Imperial Zero Pollution launched a new postgraduate student awards scheme for 2024 - the Pioneer Awards. The scheme is for postgraduate student (PG Taught, MRes and PhD) innovators, researchers and pioneers, pushing the boundaries of the Transition to Zero Pollution (TZP) at Imperial College London. 

The Awards included an £800 prize, one for each submission category, and presentation in a  research showcase event on 9 July 2024.

There were five submission categories for the awards corresponding to the five main research themes of the TZP initiative: Zero Pollution Mobility, Urban Ecosystems People & Planet, Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste, Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems, and Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health.

The results of the 2024 Zero Pollution Pioneer Awards were announced by Professor Julie McCann at a project showcase and awards event on 9 July 2024. Scroll down to find out who the winners and runners up are.

Results of the 2024 Zero Pollution Pioneer Awards

Winners

Jesús Manuel Muñoz Tejeda, Department of Aeronautics, project: Water-fuelled space propulsion systems (Zero Pollution Mobility)

Emanuele Griccioli, Dyson School of Design Engineering, project: Sealeo - fully bio-degradable evaporative cooling packaging for temperature-sensitive medicine. (Urban Ecosystems People & Planet)

Caiwu Liang, Department of Materials, project: Designing catalysts to enable green hydrogen production at the terawatt scale by water electrolysis (Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste)

Abha Joglekar, Centre for Environmental Policy, project: Why should we plant trees? (Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems)

Melanie Egli, School of Public Health, project: How mental health and use of chemicals are linked with our surroundings:  a large-scale One Health-driven project combining public health, wastewater analysis and environmental monitoring of rivers (Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health)

Runners up

Zhenyu Tan, Centre for Environmental Policy, project: Optimal Pathways to Accelerate the Market Uptake of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles (Zero Pollution Mobility)

Adam Whitehouse, Department of Aeronautics, project: Novel Damage Mitigation Concepts for Composite Structures (Zero Pollution Mobility)

Jada-Tiana Carnie, Department of Mechanical Engineering, project: Understanding the physics and optimising phase change material thermal energy storage systems for a sustainable future (Urban Ecosystems People & Planet)

Jemima Frame, Department of Life Sciences, project: Assessing the functional diversity of avian populations within the global zoo holdings (Urban Ecosystems People & Planet)

Theo Hembury, Department of Life Sciences, project: Ecology and Technology of Microbial Fuel Cells (Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste)

Mohamed Elzeadani, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, project: Material and structural behaviour of rubberised alkali-activated concrete (Sustainable Resources & Zero Waste)

Caini Liu, Dyson School of Design Engineering, project: Aquaveil (Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems)

Hsuan-Yi Li, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, project: Multi-spectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar Temporal Analysis for Unsupervised Winter Food Crop Mapping and Yield and Production Prediction (Resilient, Regenerative & Restorative Systems)

Victoria Garcia Giner, Materials, project: A multidimensional study of the impact of airborne London Underground pollutants on human airway cell models (Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health)

Sven Winkler von Stiernhielm, Dyson School of Design Engineering, project: Intelligent Aquaculture: Feeding East Africa Sustainably (Emerging Environmental Hazards & Health)