Period poverty and job-sharing
MU student innovators take home 2 major awards from Royal Society of Arts for innovations in design that tackle societal challenges
Winning entry, ‘Tabrah’
MU had outstanding success at this year’s Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Student Design Awards. Two all-female teams of MU students in the Department of Design Innovation won awards in two categories against more than 780 entrants from leading universities and design courses from across the UK, Ireland, Europe, USA and the Far East. The RSA Student Design Awards recognises projects by students and recent graduates that use design to solve social challenges.
Éilis O’Reilly and Doireann Peelo, BSc Product Design, won for creating ‘Tabrah’, a menstrual cup and cleaning kit which provides women who are homeless with a safe, sustainable and hygienic way to manage their periods. Women who are displaced and facing financial difficulties often skimp on sanitary products to buy food or provide for their children, leading to unsafe hygiene practices.
The ‘Tabrah’ cup is reusable, contains built-in UV-C LEDs that disinfect the cup and it can be used by women without access to soap or running water.
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Alexandra McDermott, Dervilla McNamara and Amalia White, MSc Design Innovation, won for ‘MakeCents,’ a unique Job Sharing Recruitment App designed to help mothers find a job sharing partner and to assist part-time job seekers to match up so they can jointly apply for full-time positions.
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Mothers are matched by their experience, skillset, training, desired job type and location. Psychometric personality testing will ensure that people will be similar in terms of cognitive abilities, knowledge and personality type.
Dr Iain Macdonald, MU Head of Design Innovation, said: “To have won two categories from nine, against over 780 entrants from leading universities and Design courses from across the UK, Ireland, Europe, USA and the Far East is a huge achievement. One would have been a significant achievement, but two is a great achievement for Ireland. The teams’ success is a huge validation of the hard work and dedication of our students, our design led approach and curriculum, and the calibre of our teaching staff.”