The Young Engineers and Students (YES) sub-committee organises a range of competitions and events to create a dialogue with our younger members, designed to advance their careers in the field of composite materials and processing. Events, including an annual seminar competition and an annual Design and Make competition take place throughout the year and enable young engineers to practice important skills and receive prices for their excellent contributions. Other benefits include:

• Networking opportunities. Becoming part of the SAMPE family provides interactions with the composites industry early in your career
• SAMPE supports your continuous development through meetings and Seminars in the UK and globally
• Reduced membership fee for students and young engineers
• Technical Papers are available to you at no cost, accessed via our website
• Bi-monthly SAMPE Journal containing cutting edge articles

The annual SAMPE UK & Ireland YES (Young Engineers and Students) Seminar Competition took place on Thursday 22 May 2025 at the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, located at the University of Warwick.

Nine talented postgraduate students from five universities presented their research to a panel of academic and industry experts. The competition showcased outstanding innovation in composite materials and processing, with topics ranging from thermoplastic interfaces to crack arrest techniques in CFRPs.

Congratulations to our 2025 Winners:

• Casilda Serrano Villalobos (University of Warwick)
  Topic: Influence of Processing and Material Parameters on the Interfacial Strength in Overmoulded Thermoplastic Composite Parts

• Bruno Pereira Santos (Imperial College London)
  Topic: Arrest of Unstable Compressive Cracks in Carbon-Fibre Reinforced Polymers Using Local Ply-Discontinuity

Both winners will represent SAMPE UKIC at the SAMPE Europe Students’ Seminar in Amsterdam on 6–7 October 2025.

All participants received a complimentary one-year SAMPE student membership and benefited from professional feedback, presentation practice, and industry networking.

For more information, contact:
Dr Carwyn Ward – carwyn.ward@uwe.ac.uk
Dr Lee Harper – lee.harper@nottingham.ac.uk