IEEE UK and Ireland Section Student Branches | Congratulations on 2024 Achievements

During 2024, the UK and Ireland Section has intensified engagement with Student Branches, Student Branch Chapters and Student Branch Counsellors as part of our member engagement strategy for 2024 – 2025.

We are very pleased to celebrate achievements by our Student Branches during 2024 through activities, awards and competitions, as well as the formation of new Student Branches and Student Branch Chapters.

Meetings with Student Branches,  Student Branch Chapters and Student Branch Counsellors

The UK and Ireland Section organised meetings between the UK and Ireland Section Chair, Paul M Cunningham and Student Branches, Student Branch Chapters  and Student Branch Counsellors in Manchester on 20 February 2024; Sheffield on 21 February 2024 and Edinburgh on 25 April 2024.

This was complemented by three Student Branch Meetings during IEEE Week in London on 01 October, Liverpool on 02 October and Dublin on 04 October with participation of the 2024 IEEE President, Dr Tom Coughlin and UK and Ireland Section Chair, Paul M Cunningham.

These meetings with Student Branch leadership, members and Student Branch Counsellors provided an opportunity for Student Branches and Student Branch Chapters in England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland to present their past and current activities and future plans, as well as network and share experiences with peers in other Student Branches across the Section.

These meetings also provided an important opportunity for active volunteers to: better understand the vision of the Section to further strengthen engagement with IEEE members (and prospective members) living, working and studying across England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland; share their perspectives and highlight potential opportunities for the Section to better support Students and Student Branch Counsellors (including capacity building); and identify opportunities for collaboration between Student Branches, Affinity Groups and Society and Council Chapters to organise more impactful local activities.

Participation in Region 8 2024 Student and Young Professionals Congress

The IEEE Region 8 SYP Congress is organised on a bi-annual basis bringing together Student and Young Professionals Members from all Sections in Region 8. Its goal is to enhance and foster a sense of community and support networking through technical, cultural and social activities.

Participation of Student Branch and Young Professional (YP) Members is based on a competitive process. A number of Student Branch and YP Members from UK and Ireland Section applied to participate.

The UK and Ireland Section supported officers from 5 Student Branches selected by Region 8 Student Activities Committee and 2 Young Professionals to participate:

• Bolton University
• University of Manchester
• National University of Ireland Maynooth
• Trinity College Dublin
• Imperial College London

The UK and Ireland Section Delegation were very engaged throughout the event and thoroughly enjoyed their participation.

We are delighted to report that Trinity College Dublin Student Branch and Imperial College London Student Branch were both awarded the prestigious 2023 IEEE Regional Exemplary Student Branch Award by the Region 8 Student Activities Committee. Congratulations to the respective Student Branch Chairs, Counsellors and Committee Members for this recognition for effectively serving their local communities.

Winner of R8 2024 Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition

We are also very pleased to report that a Student Team from UK and Ireland Section were finalists in the 2024 IEEE Region 8 Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition, which took place during Region 8 SYP 2024. Four start-ups from Egypt, Italy, Jordan and UK and Ireland were shortlisted following a multi-stage judging process.

The MOVECRITIC team from the University of Sheffield were the Competition Winner, with a focus on leveraging technology to empower physiotherapists and patients. They had the opportunity to present during GITEX Global 2024 in October in Dubai. We wish Kacper, Will, Boon and Alex every success.

IEEEDuino Student Hardware Contest 2024

The BRIS Team from University of Limerick (Ben Bartlett, Marco Moreno, Matheus Santos) were awarded 3rd Prize in the IEEEDuino Student Hardware Contest for demonstrating outstanding dedication, innovation and technical expertise while working on the project UAV AGL Companion.

2024 IEEE Region 8 Robot Championship Winners, Malta, 23 – 24 November 2024

Two teams from IEEE UK and Ireland Section  (BRIS Team, University of Limerick and ElectroWarriers, Maynooth University) were selected to compete as finalists in the 2024 IEEE Region 8 Robot Championship, Malta, 23 – 24 November ’24.

The members of the BRIS Team, University of Limerick were Ben Bartlett, Marco Moreno, Tom Dorian, mentored by Petar Trslic.

The members of the ElectroWarriers Team, Maynooth University were Adil Farooq, Tadhg Creagh, Eoghan Mooney, mentored by Peter Redmond.

We are pleased to announce these teams won 4 Awards in the Championship:

• Overall Winner – BRIS, University of Limerick
• Best Pushing Power Award Winner – BRIS, University of Limerick
• Best Tactics Award Winner – ElectroWarriers, Maynooth University
• Manoeuvrability Award Winner – BRIS, University of Limerick

We wish to congratulate Ben, Marco, Tom, Adil, Tadhg and Eoghan on this wonderful achievement and thank Petar Trslic and Peter Redmond for supporting these teams.

Formation of new UK and Ireland Section Student Branches and Student Branch Chapters

We are very pleased to welcome the following new Student Branches and Student Branch Chapters:

• University of Liverpool Student Branch (December 2024)
• University of Leicester Student Branch (December 2024)
• University of Dublin Trinity College Communications Society Student Branch Chapter (November 2024)
• University of Limerick Intelligent Transportation Systems Society Student Branch Chapter (November 2024)
• University College London Circuits and Systems Society Student Branch Chapter (September 2024)
• Swansea University Student Branch (August 2024)
• University of Leeds Power & Energy Society Student Branch Chapter (June 2024)
• National University of Ireland Maynooth Circuits and Systems Society Student Branch Chapter (June 2024)
• National University of Ireland Maynooth Women In Engineering Student Branch Affinity Group (May 2024)

We wish all Student Branches, Student Branch Chapters and Student Counsellors well in their activities during the coming year.