The University of Sheffield's Student-Led Projects in Engineering (also known as Co-Curricular Activities [CCAs]) are a unique and exciting opportunity for our students to apply their studies and participate in real-world engineering challenges. Not only do students learn hands-on engineering skills but they are also involved in leadership, project management, sponsorship, media training and more.
Projects include students from all Engineering disciplines and other Faculties across the University. They are extracurricular, so our students undertake them alongside their degree studies. Many students have reflected that participation in these projects has been instrumental in helping them secure placements and jobs - some even going on to create their own companies!
Several of our projects have won national and international awards, broken UK and World records, and been featured across national media, reflecting the hard work, dedication, and passion that our students apply.
Learn more about all our current projects below and find out how you can get involved here.
If you're an alumnus, an industry representative or anyone else who wants to support our students in developing professional skills and applying their studies, click here to see how you can get involved. Alternatively, you can browse individual projects below where you will find contact details for each project.
These are amongst some of the longest running student-led projects at Sheffield, with our teams in the IMechE Formula Student and Railway Challenge competitions, for example, having achieved some impressive results. These projects involve students from a range of engineering courses, including Mechanical, Aerospace, Materials, Electrical & Electronic and Automatic Control and Systems Engineering.
Formula Student is Europe's most established educational motorsport competition, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Student teams from around the world design, build, test, and race small-scale Formula-style racing cars. Sheffield Formula Racing (SFR) represents the University of Sheffield, and in 2021, SFR won the Formula Student UK competition.
Applications: At the start of the academic year, applications open only to first-year UG
Contact: formula.student@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: sheff_racing
We are the University of Sheffield’s team competing in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and the iLumen European Solar Challenge.
Our team competes in the challenger class: designing and manufacturing the most efficient solar vehicle.
Sheffield Eco Boats is a student-led project at the University of Sheffield and will be competing in an international maritime engineering competition. The team is focused on the design and construction of a fully solar-powered, autonomous catamaran, aiming to revolutionize energy efficiency in maritime transportation.
Applications: Start of the academic year
Contact: sheffecoboats@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: sheffecoboats
Railway Challenge at Sheffield (RCAS) takes part in the Railway Challenge, run by the IMechE’s Railway Division. The team designs and builds a miniature 10 ¼” gauge locomotive, using their creativity and technical engineering skills to apply the latest railway technology. The team came second overall in Railway Challenge 2021.
Applications: Usually at the start of the academic year
Contact: railway.challenge@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: railchallatshef
We are SD Squared, an interdisciplinary project building a downhill mountain bike from scratch! We are manufacturing our prototype frame and learning all that we can about manufacturing the final version in future. We have also run testing days and developed software skills to produce our geometry measurements and designs and visited our sponsor Hope Technology for a factory tour to learn about manufacturing and see what the industry really looks like.
We are an open group to work with, always welcome new ideas and all ride bikes too. There will be opportunities to develop specialist skills such as carbon fibre layup, designing for manufacture and critical testing planning. We also need students for our software, telemetry and testing teams as well as media.
Applications: Get in touch to find out our current vacancies.
Contact: SD_Squared@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: sheff.student.dh
Sheffield Eco Motorsport (SEM) competes in two of the most prestigious solar car competitions in the world, the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and the iLumen European Solar Challenge. We design fully solar-powered electric cars for maximum speed, reliability and efficiency as we compete in the Challenger class.
Stephen Scott, Sheffield EcoMotorsport Project Lead
UAVs are great examples of multidisciplinary projects. They will generally require skills in mechanical and electrical engineering, CAD, control systems, programming and more and will involve a number of sub-teams coordinating with each other and opportunities for exciting competitions and testing.
Avis Drone Labs is the student-led UAV drone project at the University of Sheffield, designing, manufacturing and flying a variety of aircraft. The project consists of teams entering international student competitions, teams designing research and experimental aircraft and a team to code and develop open-source ground control software for our drones.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: avis-drone-labs@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: avisdronelabs
Project Trident is a student led initiative aiming to build an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for the International Robosub Competition in California, USA.
