Water Engineer Jamie Radford (24) has won top spot in the annual Graduate Awards run by New
Civil Engineer (NCE) magazine. The Award has bagged him a cheque for £1,500 and specially crafted trophy.
Jamie works for Mott MacDonald in Cambridge and is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Earlier this year he won the ICE East of England Graduate and Student Papers Competition with a paper titled 'The characteristics of pit latrine sludge" which covered his research into methods to clear sludge in third world earth toilets.
The paper is only part of the reason Jamie beat of 115 worldwide entrants to take the award. He was one of six finalists grilled by a panel of 17 senior directors from sponsoring companies. They were impressed with is experience and knowledge. This includes his term as president of the university's engineering society where he chaired a committee of 14, allocated a £30K budget and voice opinions of 1,000 undergraduates to university management boards. He is also credited with organising the largest volunteer-run careers fair in any UK university.
It was as co-president of the Cambridge branch of the student run charity Engineers Without Borders that Jamie gained his exposure to developing countries. A two month trip to El Salvador resulted in the design of a sustainable wood burning stove, which could be built by local inhabitants. He then founded a research initiative into sustainable housing, a project involving 150 undergraduates, a dozen full time research academics and $190K in grants. hH is currently seeking charity status for the whole scheme.
A two month expedition to Ecuador saw him identify six previously unknown butterfly specials including one now named after him. Towards the end of his Cambridge course Jamie had notched up three major academic prizes and scholarships. But it is his work on latrine sludge that fires him most.
"We know nothing about the physical strength of faecal sludge and how it behaves while being pumped from village latrine pits," said Jamie. "Thousands of inefficient pumps result in filled-up toilets simply being abandoned leading to serious health hazards and shortages of valuable land for house building."
Two lengthy trips to Uganda, personal examination of 38 over-flowing latrines, plus presentations to two international conferences could well change all that. With MottMacdonald's support Jamie has forged a reputation as a world authority on the subject and hopes it will lead to sustainable solutions that will
positively benefit communities in the developing world.