Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) has been awarded the 2017 “GEDC Airbus Diversity Award” for its implementation of space engineering education for students from developing or emerging economies.

The sponsor of this award is Air Bus. It has chosen to recognize the BIRDS Project as a successful example of using diversity to effectively conduct engineering education.

As this global award enters its fifth years, it has also picked up the patronage of UNESCO. For this year, 45 entries from 18 countries were received. From these, a short list of three finalists was created, and the BIRDS Project was on this short list. The project was represented by Tejumola Taiwo, who is a third year Phd candidate at Kyutech and is a native of Nigeria. He is also Project Manager of BIRDS-1. He was invited by the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) to compete in 2017’s final round at Niagara Falls, Canada, on 10 October 2017. In this round, each competing finalist gave a presentation and was interviewed by the judges.

Subsequently, the BIRDS Project was declared to be the first place winner – and thus receives 10,000 USD as prize award.

Exploded with joy winning the first prize

Award Acceptance Speech

Group Photo

BIRDS Project Member