Professor m.c. schraefel has become the first Southampton academic to be made a Distinguished Member of the world's largest computing society, the ACM; Professor Stephen Beeby has been elevated to a Fellow of IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers; and enterprise expert Virginia Hodge has been appointed as a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence in ECS.

Professor m.c. schraefel was recently recognised by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) as a Distinguished Member for her outstanding engineering contributions to computing. She is the first University of Southampton academic to be awarded the prestigious accolade and is one of only three ACM Distinguished Members from the UK.

She said: "This award is very special because six people, all respected scientists and engineers from around the world whose work inspires me, stood up for me in this nomination. That is wonderful, humbling and awesome."

In ECS, m.c. is Professor of Computer Science and Human Performance and Director of the WellthLab. She is also a Fellow of the British Computer Society, is a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair Alum and currently holds an EPSRC established career fellowship in Health Resilience Interactive Technologies. m.c. was selected for the award for a range of accomplishments that advance computing as a science and a profession.

ACM President Professor Gabriele Kotsis said: "Each year we are excited to recognise a new class of ACM Distinguished Members both for their professional achievements, as well as their longstanding membership with ACM. The Distinguished Members program is a way to celebrate the trailblazing work of our members."

Professor Stephen Beeby Stephen has been awarded the international accolade of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for his world-leading and high-impact research on energy harvesting and its application in e-textiles.

The award recognises Stephen's support to the research community and his contribution to the successful University spin-out company Perpetuum Ltd, based upon vibration energy harvesting. His work on e-textiles has led to the award of the Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Emerging Technologies in Electronic Textile Engineering.

Stephen, a member of the Smart Electronic Materials and Systems (SEMS) research group said: "I am delighted to have been elevated to a Fellow of the IEEE. This recognises the impact of the research carried out in ECS over many years in the areas of energy harvesting and electronic textiles and this achievement would not have been possible without the contributions of my exceptional research team and colleagues."

The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organisation for the advancement of technology. Read the full story here.

Virginia Hodge Enterprise expert Virginia is helping turn ECS research into commercial success as a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR). The former Vice-President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is embedded in ECS's teaching and research activities while serving as a Resident Mentor at the on-campus Future Worlds startup accelerator.

Virginia has spent more than 30 years working in highly technical areas of software and systems engineering, primarily in the defence and aviation industries. In her EiR role, she has been giving guest lectures for students and staff, reviewing bids with an industry eye, demonstrating how the commercialisation of software can be improved, mentoring, and acting as an interface between academia and professional bodies and supporting diversity initiatives within ECS.

She said: "The EiR role has introduced me to the breadth and depth of ground-breaking research carried out at the University and especially within ECS. As both an EiR and prior to that as resident mentor at Future Worlds, I've greatly enjoyed getting to know the University community and meeting entrepreneurially-minded staff and students doing world-changing things. The University has a brilliant culture of enterprise and I'm enjoying expanding upon my work with Future Worlds and ECS to further promote and support entrepreneurship."

Read the full story here.

Dr Mahmoud Wagih is one of nine researchers who were recently named as UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) Postdoctoral Research Fellows. The Fellows are being funded to develop new technologies in a range of areas including detecting and protecting against malicious drones, investigating the movement of pollutants in indoor spaces and improving radar imaging.

Mahmoud will focus his Fellowship on enabling a single energy-harvesting source to power many co-located 'satellite' systems in inaccessible environments through safe, robust and efficient radio frequency power transmission.

He said: "Harvesting energy from sunlight or vibrations could lead to battery-free electronics, yet it can only generate sufficient output where ambient power is present. Finding alternatives for replaceable batteries is crucial to improving the user's experience as our personal electronic devices increase in numbers. While we have energy harvesting devices ranging from solar-powered calculators to watches relying on body temperature to generate power, energy harvesting is yet to become a technology that works anywhere.

"I am honoured that this UKIC and the Royal Academy of Engineering award recognises our world-leading research which integrates radio frequency (RF) power harvesters in everyday objects like clothing, smart labels, and packaging. RF radiation can be used to carry power, safely, and over long ranges to inaccessible locations where sunlight or vibrations may not be present - a green alternative to batteries."

Mahmoud is working alongside industrial partners including the semiconductor leader Arm, to create new RF-powered computers, as well as Perpetuum, part of Hitachi, to build sustainable condition monitoring systems.

The UK Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowships are offered by the Government Office for Science and are administered by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Recipients receive funding for at least two years of their project and mentorship from a Fellow of the Academy as well as an advisor from the intelligence community. They aim to provide a vital link between academia and the intelligence community and support cutting-edge work that can assist the intelligence community and also provide mentoring support to a new generation of engineers.

Mahmoud has received just under £200,000 funding for his Fellowship. Watch a video about his research here.

Fellow Southampton Research Fellow Dr Desmond Lim, from the School of Engineering, has also been awarded a UK Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to lead an experimental investigation focusing on the fundamental processes in indoor airflows and the eddy diffusivity of pollutants. He has received just under £200,000 to improve numerical and mathematical models that can accurately predict the dispersions of air pollutants, improving building ventilation designs, occupants' health, and better informing government agencies responsible for public health and national defence policies.