ECS student named Scholar of the Year by UK Electronics Skills Foundation

Adam Malpass, final-year student in Electronic Engineering at ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, was last night awarded the first annual Scholar of the Year award by the United Kingdom Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF).

The award was sponsored by IC Group and announced at the NMI’s annual awards ceremony held in London. Speaking at the event Neil Dickens, a director at IC Group, said: “It’s vital for the UK industry’s future growth that we attract, support and retain as many talented young individuals, such as Adam, as possible.

“In a very competitive year Adam stood out from the crowd, especially for his infectious enthusiasm, outstanding contributions to Dialog and his encouragement of younger students to take up electronics.”

During his three-month summer placement with Dialog Semiconductor, the sponsor of his UKESF Scholarship, Adam produced a new design for use in its range of flagship products and delivered a research report to help facilitate a move into a new line of business.

To help inspire younger students to take up electronics Adam has been involved in many activities with his former school, and through his university. These include talking to students of all ages about the exciting, varied opportunities in electronics, in addition to his blog on the ECS pages, which relates his experiences as an electronics undergraduate.

On winning his award Adam commented: "I'm really delighted to have won this award as I know the competition was strong, especially from my fellow Southampton University and UKESF scholar Tom Dell. The UKESF scholarship has provided me with development opportunities that a student wouldn't normally have, such as working internationally with a world-class company, meeting industry leaders and receiving training in the softer, professional skills that aren't taught at university"

Dr Derek Boyd, NMI’s CEO, said: “As a founding partner of UKESF we have been delighted by the quality of the undergraduate students within the scholarship scheme. Adam is just one of an exceptional group of younger people and I expect to see him contribute greatly to our sector in the future.”

Rebecca Whatley-Stokes, Global Head of Learning and Development at Dialog Semiconductor, commented: “Adam has been fantastic during his time at Dialog, he’s a real credit to young engineers and will do very well in future. The UKESF has given us a great opportunity to spot the most talented individuals, such as Adam, earlier than our competition.”

Professor Neil White, Head of ECS-Electronics and Computer Science, commented: 'Many congratulations to Adam on this very prestigious award, and also to Tom, the other finalist in the competition. We are immensely proud of our students' abilities and their enthusiasm as they look forward to contributing to the electronics industry. The fact that Southampton provided the two finalists in this inaugural Award underlines the environment in ECS, which is very much geared to producing the kinds of students that industry wants and needs in the future."

UKESF was founded in 2010 by collaboration of public bodies, private companies and UK universities to address the threat of a diminishing skills base in the UK electronics sector. Its principal aims are to increase and sustain the supply of industry ready graduate engineers and boost career take up in the industry, worth £23 billion per year to the UK economy.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.