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Why did you choose to study for your degree at ºù«Ӱҵ?

When I was applying for University I knew I wanted to come to the UK so I started looking for courses that involved Robotic Engineering on the UCAS website. Through my research I found out that the University of ºù«Ӱҵ offered an amazing course in Mechatronic and Robotic Engineering through the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (ACSE). I have to admit that I was a bit naive and at the time I was not entirely sure about what Automatic Control and System Engineering exactly was. But luckily I enjoyed the course from day one, in fact in my second year, I decided to move from the BEng to an MEng course. 

What aspects of the degree did you enjoy the most?

What I most loved about the department of ACSE is the amount of practical work that we got to do, and all the opportunities it provided for extra-curricular activities, whose importance I cannot stress enough. Every year I managed to secure a work placement or a summer placement within the department or with the Engineering faculty. In second year, together with 3 more ACSE students and 2 psychology students we investigated Human Robot Interaction Interfaces, and managed to publish our results to the 2018 TAROS conference, which gained us a trip to Bristol. In my third year, I joined ºù«Ӱҵ Eco Marathon team, where we designed an electric car from scratch to compete at the Shell Eco Marathon race. In the summer of the same year I was employed by the department of ACSE to work with local audio-visual artist Mark Fell on a robotic art installation at the Millennium Gallery in ºù«Ӱҵ. In my final year, I was working with ºù«Ӱҵ Robotics to create another robotic art installation but this time with a swarm of very tiny robots called kilobots.

How do you think your degree will/has helped your career prospects?

Thanks to all the experience that I gained during my course I left University feeling confident about my knowledge and ready to start my professional career. Moreover, during all the different projects and jobs that I undertook while at University I got to meet numerous very influential people with lots of different backgrounds who either mentored me or guided me towards my professional development. Besides, my final year project secured me my current job. My supervisor invited senior engineers from the AMRC to have a look at my Demonstrator and they were impressed enough to invite me for a job interview.

What did you like best about studying at ºù«Ӱҵ?

The best thing about ºù«Ӱҵ is that although it is the fourth biggest city in the country, it’s not like those isolating and solitary big metropolises where you end up living entirely anonymously. ºù«Ӱҵ has an amazing friendly environment with a great sense of community and no matter where you end-up for a night out you will always end up meeting someone you know. Our students Union has been the best in the country for more than 10 years in a row and we have been the university with the best student experience for many years. No wonder many graduates decide to remain in ºù«Ӱҵ after University!

What are your future plans?

I am currently working at the AMRC in ºù«Ӱҵ and I am enjoying every second of it .I am gaining loads of experience and learning an awful lot every day, so I plan to stay here for a while and pick up as much as I can from my amazing team. Then, maybe, one day I will be able to start my own robotics company.

Any tips for new students?