Imperial College London has proudly announced the winners of the 2024 Pioneer Awards, a new scheme designed to recognize and celebrate postgraduate students who are pushing the boundaries of Transition to Zero Pollution (TZP). These prestigious awards highlight the groundbreaking work of master’s, MRes, and PhD students who are emerging as pioneers in their fields, driving innovation and research towards a sustainable future.
The Pioneer Awards, each accompanied by an £800 prize, were presented at a research showcase event held on July 9, 2024. The awards are structured around five key submission categories, mirroring the core research themes of Imperial’s Transition to Zero Pollution initiative. These themes represent critical areas in the fight against pollution and the pursuit of environmental sustainability:
- Zero Pollution Mobility: Focusing on innovative solutions for clean transportation and reducing emissions from mobility.
- Urban Ecosystems People & Planet: Exploring the complex interactions within urban environments, aiming to create healthier and more sustainable cities for both people and the planet.
- Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste: Addressing the urgent need for resource efficiency, waste reduction, and circular economy solutions.
- Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems: Investigating systems that can withstand environmental challenges, regenerate natural resources, and restore degraded ecosystems.
- Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health: Identifying and mitigating new and evolving threats to environmental and public health.
Professor Julie McCann unveiled the results of the 2024 Zero Pollution Pioneer Awards at the project showcase, celebrating the remarkable achievements of Imperial’s postgraduate research community.
2024 Zero Pollution Pioneer Award Winners
The winners in each category demonstrated exceptional innovation and a commitment to tackling pressing environmental challenges.
- Zero Pollution Mobility: Jesús Manuel Muñoz Tejeda, Department of Aeronautics, for his project on water-fuelled space propulsion systems. This pioneering research explores a novel approach to space travel that minimizes environmental impact.
- Urban Ecosystems People & Planet: Emanuele Griccioli, Dyson School of Design Engineering, for Sealeo, a project developing fully bio-degradable evaporative cooling packaging for temperature-sensitive medicine. This innovation addresses both waste and the crucial need for temperature-controlled medical supplies.
- Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste: Caiwu Liang, Department of Materials, for designing catalysts to enable green hydrogen production at the terawatt scale by water electrolysis. This research is vital for scaling up green hydrogen production, a key component of sustainable energy systems.
- Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems: Abha Joglekar, Centre for Environmental Policy, for her project, “Why should we plant trees?”. This project highlights the multifaceted benefits of trees in creating resilient and healthy ecosystems.
- Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health: Melanie Egli, School of Public Health, for her large-scale One Health-driven project investigating the links between mental health, chemical use, and our surroundings, combining public health, wastewater analysis, and environmental monitoring.
2024 Zero Pollution Pioneer Award Runners-Up
The runners-up also showcased impressive research and innovation across the five categories.
- Zero Pollution Mobility:
- Zhenyu Tan, Centre for Environmental Policy, for research on optimal pathways to accelerate the market uptake of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
- Adam Whitehouse, Department of Aeronautics, for his project on novel damage mitigation concepts for composite structures.
- Urban Ecosystems People & Planet:
- Jada-Tiana Carnie, Department of Mechanical Engineering, for understanding and optimising phase change material thermal energy storage systems for a sustainable future.
- Jemima Frame, Department of Life Sciences, for assessing the functional diversity of avian populations within global zoo holdings.
- Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste:
- Theo Hembury, Department of Life Sciences, for his project on the ecology and technology of microbial fuel cells.
- Mohamed Elzeadani, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, for research on the material and structural behaviour of rubberised alkali-activated concrete.
- Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems:
- Caini Liu, Dyson School of Design Engineering, for Aquaveil.
- Hsuan-Yi Li, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, for Multi-spectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar Temporal Analysis for Unsupervised Winter Food Crop Mapping and Yield and Production Prediction.
- Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health:
- Victoria Garcia Giner, Department of Materials, for a multidimensional study of the impact of airborne London Underground pollutants on human airway cell models.
- Sven Winkler von Stiernhielm, Dyson School of Design Engineering, for Intelligent Aquaculture: Feeding East Africa Sustainably.
The Imperial College London Pioneer Awards demonstrate the institution’s commitment to fostering the next generation of environmental pioneers and driving forward critical research needed for a zero-pollution future. These awards not only recognize outstanding student achievement but also highlight the diverse and impactful research happening across Imperial College in the pursuit of a healthier and more sustainable world.
