The day saw morning talks and posters across our four challenge-driven research themes, shaped by society's grand challenges in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and engineering for life. The winners of each category, based on staff judges and attendee voting, then re-presented in the afternoon and the overall winners were announced.
The winners in each category were as follows:
Manufacturing
- Presentation - Madhumitha Rajendran
- Poster – Norzuria Bahari
Energy
- Presentation - Charley Nevin – OVERALL WINNER
- Poster - Qurrotin Arifianti – OVERALL WINNER
Infrastructure & Environment
- Presentation – Rahima Babayeva
- Poster – Micael Silva
Engineering for Life
- Presentation - Zeyu Song
- Poster – Kanya Alifia
Congratulations to all of the winners and particularly to Charley Nevin and Qurrotin Arifianti, who were the overall winners of best presentation and best poster for 2024, out of 23 students participating in the presentation competition and 40 students participating in the poster competition.
Charley Nevin, a 3rd year PhD Chemical and Biological Engineering student and co-president of the PGR Committee, said: “'It was great to attend the Engineering Researcher Symposium and see all the varied research going on across the faculty, as sometimes it can be so easy to get bogged down in your own work. My presentation was about the complications of disposing of nuclear waste, with a specific focus on cemented waste as I work on novel cementitious wasteforms for intermediate level wastes (the stuff which is dangerous but not super spicy). I felt really proud when I won; to know that my presentation was well liked, and that it scored highly amongst the judges, was a really humbling feeling as I put a lot of work in and it's nice when it all pays off!'
Qurrotin Arifianti, a 3rd year PhD Mechanical Engineering student, specifically in the Energy 2050 Research Group, said: “This was my first time participating in the Engineering Researcher Symposium and I was thrilled to receive the overall winner award in the poster presentation category. The symposium was a fantastic opportunity to meet lots of people from different research backgrounds and to gain an insight into all the amazing research going on across the Faculty.”
“My poster was focused on waste management. My research is about how to design an efficient, economic and environmentally friendly waste-to-energy plant that can produce multiple useful outputs, such as cooling, heating, electricity and fuel.”
Dr Monica Latham, Engineering Graduate School Manager and one of the Symposium organisers, added: "The ERS is a highlight of the academic year, when PGRs and Postdocs come together to showcase the breadth of the amazing research they do, which makes us one of the best Engineering faculties in the UK, and one of the top ranked for Research Environment. This years' presentations are clear examples of how the research carried out in our Faculty is making a difference in people's lives across the globe, from better colonoscopy techniques, creating sustainable aviation fuel, turning waste to energy, using sensors to assess the quality of drinking water and polymers to contain nuclear waste to name a few.
“As Graduate School Manager, it is my privilege to work with the PGR committee and the Engineering Researcher Society to organise this event, which involves a lot of work over several months. But it's so worth it, as their enthusiasm always makes it a fun and enjoyable day for all of us."
As a Faculty, we value diversity in research, encouraging creativity and innovation across all disciplines to produce pioneering, quality research with real impact – it was this that was celebrated at this event. This is an annual event and the organisers would welcome and encourage students to get involved next year. Involvement can be through joining the PGR Committee to input into the organisation of this event and other activities, both academic and social, and as participants. The call for presentations for the Engineering Researcher Symposium is usually issued in May.