Sir Henry Royce Award

Past winners

2007

The 2007 award was presented to Phil Harper, an exceptional young entrepreneur. Upon graduation, Phil developed a technology for measuring very thin layers – 100th of the thickness of a human hair. This involved building several generations of prototypes and finally a market ready product. Phil then went on to found a successful company in order to exploit this technology which is currently being applied to measuring lubricant film thickness in a range of products. Independently he has established a network of industrial contacts and developed expertise in selling, marketing, as well as business planning. Phil's sponsor, Professor Rob Dwyer-Joyce, describes him as 'a remarkable young engineer' who has 'made excellent steps in his new career.' Professor Dwyer-Joyce feels that he will be an important entrepreneur in the UK.

2006

Mirrra Sondhi won the 2006 award based on her nomination by George Maluga, National Business Manager at Alpheus Environmental Ltd and Mirra’s supervisor during her year-long placement. Mr Maluga states that ‘Since [Mirra] had no prior knowledge of Project Management or the software in the market, she was challenged at each level. The first being; understanding the current problems faced. The workflow consisted of paper based reporting and double data entry, which was increasingly leading to errors and inefficiencies and ultimately loss of revenue and profit.

Her list of responsibilities included designing specifications of a solution, searching and arranging meetings with possible suppliers, preparing a business case, ensuring seamless transition to the new workflow design through training and support. Management and personnel praise her work and her achievements through never-ceasing commitment to the project.

Mirra is an innovative self-starter, who rarely needs supervision. She coordinated projects involving teams, and her ability to work collaboratively while guiding the project quickly and effectively was outstanding. For example, the project had experienced a setback when a similar solution was developed by our parent company. This was not notified until Mirra had progressed to the level of getting Cap-ex approval. One could get easily frustrated in such a situation, but it is appreciable to see such integrity displayed by a student. She approached both solutions in a professional manner assessing their respective capabilities.

Mirra demonstrated from early on that she understood the business parameters by involving herself in day to day operations to appreciate proposals from the users’ perspective. She kept a sharp eye on the bottom line, but realized too that customer satisfaction is what makes or breaks your business. She asked for feedback on a daily basis and accepted constructive criticism with maturity. Her project meant changing the way our personnel worked. I am pleased at her performance in managing change and conflict to ensure their acceptance. I suppose doing well in business is easy if you are, as she was, driven in equal measure by both quality and efficiency.

The solution would reduce operation costs by 75% and a further increase in revenue by £70,000 p.a. as the new technology would appeal to more customers and help expand sales. Our Managing Director has commended her efforts by introducing our solution to other companies within the group with the potential for retaining Mirra in the future to administer any mobile technology solution. In closing, let me say I have no hesitation in recommending Mirra Sondhi for the award. I feel confident she would be a worthy winner.’

2005

The Sir Henry Royce Medal for 2005 was awarded to Ebenezer Amusa (Chairman of Nigeria Younger Members’ Section from 1999 - 2004) for his outstanding contribution in establishing a Younger Members’ Section in Nigeria against difficult odds:

During the 5 years since founding an IET Younger Members’ Section in Nigeria, Ebenezer has had to overcome some daunting obstacles in order to lead a small, incubating Section into the thriving Section it is today.

Ebenezer was nominated for the Sir Henry Royce Award by the Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Younger Members’ Section, Olugbenga Adeyemo, who states that Ebenezer has been ‘very much instrumental to the rapid spread of Younger Members in Nigeria’. Olugbenga Adeyemo and other members of the Nigerian Younger Members’ Section, feel that Ebenezer’s contribution has been over and above the high level of dedication that is already required (and demonstrated on a regular basis) by all IET Network and Younger Members’ Section Honorary Officers. They cite - as an example – the fact that Ebenezer has twice purchased flight tickets (from Nigeria to the UK) from his own funds in order to ensure that the Nigerian Younger Members’ Section should have access to the opportunities for training, networking and sharing of best practice at the IET’s annual Younger Members’ Conference for Honorary Officers and Committee members in the UK.

2004

During a year long industrial placement at 'B Mason & Sons', Richard Clayton was asked to completely re-design a computerised system for Mason's packing line. Since he had no prior knowledge of programming, this involved learning SQL, PLSQL, ZPL & becoming an Oracle database developer.

Richard's Manager states that 'Richard's extraordinary volume of work and the high degree of achievement at Mason was accomplished by an innate intelligence, creativity, never-ceasing commitment to the project and not least, the addition of a huge number of unpaid hours.

'Richard has been a breath of fresh air to our Company...and he should feel proud of the contribution that he has made. The system he developed was implemented 6 months ahead of schedule & 18 months earlier than anticipated by the company & will save Mason £125,000 a year.' (Managing Director of Mason)

2003

Dr Roberto Ramírez-Iñiguez was the winner of the award for 2003, for his development of an Optical Antenna that brings significant improvements to optical wireless communication links.

According to one of Dr Ramírez-Iñiguez's referees, Dr Mark Leeson; 'Roberto's work has led directly to an invention of world-wide significance'. Dr Leeson goes on to say 'Roberto Ramirez-Iniguez is a truly innovative person for whom there is an undoubted bright future ' I cannot emphasise this enough. I am proud to have had him in my research group.'

2001

Dr Michael Street was the winner of the award for 2001, for his voluntary work on various Boards and Committees within the IET, and his active role in encouraging good liaison between Student Members and Student Advisors.

2000

The Award for 2000 was presented to David Henry in recognition for organising the Mitsubishi tour of lectures throughout the UK and Ireland. Mr Henry managed the logistics between Mitsubishi and each host area.