A SCHOOLBOY in Salisbury with a passion for tackling pollution has been recognised in a prestigious national competition celebrating Britain’s brightest young engineers and scientists.

Ravija Kohomban, a Year 10 student at Bishop Wordsworth’s School, was one of just nine students nationwide to win an award at The Big Bang Competition, taking home the Energy Systems Catapult Award for his innovative project, EcoBreathe.

Inspired by the “City Tree” moss installations used in major cities to improve air quality, Ravija designed a sustainable air filtration system aimed at making cleaner air more affordable and accessible.

Concerned by the health effects of pollution and the high price of traditional purifiers, Ravija combined natural moss and activated carbon in a 3D-printed, solar-powered device designed to filter polluted air in an environmentally friendly way.

Judges praised both the idea and Ravija’s determination to turn it into a working prototype.

Rob Hargraves from Energy Systems Catapult said: “We congratulate Ravija on his well-researched and methodical approach to innovation.

“We were really impressed with his work – having the vision to see how collective individual efforts can enable a big change and impact is the clear rational and action we need to tackle the climate crisis.”

He added: “We believe this product has a strong opportunity to move into a final design and potential product launch and just as importantly we believe that this young engineer has a very bright career ahead in science, technology and engineering.”

The winners were announced during an awards ceremony at The Big Bang Fair at Birmingham’s NEC, one of the UK’s biggest celebrations of science, technology, engineering and maths.

Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK, which runs the competition, praised Ravija and fellow winners.

She said: “Their curiosity and creativity have driven them to produce some brilliant STEM projects addressing some really big societal problems.”