The Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers

East Midlands 2026 winner: Samuel Szczepansk

Samuel Szczepanski, a civil engineering student at the University of Derby, won the East Midlands heat of the ICE Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers.

His winning paper was titled: Optimising Cement Stabilised RAP for Low-Carbon Pavement Applications.

Overall, his paper demonstrated that cement stabilised RAP is a viable sustainable solution for low-traffic pavement base layers when appropriate mix design, quality control and drainage are provided.

Read more about Samuel's paper

East of England 2026 winner: Esther Fobi

Esther Fobi, a graduate civil engineer at Galliford Try, has been named The Princess Royal Awards for Emerging Engineers - ICE East of England 2026.

Her winning paper, Built In, Left Out: A Technical Framework for Construction Site Access and Travel, impressed the judges by clearly explaining the sustainability and social impact issues and the way she offered practical suggestions that showed her commitment and vision for the project.

The study introduced a framework to treat workforce travel as engineered, accountable, and safe.

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Hong Kong 2026 winner: Tsang Tsz Yeung

Tsang Tsz Yeung, a recent graduate from the University of Hong Kong and a graduate civil engineer at the Water Supplies Department of Hong Kong, has won the Hong Kong regional final of the Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers.

His winning paper was titled Alkali-silica Reaction of Foam Glass Aggregates in Lightweight Concrete.

Foam glass aggregate, which is produced by recycling waste glass, can serve as a replacement to natural coarse aggregates, producing concrete that is both lightweight and has high thermal insulation.

Tsang’s work paves the way for the wider adoption of foam glass aggregate in concrete that not only enables better wall thermal insulation but also lighter weight structures, offering a practical pathway towards reducing building energy consumption and improving structural sustainability.

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London 2026 winner: Tong Hu

Tong Hu, a PhD student at Imperial College London, has been named The Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers winner for London 2026.

His winning paper, Rethinking Steel Construction: Optimisation-driven Hybrid Fabrication with Metal 3D Printing, was well received by the judges for showing, through analysis and experimental evidence, how the selective use of wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) can improve steel construction.

His research demonstrated that hybrid steel construction can deliver stronger, more efficient and more sustainable infrastructure by using advanced fabrication only where it adds clear value, while retaining the practicality of conventional steelwork.

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Middle East and North Africa 2026 winner: Jesús David De Oliveira

Jesús David De Oliveira, ICE graduate member and structural engineer at Robert Bird Group in Dubai, UAE, has been named the 2026 winner for ICE Middle East and North Africa.

His winning paper was titled Influence of Hybrid Manufacturing on the Buckling Behaviour of Slender Beams.

De Oliveira showed how steel 3D printing can be used to strengthen the structural components of buildings more efficiently than traditional methods.

Read more about Jesus's paper

North East 2026 winner: Amy Henderson

Amy Henderson, a graduate of Newcastle University and geotechnical engineer at JBA Consulting, won the North East Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers.

Her winning paper was titled: Women in Reservoir Engineering: Strengthening the Future of UK Reservoir Safety.

Drawing on UK professional practice, Amy’s presentation examined the relationship between skills capacity, gender representation, and reservoir safety outcomes.

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Northern Ireland 2026 winner: Rachel Woodward

Rachel Woodward, Ulster University, took home the Brennan Cup; the award given to the Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers, Northern Ireland regional winner.

Rachel impressed the judges with her paper titled Calcined Waste Clays as Low-Carbon Supplementary Cementitious Material for Decarbonising Soil Stabilisation, at the regional final held on Monday 23 March 2026.

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North West 2026 winner: Aamar Lovell

Aamar Lovell, ICE student member and apprentice civil engineer at Waterman Group, won the North West final of the Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers.

His winning paper was titled Engineering the 22^nd Century Bridge: Materials, Digitalisation and Predictive Intelligence.

His paper proposes that the 22^nd century bridge should not be defined by structural form or span length, but by its engineered longevity, material intelligence and predictive capability.

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Scotland 2026 winner: John Casey

John Casey, senior engineer at Farrans Construction, has been named the 2026 Scotland winner of the Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers.

His paper, titled Temporary Works Governance in Multi-Contractor Renewable Energy Projects, impressed the judges with his strong commitment to health and safety.

The paper highlighted the methods John took to ensure adequate safety on site when installing temporary works, including working with an inspector from the Health and Safety Executive to address the governance gap and organising regular meetings between the contractors.

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South East England 2026 winner: Alex Soles

Alex Soles, a Pew lecturer (civil and geotechnical engineering) at MKC Training and a student at the University of Greenwich, has been named the winner of the Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers for South East England.

His winning paper titled The Influence of Recycled Fibres on the Behaviour and Properties of Concrete Products for Military Applications, impressed the judges with his thought-provoking paper in the way he examined the use of recycled fibres in concrete for military engineering applications.

