James McKevitt is a First Year Student at Loughborough University, undertaking Aeronautical Engineering.

In April this year, James attended the finalists event for the Target Jobs Undergraduate of the Year Award, where he was presented the Target Jobs and Barclays, Undergraduate of the Year Award for Innovation!

These prestigious awards are usually given to final year students as they are usually in a stronger position to win the awards due to their experience, but James pipped all of the finalists to this award due in no small part to his incredibly proactive experiences outside of his academic studies.

James is the Head of Rocketry and Projects for the Loughborough University Space Society.  He also pioneered an outreach activity for local schools aimed at educating year 10 students, inspiring them into further study in STEM subjects.  He has helped support iNet, a space industries accelerator here at Loughborough; increasing exposure to students and as if this wasn't enough, James was awarded an international space scholarship - he met with NASA control room engineers in Florida and has since worked with TfL (Transport for London) and London Underground on control room layout and management.

The Awards Ceremony was held at the impressive East Wintergarden in London's Canary Wharf, where James received his award from Ana Perales - Strategic Transformation Director at Barclays and Rachel Riley - English television presenter and mathematician who currently co-presents Countdown. 

winning the award now entitles James to:

• A two-week summer internship with Barclays. James will get to spend time in four areas that focus on innovation including Barclays Eagle Labs, RISE, Barclays Technology and Customer Banking Solutions
• Membership of Barclays Eagle Labs for one year, providing him with a space to create, innovate and grow his ideas as well as benefiting from the Eagle Labs network. The Eagle Labs are based in several locations UK-wide
• Membership of RISE, which gives access to a global network of FinTech entrepreneurs, mentors and companies, and includes open desk space in London twice a week for three months
• A Fitbit Blaze

James modestly stated, upon receiving the Award:

“The award could have easily gone to any of the people shortlisted in my category.  They were a great group of self-motivated and intelligent people. It was truly inspiring to meet such a large group of very passionate undergraduate students and a privilege to be considered alongside them.”

The School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering would like to offer their congratulatons to James upon winning this award and we look forward to seeing his achievements over the coming years - this year, Canary Wharf, next year the world?

For further details on the Awards, please see the Target Jobs website.