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