Lancaster Engineering graduate Norbert Sieczkiewicz has won a Bright Sparks award at the Electronics Weekly Awards 2023.

The awards highlight the most talented young engineers below the age of 30 who are already making a difference in the UK in the first years of their careers, or those who are still studying in the UK but show promise to become the innovators and leaders in electronics in the future.

He recently successfully completed a PhD at Lancaster University where his project looked at how to achieve higher weld integrity in electron beam welding, better process monitoring, reduced failure rates in service and zero defects manufacturing.

Norbert is currently working for Dyson in Malmesbury as a Science and Research Engineer for the company’s Research, Design and Development (RDD) centre. Here his job includes hardware and software prototyping, including sensors and Arduino Language/Python programming.

In his own time, he has also been granted a patent for his invention which switches the sound between headphones and a loudspeaker, and a circuit for switching the sound between headphones and a loudspeaker.

Norbert has a history of involvement in STEM education, volunteering for the James Dyson Foundation at both the Cheltenham Science Festival and The Royal International Air Tattoo where he presented science and engineering activities for children.

He even created a Challenge Card for children – to be published on the James Dyson Foundation website - based on how to weld with chocolate!

He said: “I appreciate this acknowledgement of my work, academic, professional and volunteering activities. While it is always a pleasure to support STEM activities, I greatly appreciate the recognition of the extra hours I have been putting in. I hope I continue to inspire young people and encourage them to choose STEM-based education, as it is a great joy to work in energetic research departments and hands-on experimentation always makes me think of sandbox for grown-ups. Even if there are obstacles in making scientific ideas practical in everyday life, STEM education equips us with critical thinking and acceptance of trial and error to handle such situations well.”