Students around the world help design our new sun bear house

From swimming pools and climbing towers to enrichment ideas and sustainable innovations, students around the world have spent the last few months helping us imagine the future of bear care.

We’re excited to share that the 2026 Colchester Zoological Society STEM Design Challenge has officially wrapped up, with winners now chosen from an incredible 51 final projects involving around 500 young people from across the UK, USA, Australia, the Netherlands, and Laos.

This year’s challenge invited students aged 5–16 to help design Bear House 12 at Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary in Laos - a real enclosure for rescued sun bears.

We’ve been genuinely blown away by the creativity, thoughtfulness, and compassion these students brought to the challenge. From clever enrichment concepts to designs focused on animal welfare, sustainability, and keeper access, the level of care shown for rescued bears was incredibly inspiring.

The ideas and innovations shared through this challenge will help us make Bear House 12 our best bear house yet.

A huge thank you to every student, teacher, and school who took part, and to Colchester Zoological Society for partnering with us on such a meaningful project for wildlife conservation.

See some of the amazing designs: