Leon - Team Principal of Sheffield Eco-Motorsport (SEM)

My role blends hands-on engineering problem-solving with project management and leadership, steering our technical and strategic direction while ensuring we have the resources to compete internationally. It's all driven by our shared passion for sustainable innovation and the ambitious challenge of turning complex visions into reality.

The Diamond has been transformative in connecting theory to practice. Access to its state-of-the-art workshops allows me to take theoretical principles from lectures and apply them directly to hands-on manufacturing. The destructive failure testing labs directly taught me how joints can fail, helping me identify whether my chassis simulations were performed correctly. The high-spec computer labs provide essential processing power for running complex design simulations, and I've been able to upskill my entire team on the simulation workflow I developed while working in the Diamond. More than just facilities, the building's atmosphere of innovation and collaborative study spaces have been invaluable for fostering both my academic learning and creative problem-solving skills.

Building on that foundation, the Diamond serves as the physical heart of our entire operation. For a project as complex as SEM, it's not just helpful – it's essential. The workrooms provide vital space our large team needs for weekly design meetings and simultaneous sub-team collaborations. The Diamond provides the professional-grade environment that allows a student-led team like ours to operate at an exceptionally high level. Without it, we simply couldn't function as effectively. The Diamond hasn't just supported my engineering education – it's been the foundation for turning ambitious visions into experimental reality.