The James Dyson Award reveals its two 2025 global winners, each receiving ₱2,168,000 for their inventions that advance accurate water quality monitoring and improve life with Parkinson’s.
Now in its 20th year, the international student design competition has supported more than 400 student inventions worldwide with ₱108,400,000 in prize money. It received more than 2,100 entries this year from budding inventors across 28 countries and regions.
James Dyson, Founder of Dyson, said: “The James Dyson Award supports young inventors who think differently and tackle real-world problems head-on. Our 2025 winners, Filip and Alessandra, are a testament to that spirit – they address challenging health and environmental issues with practical, ingenious solutions. I hope that winning the Award will be a springboard for commercialising their world-beating inventions.”
James Dyson surprised Filip and Alessandra with the exciting news during an online video call. Watch how it went down on YouTube.
Sustainability Winner – WaterSense, invented by Filip Budny.
The problem
In the Philippines, 43% or 180 out of 421 of local rivers are considered polluted. Unlike oceans, rivers are smaller, slower-moving, and more exposed to land-based pollution. In fact, water pollution of rivers is attributable to untreated domestic sewage and industrial and agricultural waste. Yet, in 2022, only 50 priority river systems were monitored monthly.
These priority rivers are generally those known to be heavily polluted and are monitored to gauge improvements as cleanup and pollution control measures are implemented. According to a 2022 report from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), out of the 50 priority rivers monitored that year, 9 failed to meet both Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) standards, including rivers like Marikina River, Meycauayan River, and Pansipit River.
The winning solution
Filip Budny, a PhD candidate in nanotechnology, is improving how we more accurately monitor water quality with his invention, WaterSense. Filip’s device autonomously measures the water quality of rivers and lakes in real time, to enable early detection of water pollution.
WaterSense is powered by natural water currents through a built-in hydrogenerator. Unlike conventional sensors which are made of plastic and metal components, WaterSense uses low-cost, recyclable paper sensors to measure over 20 key indicators of water quality, including pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, chlorides, and conductivity. It draws samples from three customisable depths, allowing for layered analysis that can detect pollutants hidden below.
The sensors are replaced automatically each day, like advancing a roll of film in a camera, ensuring consistent lab-grade accuracy without manual input. The used sensors stay housed within the device until the roll is replaced after 12 months, keeping the system fresh and reliable year-round.
The device transmits data via mobile networks to an AI-powered online platform every minute, 15 minutes, or hour, depending on monitoring needs. The online platform analyses water health and actively learns from past data and patterns to forecast pollution events up to 72 hours in advance. The results are publicly available through a website, giving communities and local authorities the insights they need to take early action and protect water ecosystems.
James Dyson, Founder of Dyson, said: ”Existing water quality monitoring systems are slow, manual, and sporadic. Filip, our Sustainability winner, has invented WaterSense to measure water quality in real time and smartly predict pollution before it happens. It uses paper-based sensors which track multiple indicators of water quality at different depths, delivering more accurate readings. It’s a very worthy winner, and I look forward to seeing WaterSense floating in every river around the world.”
Tamara Tokarczyk, Associate Professor and Hydrologist at the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management in Poland, said: “Filip’s WaterSense is the first solution to systematic and real-time qualitative monitoring. It collects high-resolution data which will significantly contribute to the development of reliable forecasting models, and benefit society and ecological systems.”
