Congratulations to PhD student Ya He who has been awarded the Hammermen David K Harrison Student Prize. The award is presented to the student who presents the best poster on the given theme which this year was ‘The next industrial revolution’.
Ya He presented her work at the EPC Annual Congress which took place in Manchester this year. All finalists were invited to present their work to a group of delegates, who then voted to select the overall winner.
Ya He’s research focuses on enhancing engineering students' teamwork skills via a gamified approach. She explained, “As we navigate the next industrial revolution, we are also witnessing rapid breakthroughs in a variety of technologies. These are not just technological shifts, but they also demand a transformation in how we educate and prepare our engineering students to become future engineers 2.0.”
In response, she designed and implemented a game-based workshop to enhance teamwork skills among postgraduate taught (PGT) engineering students. This workshop was delivered at the University of Sheffield and Manchester last year, and involved PGT students from chemical engineering and electrical engineering. The design drew from gamification and project-based learning theories, incorporating both board and simulation game elements. Student feedback indicates that this structured gameplay can serve as a shared language, helping students from diverse cultures build connections while developing both technical and human-centred skills.
Ya He's experience at the conference reinforced her belief that engineering education, like other hard technologies, is evolving and requires greater attention and investment. She commented, “Education is the key to shaping the engineers of tomorrow. We can no longer rely on legacy models while the world around us is transforming at an ever-increasing pace. The call for inclusivity for engineering education reminded me that expanding access isn't just about opportunity, it's more about unlocking diverse perspectives and actions for aligning with real-world needs. Engineering is not just technical work, it's social, ethical, and human work, and our education systems must reflect that truth.”
Presenting at conferences offers a fantastic opportunity for PhD students to gain experience in communicating their research. Ya He said “this experience gave me better practice to present, communicate and publicise my research to a wider audience and ultimately help more people who could potentially benefit.” She then went on to say that “winning the student competition was really really surprising, totally unexpected and this award is a recognition of my doctoral research and an encouragement for more academics and students working in engineering education.”
Every year the Engineering Professors Council (EPC) runs the Hammermen David K Harrison Student Prize which is kindly supported by the Hammermen of Glasgow and named to honour their former Honorary Treasurer who was instrumental in establishing this award which was renamed after his passing in 2022.