Time to recognise excellent young engineers

Nominations are now open for the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year awards, an open competition for UK engineers who have demonstrated excellence in the early stage of their careers.

Awarded by the RAEng with support from the Worshipful Company of Engineers, five prizes of £3000 will be presented to engineers whose achievements are recognised as outstanding in their field. Nominations are open to engineers in full time higher education, research or industrial employment from any engineering discipline, who graduated from their first engineering degree within the last ten years.

John Robinson, from the Worshipful Company of Engineers, said: “Our charity supports both excellence and emerging talent in engineering. These awards will recognise some of the potential influencers of the future in our rapidly changing profession.”

In addition to the prize money and a certificate, one of the five winners will also be selected to receive the Sir George Macfarlane Medal. This separate prize will be awarded to the winner who, in the view of the Academy’s Awards Committee, has most demonstrated outstanding leadership or technical attainment in their place of work.

Last year’s Sir George Macfarlane Medal was won by Dr Matthew Cole of the University of Cambridge, who has published on the use of carbon nanotubes as field emission sources. Dr Cole applied the knowledge gained from his research to co-found a start-up company that develops state-of-the-art X-ray emitters, which can be used in border control and medical diagnostics.

Nigel Perry, chair of the Academy Awards Committee, said: “We want to celebrate the many talented young engineers who are already demonstrating the hallmarks of being world leaders in the profession. I look forward to seeing nominations from across the diverse field of UK engineering.”

Nominations for the prize should be made through the RAEng websiteby 17 February 2016. The winners will be announced at the Academy’s annual Awards Dinner in June.