‘Crowded Space’ school competition

For UN Space week, Lloyd’s partnered with international photographer and science communicator Max Alexander to raise awareness of space sustainability and the role the insurance market plays in promoting it. To date, an estimated one million objects larger than one centimetre have accumulated in near-space.

Find out more about the space sustainability campaign

We invited students from our partner schools in the UK and across our global network to invent ways of capturing this space waste, and bring their ideas to life in whatever way they wanted using their creativity and imagination. We received a number of inventive solutions from lasers to robots and would like to thank all the students who took part in helping to bring this to life.

The winners

Image of Ajwad Tanveer Hussain and Muhammed Jibreel Ali's design

Ajwad Tanveer Hussain and Muhammed Jibreel Ali
13 years old, Mulberry Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College, Tower Hamlets

Ajwad and Muhammed created a presentation detailing how their space waste invention, Space Debris Laser Ablation, worked.

View the Space Debris Laser Ablation presentation

Jan Franco Alvarez 13 years old, CES Waldorf, Colombia

Image of Nicolas Esteban Betancouth Molano's design

Nicolas Esteban Betancouth Molano 8 years old, CES Waldorf, Colombia

View all entries

Image of Brayan Camilo Valbuena's design

Brayan Camilo Valbuena, CES Waldorf, Colombia

Image of Miguel Andres Gomez Zambrano's design

Miguel Andres Gomez Zambrano, CES Waldorf, Colombia

Image of Jefersson Garcia, Manuel Gomez, Santiago Martinez, Erika Gutierrez's design

Jefersson Garcia, Manuel Gomez, Santiago Martinez, Erika Gutierrez, CES Waldorf, Colombia

William Getial, CES Waldorf, Colombia

Sharit Bolivar, CES Waldorf, Colombia

Arman Rob, Mulberry College

Image of Bahga, Priya, Sufiane and Rozana's design

Bahga, Priya, Sufiane, Rozana, Mayflower Primary School

Image of Nimo, Kanji, Rania, Alina, Ayaana and Taiba's design

Nimo, Kanji, Rania, Alina, Ayaana, Taiba, Mayflower Primary School

Our first space sustainability event

As part of our 'Crowded Space' campaign, on 6 October we held our first space sustainability event at Lloyd’s, bringing together voices from across the space industry including the UK and European Space Agencies, Warwick University and space underwriters from across the market. The event line-up included British astronaut Tim Peake. Two of our competition winners, Ajwad Tanveer Hussain and Muhammed Jibreel Ali, joined us at the event and you can see a selection of images capturing their evening below.

Image of competition winners and max alexander standing next to each other look up to sky, they are standing in front of the exhibition with a background of the escalators in the Lloyd's underwriting room

Competition winners Ajwad Tanveer Hussain and Muhammed Jibreel Ali of Mulberry Stepney Green Maths, Computing and Science College, Tower Hamlets with exhibition artist Max Alexander

'Crowded Space' exhibition in the Lloyd's Underwriting Room

Image of our competition winners speaking with Max Alexander, exhibition artist

Our competition winners speak with Max Alexander, exhibition artist.

Image of one of the competition winners talking while gesturing with his hands to Tim Peake and the other winner, who appear to be laughing

Competition winners Ajwad and Muhammed speak with Tim Peake

Our competition winners with astronaut Time Peake and exhibition artist Max Alexander

Image of Astronaut Tim Peake delivering a speech

Astronaut Tim Peake delivers a speech

Lloyd’s school partnerships

Mulberry Stepney Green Science College is a partner school of The Switch which runs Lloyd’s employee volunteering programmes to help children and young people meet their potential. Find out more about how we support schools in Tower Hamlets through our partnership with The Switch.

Find out more

CES Waldorf contributes to the education of children, young people and families in conditions of vulnerability and social exclusion. Lloyd’s supports educational, artistic and cultural programmes to strengthen children’s education as well as developing communities.

Visit CES Waldorf to find out more