Product Design Engineering graduate, Merlin Kafka, was awarded with the Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow’s Prince Philip Prize.

Kafka, presented with the prize by His Royal Highness Prince Philip, had been judged to be Glasgow’s best university engineering student in 2017.

The Prince Philip Prize, is a prestigious award presented annually by the Incorporation of Hammermen of Glasgow to one university student and one college student studying in the west of Scotland.

The Strathclyde graduate won particular praise for his final year project in which he designed a refillable shampoo bottle that could be topped up with liquid contained within food-grade water-soluble packaging. The bottle can be kept indefinitely, leading to zero waste.

Kafka said: “Receiving the Prince Philip prize for my Bachelor’s project and my ambitions in sustainable design engineering is an accolade that I without a doubt will be looking back on for many years to come.”

“During the prize ceremony, I also had the chance to briefly share my idea with His Royal Highness himself, a remarkable opportunity that I would not have foreseen when I began working on the project in August last year.

Kafka also extended his gratitude to the Incorporation of Hammermen as well as Strathclyde’s Department of Design, Manufacturing & Engineering Management, without whom his triumph would have been impossible.

By Alisa Wylie.