The behaviours demonstrated by these experimental AUVs mimic those of real-world systems currently deployed for underwater exploration, seafloor mapping, sonar localization and many other applications.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: projecttrident@sheffield.ac.uk
It was a pleasure this year managing and leading over 90 Avis Drone Labs engineers. It's not just a fun activity to participate in alongside studies, but a range of opportunities to help students gain experience working in a multidisciplinary team environment building and flying unmanned aerial vehicles. From members and past alumni I've spoken to we all agree upon the same thing - joining Avis is quite literally a future-changing opportunity, giving an edge to those interested in drones and other aerial vehicles.
Kushagra Makkapati, Avis Drone Labs Project Lead
Sheffield has a rich history in space exploration projects, including breaking national records and leading the way at international competitions. The research-led approach and industry engagement means new projects are springing up all the time.
Sunride is a record-breaking student-led rocketry team at the University of Sheffield.
Sunride was the first UK team to compete in the world’s largest Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition, the Spaceport America Cup, and in 2019, broke the National Open Altitude record . In 2021 they won the UKSEDS National Rocketry Championship. In 2024, Sunride broke the current European altitude record for student liquid fuelled rockets with their Desert Winds rocket at an apogee of 26,879ft/8.19km.
They are currently considered one of the leading UK rocketry teams and aim to be the first to reach space.
SunbYte (Sheffield University Nova Balloon Telescope) is the only UK project to win the prestigious Rocket and Balloon Experiments for University Students (REXUS/BEXUS) competition, a European Space Agency programme.
They aim to take images of H-alpha deep-red visible light from the Sun by constructing a solar telescope and launching it into space.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: sunbyte@sheffield.ac.uk Find them on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn
MarsWorks has competed in the European Rover Challenge, one of the biggest international space and robotics events in the world, and the Anatolian Rover Challenge. The aim is to develop and test an autonomous Mars rover.
Applications: Start of the academic year
Contact: marsworks@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: project_marsworks
SunSat is a student-led satellite development team. Our main mission is to research, test, develop, and optimise modular CubeSats capable of servicing a variety of possible payloads, with the intention of implementing various aspects of conditional monitoring and management to allow for controlled scientific experimentation. These conditions will include temperature, pressure, air quality etc. By using this platform, experiment development time may be reduced, allowing for faster, more efficient, and more affordable study of space and its effects.
Applications: Usually at the start of the academic year
Contact: sunsat@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: project.sunsat
I couldn't be prouder of the Project Sunride team. In less than a year they have gone from hot firing their first engine to breaking UK and European records. When the team first asked me to support their dream, I had no idea how far they would come in such a short space of time. Everyone at Sheffield is incredibly proud of them.
Dr Alistair John, Project Sunride Academic Lead
These projects include renewable energy, global sustainable development and restoration.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Sheffield is a student chapter of EWB UK, which aims to "inspire the engineering community to commit to global responsibility... upskill, equipping people to put purpose into practice, and... drive change, collaborating with companies, universities and a wide variety of organisations to accelerate globally responsible engineering becoming mainstream." EWB Sheffield are currently hosting a great variety of projects. There’s something for everyone to get involved in – whether you study Mechanical, Civil or Electrical Engineering, or even Humanities!
The project will be following a detailed material selection, design, and assembly design book by Hugh Piggott for creating small, cheap, and student-led wind turbines. The wind turbine will be installed at Whirlow farm where it will be used in one of their low power requirements building sites.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: ewb@sheffield.ac.uk
The project aims to make a series of machines (including a shredder, an extrusion machine, an injection machine, and a compression machine) from which recycled plastic can be converted into various small objects. Recycled plastic could then be collected from the university buildings which will be used to form different objects, which in turn can be given to charity.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: ewb@sheffield.ac.uk
David Perez, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Craw Ctrl aims to tackle the issue of the invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), which threatens native white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes) populations in the UK. The objective is to create a low-cost, eco-friendly crayfish trap with remote monitoring and crowding detection to manage invasive crayfish populations sustainably. The focus is on using affordable materials and components while maintaining essential features like real-time monitoring and capacity alerts.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: craw-ctrl@sheffield.ac.uk
SheffHEPP (Sheffield Hydroelectric Power project) aims to deliver a temporary hydroelectric power installation for the village of Nether Langwith in order to power the Christmas lights on the green. The project is in collaboration with the Nether Langwith Parish Council.
The project is mainly split into three major parts: mechanical, civil, and electrical. However, engineering students from all disciplines are welcome to join. Computer-aided design, power electronics and manufacturing skills are especially valued.
