Old Salopian awarded prestigious RSA Student Design Award

An Old Salopian has been awarded a prestigious design award for his work.  

Aaron Clark (O, 2014-19) received the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA) Student Design Award as part of a group of undergraduate students from Loughborough Design School. 

The RSA’s SDA is the oldest design award in the world. It’s a big moment in the year for all design students with over 110,000 projects entries from 20 countries, for around 10 briefs. Countless of the biggest change-making designers have won this award including Betty Jackson MBE, Richard Howarth and Jony Ive.  

Aaron said: “Our design MYCOPOD was a solution to help farmers both improve their yields whilst promoting rewilding and biodiversity. Utilising the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi, we designed a set of devices that would allow farmers to have accessible measurable data on the nutrients in their soil. MYCOPOD creates a communication, protection and transport network. Allowing farmers to move water and nutrients to the correct location. Allowing their crops to better communicate together to protect themselves from diseases. This innovation has many advantages but crucially it allows farmers to reduce their reliance on fertilisers and pesticides. Alongside this the system encourages farmers to rewild sections of their farm to produce excess nutrients, allowing them to move nutrients towards their crops to improve their yields. Whilst always being aware of natural balance never allowing the system to take where there isn’t. MYCOPODs main aim is to restore natural balance to ecosystems, whilst increasing local biodiversity and improving our food security. 

“It’s an incredible honour to have been part of the team to win this award with a system design that is one of the simplest yet most effective designs I have had the pleasure to have a hand in. The RSA is an amazing organisation who champion important causes around the world and its exactly the reason I got into design. Design is one the best tools for change and I certainly drive towards making a difference to this planet in a positive way any chance I can get. 

“Whilst at school I really had the opportunity to grow my interest in design even writing an essay upon Jony Ive a previous winner of this award. The design department gave me a chance to grow and flourish, developing the skills that got me into one of the best design schools in the world. I spent almost every bit of free time in the design department and learnt a lot. But Shrewsbury’s biggest influence on me was its ability to encourage individuality. It gave me a platform to develop my confidence in all aspects of life. 

“I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without it, and it certainly helped our team to come up with such a forward-looking concept to go on and win such a prestigious award.” 

If anyone has any questions around MYCOPOD its functionality and intention Aaron is happy to answer your questions. Please do just email [email protected]