MONITOR
CHARITY
The WCIT Charity Outstanding Information Technology Student Awards 2016
F ollowing the success of the inaugural WCIT Outstanding Information Technology Student Awards in 2015 , the WCIT Charity was very pleased to support the scheme again for 2016 . The awards were created to recognise outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate IT students .
Criteria for the award included academic excellence , overcoming adversity , entrepreneurial skills and contribution to charity or community . Six universities nominated their chosen candidate and provided a written citation in their support : this year , they were Oxford , Cambridge , Surrey , City , Imperial and the Open University .
The judging panel included the Master , Alderman Sir David Wootton , the Master Educator , our own Past Master John Leighfield CBE , the Chair of the WCIT Charity , Mrs Jo Connell OBE DL , the Junior Warden Dr Stefan Fafinski and Alderman and Sheriff Charles Bowman .
From left : Lachlan Munro , Surrey University ; Will Bell , Oxford University ; Laurynas Karazija , Cambridge University ; Junior Warden , Stefan Fafinski ; Deputy Master , Nicholas Birtles ; Sherry Coutu CBE ; the Master Alderman Sir David Wootton ; Master Educator , John Leighfield CBE ; Clerk , Mike Jenkins ; Assistant Clerk , Lillie Jamieson ; Andrew Lambert , City University London ; Rory Bennett , Open University ; and winner Bryan Liu , Imperial College , London .
“ It is wonderful to see the University IT Awards running for a second year . The quality of the entrants was exceptional – it is inspiring to see ”
As we expected from last year , the standards reached by the nominees was very high . Each nominated student won £ 250 towards their continuing studies , together with a place at the February Business Lunch with their sponsoring academic . The overall winner received £ 1,000 .
This year ’ s winner was Bryan Liu from Imperial College London , a fourth year student studying towards a MEng in mathematics and computer science . As well as averaging marks of 80 % in each of is first three years , he completed the ILM Level 5 Award in Volunteer Management , raised over £ 2,500 for charity , teamed up with three other students to build a WebApp to provide real-time updates and delay prediction for London Underground by analysing tube arrival and departure data .
In addition , he dedicates time to welcome new students with a culturally Chinese background to the university , as well as raising awareness on public affairs and promoting opportunities amongst the Chinese student community . Dr Stefan Fafinski , Junior Warden and instigator of the Awards said “ It is wonderful to see the University IT Awards running for a second year . The quality of the entrants was exceptional – it is inspiring to see students combining outstanding academic performance with entrepreneurial and charitable efforts . I ’ m looking forward to seeing what next year ’ s students have in store .”
The winning students were presented with their awards by our Master and the Master Educator at the February 2016 WCIT Business Lunch at Apothecaries ’ Hall .
The winner of the overall WCIT Outstanding Information Technology Award , Bryan Liu ( middle ) from Imperial College , London
Contributed by WCIT Junior Warden Dr Stefan Fafinski
Right : The wonderful Apothecaries ’ Hall , our setting for the 91st WCIT Business Lunch
© Photography by Gerald Sharp Photography
www . sharpphoto . co . uk
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