Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability
Winners
Winners 2026
The Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability 2026 attracted over 100 outstanding entries, an incredible achievement! A huge congratulations to all our winners and highly commended finalists for their inspiring work.
The top three awards recognise the highest scoring entry in each age category.
Undergraduate
Winner: PE(r)Fect Pack: Advancing Circular Pharmaceutical Packaging by Laura Thompson, University of Bath
Postgraduate
Winner: Development of photoelectrochemical reactors for solar hydrogen production by George Creasey, Imperial College London
Early Career
Winner: High Pressure Dewatering Rolls (HPDR) Mk-II: A Step-Change Technology for Sustainable Mineral Tailings Dewatering and Water Recovery by Sajid Hassan, The University of Melbourne
Individual category winners
Eligible presentations were classified into eleven categories aligned to IChemE’s priority topics.
Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence
Winner: Multi-Functional Regression (MFR) using Python for Petroleum Property Inferential Development by Karthigesan Velautham, Malaysian Refining Company
Highly commended:
- Myles Bentley, Johnson Matthey
- Ng Sheng Tat, Inprocess Technology & Consulting Group
Energy and Climate Action
Winner: Development of photoelectrochemical reactors for solar hydrogen production by George Creasey, Imperial College London
Highly commended:
- Gisoo Pasha Moghaddam, AstraZeneca
Engineering Biology
Winner: NanoSense: An Electrospun Nanofibre-Integrated Hyaluronic Acid Microneedle Patch for Localized Delivery of Diclofenac by Priyarubhini Krishnan & Angeline Sue Anne Sia, Universiti Malaya
Environmental Protection and Improvement
Winner: Small-scale testing solving global emissions problems: Insights into catalytic N2O decomposition by Alina Tony and Theo Bockmuehl, Johnson Matthey
Highly commended:
- Amro Elsayed, University of Cambridge
- Tai Ji Zhang, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Excellence in Education, Skills and Training
Winner: XElectric FS: Project XE01 by Rosaleen Knox, Sebastian Ridley, Vedaant Raghunath, Alexander Barton & Jasper Clark, University of Exeter
Food and Drink
Winner: Design of a Community Garden Project for the Student Community at the University of Strathclyde by Lewis Philips and Reuben Selman, University of Strathclyde
Health and Wellbeing
Winner: CaviTrace: Hydrodynamic Cavitation-Based Rapid Gram by Setornam Gli, Newcastle University
Materials, Mining and Minerals
Winner: High Pressure Dewatering Rolls (HPDR) Mk-II: A Step-Change Technology for Sustainable Mineral Tailings Dewatering and Water Recovery by Sajid Hassan, The University of Melbourne
Waste Valorisation and Circular Economy
Winner: PE(r)Fect Pack: Advancing Circular Pharmaceutical Packaging by Laura Thompson, University of Bath
Highly commended:
- Evangeline Leong, Monash University
Water and Sanitation
UK Winner:Natural Coagulation for Clean Water: A Moringa Oleifera Based Treatment System for Low-Resource Communities by Ryan Oatley and Soluna Stojanovska, University of Leeds
AUS Winner: A Year in Action - Hybrid MABR-MBR WWTP in Te Kauwhata New Zealand by Sela Maka and Emma Cross, Watercare Services and Veolia Water Technologies
Highly commended:
- Abdulrahman Mohamed Mohamud, Russell McDonnell and Ubaydullah Ahmed, Queen Mary University of London
Winners 2025
The Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability in 2025 received over 100 brilliant entries. Huge congratulations to all winners and highly commended finalists!
The top three awards recognise the highest scoring entry in each age category.
Undergraduate
Highly commended:
- Tan Hui Hui, Yi Hang Lok, University of Cambridge
- Kelly Lai Yan Kei, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP)
Postgraduate
Highly commended:
Early Career
Highly commended:
UK Schools
Highly commended:
- Sana, Shay, Rishika, Hafsa and Shafia, Wolverhampton Girls’ High School
- Isabel, Rio, Maxwell, Sanad and Patrick, St Mary’s College
Individual category winners
Eligible presentations were classified into seven categories aligned to IChemE’s priority topics.
Clean Energy and Climate Action - Sponsored by The Environment Agency
Highly commended:
- Theodoros Papalas, University of Cambridge
- Anuj Joshi, Rushikesh Joshi, Ohio State University
- Claudia Cavallo, Caitlin Grant, Worley Consulting
Water and Sanitation
Highly commended:
- Sam Sarrafi, Rowan French, United Utilities
- Darren Lim Ming Qian, Aishah Sabarudin, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia
Food, Health and Wellbeing - Sponsored by Elsevier
Highly commended:
Responsible Production, Innovation and Industry
Highly commended:
- Tan Hui Hu, Yi Hang Lok, University of Cambridge
- Abhisek Sahoo, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Quality Education
Process Safety
Digitalisation and Cybersecurity
Highly commended:
Winners 2024
The inaugural Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability in 2024 received a fantastic array of entries. Huge congratulations to all winners!
Undergraduate
Highly commended:
- Joseph Carver and Ethan Grigor (group entry), University of Bath. Priority topic: Responsible Production, Innovation and Industry
- Daniel Singleton, Manchester University. Priority topic: Responsible Production, Innovation and Industry
Postgraduate
Highly commended:
- William Gordon-Petrovskii, University College London. Priority topic: Food, Health and Wellbeing
- Cherie Wong, University of Oxford. Priority topic: Clean Energy and Climate Action
Early Career
Winner: Roseanna Edney, Plastic Energy. Priority topic: Responsible Production, Innovation and Industry
Highly commended: