One of the judges of school-science competition the Bright Spark Awards has expressed his hope of seeing pupils submit healthcare-related projects.

Robert Crook of Pfizer said his company was keenly waiting to see the quality of entries for the fifth Bright Spark Awards, and added: “We’d be really excited if some of the students could submit some that are linked to healthcare, wellbeing and improving the future lives of people.”

Entries are now open for the awards, which will be announced at a Dragons’ Den-style awards ceremony in July.

Awards coordinator Hannah Hawksworth said: “Careers in medicine and medical research are just one of the avenues that Stem subjects open up for young people, and it would be great if these awards helped to nudge a few young people in that direction.

“But there are no restrictions on the type of projects that schools and children can submit so long as they are practical and related to science, technology, engineering or maths.”

Last year, there were a number of impressive health-related Bright Spark entries.

The Simon Langton Girls MBP2 Project team, for example, conducted research for an ongoing collaborative project exploring the causes of multiple sclerosis.

And Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar pupils’ Mapping for the Blind project was inspired by the disability of one of the participant’s father’s.

Apart from Pfizer, the other judging organisations are Discovery Park, BAE Systems, Global Associates, Kent Renewable Energy, Atkins Global, Megger, The ITL Group, EduKit, Highways England and Golding Vision.

The awards are organised by the KM Charity Team and open to primary and secondary schools, and there are three categories: innovation, investigation and invention.

The deadline for submitting entries is May 31. Find out more at Kmcharityteam.co.uk/brightspark.

Alternatively, contact event coordinator Hannah Hawksworth at hhawksworth@thekmgroup.co.uk or on 0844 264 0291.

And watch a video in which Mr Crook talks about the awards here: