On Tuesday 6 July Dr Emilio Martinez-Pañeda was awarded the RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineer of the Year prize.

The award was given in recognition of his outstanding success in his field at an early stage in his career.

Dr Martinez-Pañeda received the award alongside four other winners during a special visit to the Thames Tideway Project.

HRH The Princess Royal, who is a Royal Fellow of the Academy, presented the five winners with their awards. The award and a £3,000 prize were bestowed by the Academy and backed by the Worshipful Company of Engineers.

Dr Martinez-Pañeda said, “It is a great honour to be awarded the Young Engineer of the Year Award by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

I am very grateful to the Royal Academy of Engineering, to my nominators, to the students and postdocs that work in my research group, and to my collaborators, in the UK and internationally.”

Dr Martinez-Pañeda is a lecturer in the Materials section at Imperial College, and leader of the Mechanics of Infrastructure Materials research group.

He said of his upcoming research, “The energy transition brings many exciting engineering challenges, from the degradation of batteries and wind turbines to the development of safe hydrogen storage infrastructure, all of which are closely related to mechanics and materials engineering.

“So, while I cannot anticipate precisely what the future will bring, I know for sure that I will be busy, and I will be having a lot of fun.”