Southampton high-fliers scoop UKESF Scholar and Young Engineer of the Year honours at TechWorks Awards

A high-performing student and skilled graduate from the School of Electronics and Computer Science have been named UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) Scholar of the Year and Young Engineer of the Year at the prestigious TechWorks Awards.

University of Southampton staff, students and alumni were finalists in five categories in yesterday’s ceremony hosted by the UK Industry Association for Deep Tech, including a Research Collaboration of the Year nomination for the Arm-ECS Research Centre and a shortlisting as University Research Group of the Year for the Electronic Materials and Devices Group.

Electronic Engineering graduate Emma Curati-Alasonatti, now at Arm, scooped the Young Engineer of the Year prize in the awards at London’s Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, nominated alongside former peer Ashley Robinson.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering student Ricki Tura was presented the UKESF Scholar of the Year award and becomes the fifth Southampton student to win the national honour in the past eight years. The MEng student, who has served as president of the Electronics and Computer Science Society, has benefited from a fruitful partnership with System on Chips company UltraSoC.

“It feels great to be recognised not only for my achievements in academia and industry, but also for my contributions in promoting electronics in the community,” Ricki said. “My experience as a UKESF scholar has been fantastic and I recommend the scheme to anyone considering a career in the electronics industry.”

UKESF scholarships are available to electronics undergraduates at selected universities and include an annual bursary, paid summer work placements and mentorship from a sponsoring company.

Ricki hopes to launch an international career when he graduates in 2020, with ambitions to work in global technology hubs like California’s Silicon Valley or Shenzhen in China.

“Studying Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Southampton has been invaluable,” he explains. “The range and depth of content in addition to the School's leading facilities has made it easy to thrive. I've found the projects the most enjoyable, which ranged from group design tasks to the Third Year individual project, where I spent a year working on swarm robotics as part of my dissertation.”

Ricki has been an integral part of the 2,000 strong ECS Society during his studies and was elected president in April 2017. Under his direction the society observed a two-fold increase in participation at industry partner events and held its first ever hackathon in collaboration with J. P. Morgan and talent.io.