Teams from Zaragoza, Las Palmas, Turkey, Egypt and Palestine win the LSdreams 2016, an international competition for pre-university students

The 6th edition of LSdreams has already announced its winners. The contest, an initiative of La Salle Universities open to pre-university students from Lasallian centres in Europe and the Middle East, between 16 and 20 years old, has awarded the proposals from Zaragoza and Las Palmas, in Spain and from schools in Egypt, Turkey and Palestine. Its main objective is to encourage the inclusion of ethical values in the development of research projects to improve their social environment. The winning projects deal with broad issues such as home automation windows control, security measures for aircrafts, social issues about refugees inclusion, eating disorders or recycling and energy improvement.  The aim of the competition is to encourage young people's sensitivity and ability to reflect on the moral and ethical implications in the five areas of knowledge proposed by the organization. The projects presented must aim to improve their immediate environment, with innovative research and development projects in the fields of architecture, engineering, health, business management and life and earth sciences.  In this edition, the contest has awarded five first prizes, a secondary prize, an extraordinary prize and the ASSEDIL prize (European Association of Lasallian Directors) and a secondary prize, awarded by the same institutions. 1) Best project in the Engineering category and LSdreams Extraordinary Prize:  "Smart Window" by l'Ecole des Frères in Bethlehem, Palestine. The team consists of students Nora Marzouqa and George Khalilieh and the tutor Ekhlas Bannoura.The project concerns the automation at home and specifically in the windows. The developed technology is incorporated into the normal operation of the window but also includes an application for the mobile phone that allows its control and also incorporates a gas detector in case of leakage that automatically opens the window avoiding poisoning of the occupants.  The jury decided to award a secondary prize in the Engineering Area to the group "SavePlanes" from La Salle Palma de Mallorca school, formed by students Lucas Garcia Bennetty, Oliver Zidouh Jimenez and Omar Ntifi Matarín and the tutor Pedro Bartolomé Conde Riera. Their project involves the insertion of removable cabins with a parachute in the aircraft, so that in case of an accident of a commercial aircraft, cabins extract automatically and land stably. 2) Best project in the Business Management category and ASSEDIL secondary prize: the group "Green Asylum" from St. Joseph Fransiz Lisesi from Istanbul (Turkey).The team consists of students Ece Ari, Sinan Onukar and Ece Ercanli, and the tutor Maral Basma. The project developed is about the current topic of refugees. Students have designed a model for sustainable and inclusive urban refugees to help them in their resilience, rehabilitation and sustainable ability. The team designed a common green space in these urban areas, where hydroponics, permaculture and urban agriculture are integrated. It would be a space to share collaboratively and get products that could be sold in the market. 3) Best project in the Health category: the "Healthcare" group, from La Salle School Santo Ángel from Zaragoza. The team consists of students Natalia Melero Valero, Alba Mascarós Ibáñez and Alba Amorós Ginés, and their tutor Pilar Pascual García. The theme of the project are eating disorders and the design of an application that will help to overcome them. 4) Best project in the Life Sciences and Earth category: the jury decided to award two first prizes to the "Pisgriculture" group of Collège Saint-Marc in Alexandria (Egypt), formed by students Ibrahim Ayub, Samuel Abou Elkher and Youssef Elias and the tutor Ihab Ghobrial. The project involves the exploitation of available resources routinely wasted such as the excess of water in the breeding of fish in a tank, or air conditioners water. It contemplates that can recycle this water, use the available space more efficiently, and provide food, especially in developing countries. The prize was shared with the project Neoteric E-unit, presented in the form of LSdreams Collaborative Project (collaboration between two teams from different schools) conducted by a team from Collège des Frères of Jerusalem (Palestine), formed by students Rand Khoury and Wassef Daher and the tutor Amer Qaisy; and another team of La Salle Palma de Mallorca (Spain) formed by the student, Rafel Llobet Tur and the tutor Pedro Bartolomé Conde Riera.In this case apart from the shared first prize in the category they also got the   ASSEDIL prize.  The project adds improvements to the units of solar and wind energy, as well as long battery life, with very simple sustainable resources that can be used for home or in mechanical vehicles like boats. 5) The architecture category has been declared void by the jury. The winners of the first 4 first prizes will enjoy a stay in Madrid of four days during which they will present their work at the awards ceremony that will take place between May 5th and 8th.