The Student & Early Career (SEC) Group represents the views of student and early career members* of IOM3.
Representatives of the SEC Committee (the Group's leadership team) sit on the IOM3 Executive Board and Advisory Council ensuring that we are raising the major issues affecting student and early career members.
Since our creation in 1967 (as the Younger Members' Committee), we have developed a range of events to encourage networking and early career member involvement with IOM3. Our greatest successes to date include the Young Persons' Lecture Competition, Matopoly, Art Lecture, Road to Chartership and Professional Development events, Future Materials Conference and Materially Challenged. Building on our past success, we aim to continue to provide more events in the future, including regular informal networking opportunities along with new skills seminars, conferences and regional events.
Student & Early Career Hub
Visit the hub to find out more about awards, competitions & funding opportunities, upcoming events and recordings, relevant news, SEC Committee opinion pieces & blogs, and all resources relevant to students & early career professionals.
Meet the SEC Committee
Chair, SECC
Dr Ilija Rasovic MIMMM
Vice-Chair, SECC
Dr Michael Kenyon MIMMM
Chair, SECC
Dr Ilija Rasovic MIMMM
University of Birmingham
Ilija is Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham. He earned his MEng in Materials Science from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, followed by a DPhil in Materials from St Cross College, Oxford. His primary research interests focus on fullerenes and supramolecular systems with particular application in biomedical contexts.
Ilija is an award-winning science communicator, having won IOM3’s international Literature Review Prize in 2016 and finishing second in the Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition in 2017, amongst receiving other best talk prizes at international conferences and scientific meetings. He is also currently Advanced Materials Engineer at P1 Graphene Solutions, having previously worked on placement at Jaguar Land Rover and as a CNC miller for Lesk Engineers.
Ilija is involved in numerous outreach and engagement activities as a STEM ambassador and is committed to both championing Materials Science as a subject and inspiring students of all backgrounds to pursue further study at university. He is a trustee of the newly formed charity, Break Off Labs, whose aim is to widen participation in STEM research.
Vice-Chair, SECC
Dr Michael Kenyon MIMMM
Innoval Technology Limited
Michael works for Innoval Technology as a Materials Engineer. Innoval provide consultancy to the global aluminium industry, with expertise in materials characterisation and process improvement across all sectors. Day to day, Michael has two roles, as a physical metallurgist and as a sustainability analyst.
As a metallurgist, Michael examines microstructures of numerous aluminium series within the automotive, aerospace and packaging sectors. Michael particularly enjoys characterising aluminium structures by utilising optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopes. In addition to client work, Michael is heavily involved with publicly funded projects, providing metallurgical development and characterisation support. Michael finds collaborative projects incredibly rewarding, working alongside universities and commercial partners, contributing to projects that will increase the awareness and usage of sustainable aluminium for future materials.
With his sustainability hat on, Michael conducts studies for clients including Life Cycle Assessments to better understand and improve the footprint of their products and processes.
Michael previously studied for a PhD in Advanced Metallic Systems at the University of Manchester, investigating the evolution of dispersoids in Al-Mg-Si based automotive alloys with varying impurity levels; a project sponsored by Novelis.
Outside of work, you’ll find Michael with a camera in his hand, focusing on landscape, animal and astrophotography. Michael has been a keen Table Tennis player for many years, playing across the country.
Alice Robinson CEng MIMMM
Alice graduated from Imperial College London in 2018 with a First Class Honours degree in Materials with Nuclear Engineering before joining the Rolls-Royce graduate scheme which she has now completed. Alice has now secured a full-time role at the company working as a Materials Technologist focussing on novel manufacturing technologies. This current role allows Alice to continue to explore areas of materials science and engineering that she particularly enjoys, for instance additive manufacture and tribology whilst she supports programs which work to improve capability in these areas.
During university Alice began to foster relationships with the Armourers and Brasiers and the Tin Plate Workers and still remains involved with both companies today, attending relevant functions whenever possible. In 2019, Alice was one of the first Yeomen to be inaugurated into the Worshipful Company of the Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers.
Outside of work Alice spends the majority of her spare time at the gym or out socialising with friends. You can always guarantee her attendance at the local pub quiz too if she’s not on holiday somewhere sunny!
