The head of a national charity that has enabled over 200 Southampton electronic engineering students to realise their ambitions has been made a Fellow of the University of Southampton.
Stewart Edmondson is CEO of the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF), a charity that supports young people into engineering careers.
In just over a decade, the foundation has awarded 208 scholarships to electronic engineering students at the University of Southampton – almost twice that of any of the other 27 UK universities that are part of the scheme, and around a quarter of all the scholarships that have been awarded.
The scholarships support students financially and with work experience, professional development and networking opportunities.
A total of 14 Southampton students who have been supported by the UKESF are graduating this week, including Shantam Shridev, 22, who has completed an undergraduate master’s in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Shantam said: “The scholarship allowed me to get an early dive into the electronics industry. By connecting me directly to employers, I was able to explore various unique projects that I could contribute to, while still in university.
“Studying at the University of Southampton has been amazing. I got to partake in unique projects while being pushed to experiment with new and emerging technologies. My university experience is something I will always be grateful for.”
Oana Lazar, 26, was awarded a UKESF scholarship and graduated from the University of Southampton with an undergraduate master’s in Electronic Engineering with Industrial Studies in 2022. Since then, she has worked as an Embedded Software Engineer for Tessent Embedded Analytics, part of Siemens.
Oana said: “The scholarship formed a crucial part of my university experience. The summer placement prepared me for the workplace; I secured a 12-month industrial placement as part of my degree and had a signed full-time and permanent contract with my UKESF sponsoring company during the final year of my degree; and it kick-started my interest in electronics outreach, which now forms part of my daily life alongside my professional career.”
Stewart has also collaborated with academics at the University on a project called Electronics Everywhere, which has donated classroom sets to a quarter of sixth forms nationally to support electronic engineering teaching within A-level physics and computer science courses.
Mr Edmondson, who has been CEO of the UKESF since 2015, said: “I am immensely proud to receive this award. As well as my personal contribution, it reflects the close and strong bonds between the UKESF and the University of Southampton. The support that we have received from the School of Electronics and Computer Science since our Foundation started 15 years ago has been peerless. The energy, capability and positive attitude of the more than 200 Southampton undergraduates who have been UKESF Scholars reflects so well on the School and all of its staff.”
Professor Geoff Merrett, Deputy Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, nominated Mr Edmondson for the fellowship.
Professor Merrett said: “Stewart’s drive and passion at the helm of the UKESF has positively influenced countless individuals, providing motivation, experience, and professional development, to kick-start careers and accelerate success. He has been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with on the Electronics Everywhere project, being instrumental in scaling it up to the point of reaching almost 1,000 schools across the UK. I’m delighted that the university has recognised Stewart’s contribution through the award of this fellowship.”