Applications: Welcome any time
Contact: hydroelectric@sheffield.ac.uk
Chesterfield Barnett Observatory was built in 1960, and is run by volunteers from the Chesterfield Astronomical Society. It houses an 18” diameter Newtonian reflector telescope. It is visited regularly by schools and clubs and is open to the public.
The 5m+ diameter dome is manually rotated by pushing it round with a handle, and the dome shutter is opened and closed by pulling on a looped rope.
The dome was previously modified and is now distorted so that both rotating it and opening the shutter require a great deal of force and create a lot of noise, which disturbs the new nearby housing estate when used at night.
The aim of the project is to rectify the above problems in a way that respects the heritage of the dome.
This is a new donor-funded project and students will collaborate with AMRC apprentices.
Applications: Recruiting from scratch - get in touch!
Project Solotron is currently researching the feasibility of converting an aircraft engine to run on hydrogen fuel. The eventual goal is to design a hydrogen-powered piston engine for light aircraft and a safe testing system for the engine.
Applications: Get in touch
Contact: project-solotron@sheffield.ac.uk
These projects include biological , biomedical and health applications.
Established in 2017, Sheffield Bionics offers students the opportunity to develop their engineering skills through the design and construction of bionic devices.
Inspired by the tangible improvements made by groups like Open Bionics & Cybathlon, their mission is to contribute to the bionics community and inspire more people.
They currently have multiple projects that are developing and building a range of bionic devices for members of their local community:
A transhumeral myoelectric prosthetic arm
A transfemoral prosthetic leg
A brain-computer interface
NAKIO (building prosthetics for animals)
They are also working to enter the next Cybathlon competition. Cybathlon is an international competition in Zurich that pits universities, prosthetics companies and hobbyists against a series of challenges designed to test the capabilities of their devices.
Applications: Arm is recruiting in September, other projects are recruiting year round.
Contact: bionics@sheffield.ac.uk
Linkedin: Sheffield Bionics
Instagram: SheffBionics
Sheffield iGEM is a multidisciplinary team that competes in the world's largest synthetic biology competition.
Push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world. Work together with your team to build and test a system of your own design using interchangeable biological parts.
The project aims to design and build a vaccine storage container that meets the standards set out by WHO which will allow vaccines to be transported through the supply chain.
A wide range of skill sets are required, including but not limited to: engineering design, modelling and marketing. We welcome members from every department and faculty.
Applications: Openings may vary
Contact: ewb@sheffield.ac.uk
We are Project Echo. Our aim is to create AI powered hearing aid that could adapt to the user's surroundings and regulate noise levels. We are keen on exploring the potential of the sound processing technologies and we hope in future the real time speech translation could be added to the device
Applications: Recruitment in September
Contact: project-echo@sheffield.ac.uk
Instagram: project_echo_uos
Just a year after its 2023 restructuring, Bionics has made remarkable progress with the Leg, NAKIO and Arm teams creating and experimenting with each of their prototypes. Additionally, the Arm team has given seminars on bio-signal analysis and human-machine interfaces at the Embodied Intelligence conference and Sheffield Robotics. It has been a year of rapid growth and learning, and I'm excited to see where the future takes us
Nia Touko, Bionics Project Lead
These projects involve programming and automatic control systems for diverse applications.
Our interdisciplinary team creates 2D and 3D games, including endless scrollers, arcade, and casual games, under the umbrella of our entity - Knife Hit, Rider and ZigZag are great examples of what we envision! Our primary objective is to develop various games that will engage and entertain our users while promoting charitable causes. We aim to monetise our games while strongly focusing on giving back to society. All revenues generated from our games will be allocated to 100% charitable causes (such as British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research), making our games not just fun to play but also a force for good.
Project Pixel has been one of the most exciting and rewarding things I’ve ever done. It’s all about bringing students together to create meaningful, fun games that support good causes - combining creativity, tech, and impact in the best way possible.
Najaaz Nabhan, Project Pixel Co-Founder & Project Lead
These projects involve man-made structures that make up the environment in which people live and work.
The ASHRAE Design Competition focuses on the design of energy-efficient HVAC systems. Multidisciplinary teams from architecture, civil and structural engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering design a scheme for an energy efficient, sustainable project using the Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design process.
Applications: Email Carolanne for more info
Contact: c.v.vouriot@sheffield.ac.uk