On November 5, School of Engineering and Materials Science (SEMS) of QMUL held a ceremony to celebrate the 50th graduation anniversary of the first graduates, and invited the first batch of graduates from Queen Mary Engineering School (QMES) of NPU in Xi’an. 20 Chinese students who graduated in the September of 2021 and currently are studying at University of Cambridge, UCL, Imperial College London, University of Leeds and Queen Mary University of London, gathered at the Mile End Campus of QMUL in London with more than 120 alumni of SEMS to celebrate this grand event.

the photo of Chinese graduates of 2021 of QMES and teachers in London

The event was also held by live broadcast.At the beginning of the event, the Vice President of ICL Professor Andrew Livingston, and the Founder of SEMS Professor Edgar Andrews, delivered their speeches respectively.After, the three former Deans of SEMS: Professor Peter Reed, Professor Bill Bonfield (Winner of Commander of the Order of Queen), and Professor Paul Hogg deeply recalled their unforgettable years at the college.Professor Andy Bushby (currently the Executive Vice Dean of QMES) shared his 41 yearsof growth experience from an undergraduate to a professor at SEMS.

From left to right: Professor Peter Reed、Bill Bonfield、Paul Hogg、Andy Bushby

During the event, many alumni shared their work experience after graduating from SEMS, including those who engaged in polymer and its engineering applications, in the shipping field, and those as engineers in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship (F1), and those who have made great achievements in the field of engineering legal appraisal. Ioannis Spanoudakis, a PhD graduate of SEMS and CEO of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, also sent a congratulatory message by video.After that, three on-the-job faculty representatives reported on the teaching work and scientific research of SEMS in recent years. Furthermore, Sir Colin Humphreys (Winner of Commander of the Order of Queen) looked forward to the development of Materials Science in the next 50 years, and he said that materials science has a great potential for wide application in the fields of green energy power generation, storage, recyclable materials, bio-materials and so on.

Andy Bushby introduced QMES

Finally, Professor Liz Tanner, Director of Department of Materials and Academician of Royal Academy of Engineering (Winner of Commander of the Order of Queen), expressed his sincere gratitude to all the audiences who participated in this ceremony online and offline, and especially welcomed the first batch of graduates from QMES.

50 years ago, the first batch of graduates of SEMS, like the 2021 graduates of QMES, entered the workplace or continued to study after four years of their school training.There is a hope that everyone could have a reunion again in 50 years!

Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is the first university in the UK to set up the major of materials.Nowadays, its materials discipline ranks the ninth in the UK, and has become one of the most influential disciplines in the university. With the core concept of providing students with elite quality education and excellent professional education around the entire process of material organization, structure, performance relationship and material design, molding, and application, it has been rated as 5-Star by the British government for many times. In addition, a quarter of the representatives who spoke at this event were academicians of the British Academy of Science and Royal Academy of Engineering.

Written by Wang Luyan; Qi Yue

Edited by Wu Sijia

Reviewed by Kong Jie