Electronics Weekly
Now in its seventh year, the EW BrightSparks programme has been looking for the engineers – aged 30 or under – who are already making a difference in the UK in the first years of their careers, or those who are still studying in the UK but showing the promise to become the innovators and leaders in electronics in the years to come.
As always, we were particularly keen to hear from those who additionally found the time to participate in STEM activities and help wider communities.
See Elektra Awards 2024 – The Winners »
Outstanding
For 2024, we had a lot of entries and the bar was raised even higher. The cohort to represent this year is certainly a very impressive group. We shall be profiling them individually in the coming weeks and months.
“It has been both refreshing and rewarding to discover all of the ways this cohort of BrightSparks has ‘paid it forward’ for the electronics community,” said Caroline Hayes, Electronics Weekly editor.
“All have shown ingenious zeal in creating opportunities to help others and to encourage development and growth for all manner of sectors that could play a part in the innovation of generations of electronics engineers still to come.”
The winners were selected by the Electronics Weekly editorial team, lead by Caroline Hayes, the editor. And then a range of industry figures also shared their views for a wider context, for example (alphabetically), Stewart Edmondson (UKESF, CEO), Karen Holland (XCAM, CEO), Ally Macleod (IET, UHI North, West and Hebrides) and Ash Madni (Madni Technologies, MD).
Stewart Edmondson is the CEO of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation and a Visiting Professor at Aston University. A CEng for more than 30 years, he has a wide range of engineering management experience.
Karen Holland is the CEO of XCAM, a UK-based growing SME which designs, develops and manufactures customised digital cameras for a range of scientific, industrial and space applications.
Caroline Hayes, editor of Electronics Weekly, is a well-known figure in the electronics industry, which she has been covering for more years than she cares to remember.
A veteran in the Analog IC Design industry, at Ferranti, STL, Maxim and Dialog and others, Ash Madni continues to contribute to the world of microelectronics.
Profiles
The full list of the winners can be found below (again, alphabetically). Full profiles will appear, as mentioned, in due course, both in the Electronics Weekly magazine and online, including individual comments from the industry experts. Stay tuned!
Finally, thank you to all who entered, and those who took the time to nominate others. And thank you, too, to the industry experts who kindly added their voices.
We hope an enjoyable night was had by all at IET London, Savoy Place!
The winners
Here is the EW BrightSparks cohort of 2024:
- Millie Craig, Student/Intern, University of Glasgow/Astroscale
- Mila Crook, Electronics Engineering Degree Apprentice, Leonardo/University of Hertfordshire
- Hamza Farah, Graduate Signalling Engineer, Siemens (UKESF Scholar)
- Jayashri Goddanti, Student/KTP Associate (Digital Twin Engineer), Cranfield University/Levidian Nanosystems
- Ishaan Haque, Senior Hardware Technician, Leonardo UK
- Kenville Haynes, Student, University of Bath (UKESF Scholar – sponsor company: Renishaw)
- Philip Heptonstall, Student/Co-Op Intern, University of Edinburgh/AMD (UKESF Scholar)
- Nandni Jamnadas, Software Tool Chain Engineer/Student, Embecosm/Royal Holloway, University of London (UKESF Scholar)
- Darla Pearce, Electronics Engineering Degree Apprentice/Student, Leonardo/University of Hertfordshire
- Hazel Pumphrey, Student University of Nottingham (UKESF Scholar – sponsor company: CSA Catapult)
- Al Rawshan, ASIC Design Engineer/Student, Garfield Microelectronics Ltd/University of Southampton (UKESF Scholar)
- Nathan Richardson, Student University of Surrey (UKESF Scholar – sponsor company: Infineon Technologies)
- Jessica Ross, Design Engineering Graduate Apprentice, Leonardo UK/Strathclyde University
- Henry Wall, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Student, University of Cambridge (UKESF Scholar – sponsor company: Multiple Access Communications (MAC) Ltd)
- Ethan Wilkinson, Application Engineer, EDA Solutions Limited/University of Birmingham (UKESF Scholar)
Inspiring the industry
Why are we doing this? Electronics Weekly believed that by celebrating the achievements of the most talented young people in the electronics world, we can play a significant role in inspiring and encouraging new entrants to the industry.
This is particularly important in the context of the industry’s well-publicised skills gap and the efforts of the UK government and other organisations to encourage greater take-up in schools and universities of STEM and engineering-related subjects.