Ollie Thomas
Ollie is a DPhil student in the department of materials at the University of Oxford. Ollie is working with Dr R. House and Prof. Sir. P. Bruce on developing novel cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries using earth-abundant and sustainable materials.
Ollie completed his undergraduate master’s in chemistry at the University of Durham, including a placement year at the CEA in Grenoble, France. Ollie is particularly interested in developing fundamental structure-property relationships in solid-state inorganic species and using this understanding to rationally design novel materials for a sustainable society rationally.
Ollie is passionate about ensuring that the voices of all scientists are heard and that the sciences are made accessible. To this end, Ollie has worked extensively with the royal society of chemistry and university governance bodies to improve the representation of early career scientists and provision for underrepresented groups such as those with disabilities. Ollie also regularly works on outreach and widening participation initiatives to encourage people into materials science.
Ollie is a keen cook and open-water swimmer. He enjoys occupying his spare time with crosswords, video games, and listening to fantasy audiobooks, not to mention napping because naps are the best!
Dr Anna Tholen
Anna is a Materials Consultant at TPGroup based in Bristol, UK. She has a multi-disciplinary background of materials, mechanical and manufacturing engineering. She earned an undergraduate degree in Product Design Engineering from Loughborough University which included a year in industry at Unilever, where she worked in Global Procurement for injection moulds. Anna also studied for her PhD on improving the metallurgy of tool steel components in laser additive manufacturing, sponsored by the Additive Manufacturing Group at Renishaw Plc. Alongside her career, Anna is passionate about promoting STEM and proudly participates in outreach activities at schools and universities to promote materials engineering to young people.
Outside of work Anna enjoys trail running in the Cotswolds and the Lake District, often joined by her black Labrador, Basil. She also plays the flute and piccolo and is a member of an orchestra and a flute choir.
Antonia Fan CSci MIMMM
Antonia works for BAE Systems Submarines as a Corrosion and Coatings Engineer, providing build line support to in-process and design queries. She is also the System Owner for coatings on BAE Systems new class of nuclear-powered submarines, responsible for qualification for all coating systems. This role includes the development of Research and Technology projects and field trials. Currently, Antonia is working on the implementation of Cold Metal Spraying on an industrial scale and innovative anti-fouling technologies to reduce bio-fouling and improve propeller and hull performance.
Antonia previously studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Sheffield, and then went on to complete a Master of Science in Material Science Engineering at the University of Leeds. She has always had an invested interest in coatings, enhanced by her summer placement at AkzoNobel.
Outside of work, you will find Antonia in her running kit on a fell or a mountain. She has represented England on the International stage on multiple occasions and remains dedicated to her training. Antonia is also a climber and often spends her spare time sport and traditional climbing.
Felix Watson
Felix is an undergraduate studying for his MEng in Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College. He is keenly interested in battery technology, taking part in the imperial Eco-marathon team as the Battery Team lead and recently completing a Faraday Institution Undergraduate Summer Experience working with PyBaMM to model electrode coatings.
While at university, Felix holds various positions on committees that build the community and improve the student experience. He is the departmental academic representative for the Materials Department and is the Junior Treasurer for the Materials Society.
Outside work, Felix spends his time on the rugby pitch or at the union, socialising with his mates. On the weekends, you will often find Felix watching Formula 1, ruminating on whether Hamilton will ever win his stolen eighth-driver world championship.
Advisory Council Representatives
Student Grade
Sam Burdett MIMMM
Student Grade
Sam Burdett MIMMM
Sam currently works as a Carbon Manager at Skanska UK in London. His work focuses on delivering life cycle assessments for building projects in the UK. He also provides technical expertise on materials, construction methods and the environmental impact of these. He studied Materials Science and Engineering at Imperial College London. Whist in his previous role at Sandberg, performing materials failure analysis for the construction and infrastructure, he completed a master’s in advanced Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure (2020-22) at Imperial. His research focuses on novel and existing construction materials with the goal of creating a unified dataset that highlights the most sustainable materials for use in industry.
Sam is a keen advocate for engineering and passionate about educating people new to the industry. He is involved with ZERO, an innovation focused industry group working together to change the industry from high carbon emissions to becoming part of the decarbonisation solution.
Outside of work Sam spends lots of time cycling and is currently building a gravel bike to take on off-road adventures!
