This award is the premier award of the University. The Prize consists of an award of £1,500 plus a commemorative medal and is awarded annually to an outstanding student at the University for a combination of both academic and non-academic achievement. He received the prize during his graduation in 2022.
Ed, a graduate of the BSc Transport and Business Management course, was active in many spheres during his time at university.
Nominating him for the award, Professor Marcus Enoch said:
“Ed works well in groups and was a delight to teach. He consistently scored high marks throughout his degree and had a very successful placement year with South Western Railways.
“He performed well academically and was involved in activities across the University and in the community.”
Ed’s contributions to student life and the wider community included involvement in church, Scouts, societies, and Tuxedo Swing.
He was Velocity Chair in 2019-20, and Secretary in 2020-22. Ed helped to rebuild the society by organising various trips and talks, whilst also engaging new members. His work supported the diversification of the membership and ensured the continuation of the society.
He was also the Scout and Guide Club (SCOGUI) Secretary in 2019-20, and Liaisons Officer 2020-22. The club is part of the student scout and guide organisation and as part of this he sat on a committee organising a reunion camp – Amalgam – in 2022. Ed was also a Beaver leader in Loughborough and an acting district youth commissioner in Norfolk, helping run and organise district events.
He sang with the choir at All Saints with Holy Trinity in Loughborough town centre and supported bell ringing and other activities at the church.
Since graduating, Ed has returned to work in the train planning unit at South Western Railway, where he worked during his placement year, and has continued many of his community-related activities.
Ed commented:
“Building on the skills developed during my placement I have mainly been working in crew diagramming, helping to create amended diagrams for weekend engineering works, special events and recent strike periods. This has also included learning new software to develop my knowledge and skills further.
“Having moved in the summer to allow me to take up this job I have also continued with music and Scouting, joining a choir and starting a new role in Scouting as the local District Youth Commissioner.”
About Sir Robert Martin
Robert Martin was a member of a distinguished and a very long-established Leicestershire family. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he read Mechanical Engineering. After working as a railway engineer, he enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment in the First World War. Eventually wounded and invalided out, he was awarded the Companionship of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for wartime leadership and gallantry.
In 1924 he was elected Chairman of Leicestershire Council, a post he held until 1960. He was also Chairman of the County Education Committee, and it was in this capacity that he made a major contribution to the development of Loughborough College, the predecessor to the University. Elected to its governing body in 1922 and its chair from 1940 to 1960, he together with Sir William Brockington, the long-serving County Director of Education, and Dr Herbert Schofield, the college principal, formed 'the triumvirate' which fostered the remarkable growth of the college.
In 1939 he was knighted for his services to local government and education; in 1958 he attended the christening of Martin Hall, named after him, on the campus; and in 1959 he was awarded a Doctor of Law by Leicester University. He died in 1961 at the age of 86.