Team Bath Heart, the team of University of Bath student engineers that create a new artificial heart device each year, have won two awards at the Engineering Talent Awards 2025 including the overall ‘Excellence in Engineering’ prize.
The team also added the ‘University Engineering Team of the Year 2025’ award to their growing awards cabinet.
The pair of wins adds to their success at the World Heart Hackathon in 2023 and 2024, where they won and defended their title as world champions with two consecutive overall wins. The Heart Hackathon is the first event to challenge student teams from around the globe with designing and building a total artificial heart – a device which could technically replace the entire job of a heart.
Judges at the Engineering Talent Awards said they felt Team Bath Heart were the deserving overall winner for uniting students from 18 disciplines in a culture of collaboration and innovation, championing diversity through a female-led team with 43% women and partnerships like Women in STEM Bath, and embedding inclusion through initiatives such as bias training, diverse panels, and EDI surveys – all while developing groundbreaking technology and shaping future engineers.
Team Bath Heart team lead Alabama Cawley said: “Being acknowledged on a national stage is a testament to the dedication we put into building a truly diverse team, comprising members from 18 different degree disciplines and every year group.
“We take great pride in championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), having previously been recognised by our university for fostering an inclusive and supportive environment. We’ve made significant progress in gender diversity and continue to broaden our outreach to attract individuals from a wide range of backgrounds.
“Our technical mission to design a total artificial heart tailored for female and smaller patients reflects our commitment to embedding sustainable EDI principles directly into our engineering work. We’re delighted and grateful that our approach was recognised by the ETA judges.”
Dr Katharine Fraser and Dr Melusine Pigeon, the team’s lead academic advisors, said: “We are incredibly proud that TBH has received these prestigious awards. It is a true reflection of the dedication and hard work in the team to foster a positive, inclusive, and diverse workplace culture.
“Over the past few years, the team has experienced remarkable growth, now proudly engaging over 100 students. Throughout this expansion, TBH has remained deeply committed to embedding Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) principles into everything we do. We are ensuring that inclusive practices continue to shape our culture and guide our mission.”
Professor Tim Ibell, Dean of Bath’s Faculty of Engineering & Design, added: “What a fantastic achievement by Team Bath Heart, I am thrilled for the team. Again! Their success epitomises the extraordinary nature of our student teams more generally, where taught skills, tenacity, inquisitiveness, teamwork and diversity of thinking all join up to offer special outcomes.”
The Engineering Talent Awards celebrates the diversity of the engineering and technology profession. The awards aim to raise the profile of the engineering and technology professions across the UK and highlight diversity in engineering on a national platform. Through showcasing role models and inspiring people, we can celebrate the diversity of organisations and engineers.
Team Bath Heart is made up of 100 students studying degrees including mechanical, electronic & electrical engineering, science and management. Over the summer, the team has also been hard at work on their latest Heart Hackathon entry, with the final presentation set to take place in Vienna, Austria, on 1st December 2025.
Team Bath Heart is one of 12 student teams based within the University’s Faculty of Engineering & Design. These include teams creating drones, eco-marathon vehicles, electric racing cars, rockets, and water quality devices.
