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Around 30 student and early career members of IChemE gathered at IChemE’s Rugby office on Friday, 28th June, to showcase their valuable work driving sustainable and innovative solutions to some key challenges. They were joined by guests including IChemE President Mark Apsey MBE, IChemE Immediate Past President Nigel Hirst, and others from the chemical and process engineering community. Projects on show included entries from undergraduates, postgraduates and early career professionals, with individuals drawn from a wide variety of universities and organisations across the UK and as far afield as the USA.

Guests and presenters had the opportunity to discuss the posters and underlying project informally and a judging panel, drawn from members of the IChemE National Early Careers Group (NECG), had the difficult task of identifying those that stood out. The IChemE President and Martin Wardrope, head of the judging panel and chair of the NECG, both commented on the exceptional standard of the work on display and how difficult it was to identify ‘winners’ in a room where every contribution demonstrated the crucial role of chemical and process engineering in meeting the great challenges facing the world today.

The winner of the Undergraduate Award was Alexandra Joyce Roe for her project ‘Enhancing the Understanding of Biochar to Allow the Incorporation into Tufted Carpet Tiles for a Reduction in the Carbon Footprint’. Andrei-Leonard Nicusan and Roberto Hart-Villamil took home the Postgraduate Award for ‘Energy Reduction in Industrial Processes via Evolutionary Optimisation of Simulation’ and the Early Career Award was won by Roseanna Edney for her work on ‘Creating a Circular Economy for Plastic’.

Six finalists also received Highly Commended certificates for their work: Joseph Carver and Ethan Grigor, University of Bath; Daniel Singleton, University of Manchester; William Gordon-Petrovskii, University College London; Cherie Wong, University of Oxford, Sam Smith, Air Products; and Zoha Tariq, Graduate Chemical Engineer.

Mark Apsey said: “Inspirational is a word which is overused in today’s world – but it is truly inspirational to be in a room with so many young engineers showing how they are already making a difference and being the change. I am determined that, during my Presidential Year, we will shine an even brighter light on the impact of chemical and process engineering on people’s everyday lives as well as the big challenges of sustainability and climate change.”

Deborah Olowu, a student at Queen Mary University London and one of those displaying their work said: “I am very excited about the opportunity to share my work with experienced chemical engineers and my peers. Seeing other people’s work makes me want to learn more about all the possibilities to which chemical engineering can lead. No idea is too big or too small to showcase the difference that we, as chemical engineers, make. These awards are a great opportunity and I urge everyone to get involved as they grow.”

This is the first time IChemE has organised this type of event for young engineers and next year the challenge will be extended to schools and young people under 18 – giving even younger would-be engineers the opportunity to show how they can contribute to IChemE’s vision for chemical engineering: engineering a sustainable world.

External URL: https://www.icheme.org/about-us/news-releases/icheme-celebrates-first-ever-winners-of-young-engineers-awards-for-innovation-and-sustainability/