School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering student Rebecca Nettleship has won the “Best Student Contribution to a Small to Medium-Sized Employer” at the National Undergraduate Employability Awards.  Rebecca is currently in Stage 3 of a BEng Programme in Product Design Engineering.  She completed her placement last year with Stryker Belfast (who manufacture HeartSine AEDs) who nominated her for the award. 

This Award recognises the student who has exceeded expectations and genuinely made a significant impact to the small business as a whole. They also receive £250 for their hard work.

Why They Won

• Rebecca designed from concept to market a unique training tool for the business
• Streamlined an eight page user manual across 30 languages worldwide into one clear manual, which has saved significant materials costs
• Worked on a new product, which was recently released in America

Rebecca’s line manager, Dr Peter O’Hare said “Our partnership with Queen’s for our placement programme is integral to ensuring Stryker attracts the highest calibre students and graduates.  The innovative ideas that Rebecca and previous Queen’s students bring to the team help ensure the ongoing success of indigenous medical device innovation”.

Two other students from the School also made it to the final round of the competition.  Conan Bradley was nominated by BlocBlinds in the “Best Student Contribution to a Small to Medium-Sized Employer” category and Daire O’Dubhthaigh was nominated by Interface Europe Ltd in the “Best Placement Student” category.

The National Undergraduate Employability Awards bring together employers, students and universities from across the UK to recognise the successes within undergraduate employability.  Hosted by RMP Enterprise, the Awards showcase the passion, innovation and dedication from across the industry.  This year's NUE Awards took place on 1st March 2019.  You can find out more about the Awards here

The School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is keen to build strong relationships with industry partners and we are thrilled to see such positive results from the placement opportunities afforded to our students.

Photo (L-R): Dr Jonathan Cole, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Rebecca Nettleship; Dr Peter O’Hare, Stryker