A Strathclyde University student has been named young software engineer of the year at an annual industry conference and awards.
Ben Macdonald from Ayrshire scooped the top prize at the 35th annual Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards in Edinburgh.
The ceremony took place following the yearly ScotSoft conference, organised by tech trade body ScotlandIS.
The winning entry, sponsored by Sopra Steria, aims to increase the level of control we all have over how our personal data is used on the internet.
Karen Meechan, CEO at ScotlandIS, said: “We’re always impressed by the quality of entries for the awards, this year has certainly been no different. There’s often a perception that software development is very technical and leaves no room for creativity, but these projects show this could not be further from the case.
“Competitions like this allow us to showcase the very best tech talent Scotland has to offer and highlights that it is a sector in which we really can have influence on the biggest stage. This year’s winners demonstrate how smart engineering can help provide practical, real-life answers to some of the most complicated and challenging problems we face.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of those who made the shortlist and offer my sincere thanks to our sponsors.”
The winning project highlights a privacy concern associated with the role of identity providers, the systems that create, manage and store our digital identities. Identity providers acquire information about users and the applications they use, which enables them to create profiles and track user activity over time. Ben’s project explored an alternative approach of developing private and personal data hubs managed by individual users with his work being published in the 2024 Solid Symposium in Leuven, Belgium, following positive external reviews.
Ben said: “Data privacy is going to be one of the biggest challenges we’ll face in the next few years, so it’s vital we get it right. That’s easier said than done though. It’s an issue with many moving parts and many large businesses have a clear vested interest in securing long term access to the data we all make available when using the internet.
“It’s a real honour to receive this award and I just hope that my research can help contribute to a practical and effective solution to some of these emerging issues.”
The engineering prize as well as second and third place all received the highest plaudits from the judges. Second prize, sponsored by BCS, was won by Aberdeen University’s Ben Laurie, and third prize, sponsored by Resillion, was won by St Andrews University’s Benjamin Sonnett with David Topping picking up the Engineering Prize, sponsored by Leidos.
