We are so proud to announce that Extreme-E racing pioneer, social mobility advocate and Amos Alumni Ambassador George Imafidon has received two of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s highest accolades – Young Engineer of the Year and the Sir George Macfarlane Medal.
The award and medal, recognise the potential of engineers working in the UK who have demonstrated excellence in the early stage of their career. George received the medal – named after wartime radar pioneer Sir George Macfarlane – at the Academy Awards Dinner in London on Tuesday 12 July 2022.
George Imafidon is a Performance Engineer working with Sir Lewis Hamilton HonFREng’s Team X44 electric racing team to design Extreme-E race cars. The motorsport team, founded in September 2020, aims to draw attention to environmental issues by racing in remote locations affected by the climate crisis.
George’s fascination with mechanics stems from his formative years spent fixing bikes for his friends in South East London, a pastime that would eventually lead him to graduate from University College London with a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
In addition to his E-racing career, George is also CEO and co-founder of Motivez, an app designed to help young people from underrepresented backgrounds access personalised opportunities, particularly within science, technology, engineering and maths.
George’s commitment to platforming underrepresented voices was further evidenced by his appointment in September 2020 to the Board of Commissioners for Sir Lewis Hamilton’s Commission set up jointly with the Royal Academy of Engineering to address the underrepresentation of Black people in UK motorsport. As a young Black engineer, George was able to advise and guide the Commission’s work, introduce the research team to key stakeholders and young engineers for interviews and steer the final report that enabled the Commission to achieve high public profile and political attention for this issue.
George took a gap year during his university studies to fundraise for the #AB1Million campaign, raising £1 million for the Amos Bursary to ensure talented young people of African and Caribbean descent have the opportunity to excel in education and beyond.
George has received many prestigious awards and accolades including a Princess Diana Award, Accenture Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, Top 10 Future Leaders Award, UK Top 10 Black Students award and features in the 2021 Powerlist. He is also featured in the 2021 series of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s This is Engineering videos, designed to encourage young people from all backgrounds to follow what they love doing into a career in engineering.
Colleen Amos OBE, CEO and co-founder of the Amos Bursary, says “George is passionate about building products that improve lives and communities and over the past five years, he has worked across engineering, technology, consulting, and finance with firms such as Google, Rolls-Royce, J.P Morgan, BCG and now with Team X44. He is a firm believer in creating opportunities where people see obstacles and ensuring everywhere he goes is better than he found it.”
Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi CBE FREng, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Awards Committee, says: “Our Young Engineers of the Year are pushing back the boundaries of modern engineering and creating genuinely new economic opportunities in the process. They are also fantastic role models for any young person considering whether to join the engineering profession. I congratulate them all.”
To find out about the other four RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineers of the Year take a look at the website https://raeng.org.uk/news/academy-celebrates-outstanding-young-engineers-of-the-year
Find out more about George’s journey with The AMOS Bursary here https://www.amosbursary.org.uk/george-imafidon-changingthenarrative/