The study demonstrates that recycled fibres can provide a practical, lower-impact alternative to conventional reinforcement in demanding conditions.

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South West 2026 winner: Hannah Hart

Hannah Hart, a civil engineer degree apprentice working at AtkinsRéalis in Bristol, was named South West champion after presenting research highlighting the gap between flooding alerts and public action.

Hart, who also studies at the University of the West of England, came first with her paper titled Evaluating the Effectiveness of Coastal Flood Warning Systems: Bridging the Gap Between Warning Notifications and Public Responses in Newport, South Wales.

he judges said Hart’s paper demonstrated deep knowledge, strong real-life impact and clever integration of technical, operational and behavioural insights. They decided to award her first prize in recognition of her clear analysis, sustainability focus, practical relevance and outstanding communication skills.

Read more about Harriet's paper

Yorkshire and Humber 2026 winner: Shihas Melikkattil Shamsudheen

Shihas Melikkattil Shamsudheen, a graduate of Leeds University and assistant civil structural engineer at Atkins Realis, has won the Yorkshire and Humber Princess Royal Award for Emerging Engineers.

His winning paper was titled Enhanced Carbon Sequestration in Cementitious Systems Using Solid CO₂ as a Functional Admixture.

Shihas’ study introduced a simple method for carbon dioxide sequestration using solid carbon dioxide (CO₂) pellets directly added into cementitious systems during mixing.

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East Midlands 2025 winner: Samira Hejazi

Samira Hejazi, a civil engineering student at the University of Nottingham, has won the East Midlands regional heat.

Her paper on Evaluating the Ageing Resistance of Bitumen Using Bio-sourced Lignin impressed the judges at the final held on 28 May.

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Middle East and North Africa 2025 winner: Josephine Jane Joseph

Josephine Jane Joseph, sustainability analyst at AESG UAE, has been named the 2025 winner for ICE Middle East and North Africa.

She won for her paper on Parametric Façade Design to Suit Daylighting Needs and Its Impact on the Energy Demand of an Office Building.

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London 2025 winner: Chris Quigley

Chris, a temporary works design engineer at Barhale, has won the London heat of the award.

Chris' paper covered delivering engineering solutions for the Ridge Road Tunnelling Project.

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North East 2025 winner: Adam Smith

Adam Smith, a graduate civil engineer at Stantec, has won the North Eastregional heat.

He captured the attention of the online audience with his paper Solving the Problem Not Just the Issue: A Sustainable Approach to Spill Reduction in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

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Northern Ireland 2025 winner: Timothy McCaughey

Timothy McCaughey (Apprentice Civil Engineer Technician, Translink) took home the Brennan Cup, the regional award.

Timothy impressed judges with the presentation of his paper RAAC – the Crumbling Concrete Crisis at the regional final held on 31 March 2025.

South West 2025 winner: Emily Mulley

Graduate engineer, Emily Mulley, won the top prize in the South West regional final for her paper exploring opportunities for using blockchain and digital models to improve efficiency in construction.

Mulley, who works for Hochtief (UK) Construction, presented a study to determine the feasibility of implementing blockchain-based methods in BIM for a construction phase.

Read more about Emily's paper

Scotland 2025 winner: Corey Boyle

Corey Boyle, a final year civil engineering student at Heriot-Watt University, has won ICE Scotland's regional heat for 2025.

Boyle impressed the judges through a presentation on his paper The South Sub Tram-Train.

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West Midlands 2025 winner: Shreah Bargota

Shreah Bargota, a graduate urban drainage modeller at Stantec, has won the regional final of the ICE West Midlands award.

Her paper, Exploring the Efficiency of Arsenic Removal from Water with Biochar, impressed the judges by demonstrating extensive knowledge supported by detailed experimental data and analysis.

Read more about Shreah's paper

Yorkshire and Humber 2025 winner: Mohammed Karolia

Mohammed Karolia, a graduate structural engineer at AtkinsRéalis, took home the award in Yorkshire and Humber.

Mohammed impressed the judges with his paper Life Cycle Embodied Carbon And Cost Analysis Of Fibre-Reinforced-Polymer (FRP) Reinforced Concrete Slabs.

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South East England 2025 winner: Harini Shivani

Harini Shivani is a Civil Engineering Graduate from the University of Greenwich.

Her project, “Effects of Using Carbon-Treated Demolition Waste as Aggregate Replacement on Mechanical Properties of Concrete”, experimentally compared traditional concrete with mixes using recycled aggregates and low-carbon cement, examining how these sustainable alternatives impact compressive, tensile, and flexural strength.

Read more about Harini's paper

Hong Kong winner: Elise Yau

Elise Yau, a recent graduate from the University of Hong Kong, won the regional final of the award.

Her presentation was on her paper, titled Developing an energy-positive and low-carbon emission sludge treatment process by integrating physicochemical capture and anaerobic digestion.

Read more about Elise's paper