The IET Present around the World (PATW) Competition

Past winners

Present around the World International Final 2011

Five regional finalists participated in a very competitive competition at the IET awards ceremony in London on 9 November 2011, hosted by Liz Bonnin, wild animal biologist and presenter of BBC's Bang Goes the Theory. 

Mitali Kakran won the global final after competing in a local Present around the World heat in her home country of Singapore, and a regional heat for Asia Pacific in Hong Kong. The runner-up was Muhammad Saad Ali, who first competed in the Pakistan heat, and then in the South Asia  regional heat in Sri Lanka. They were awarded a cash prize of £1,000  and £500 respectively.

International Finalists 2011

Mitali Kakran - International PATW Winner 2011

Career path so far... Ever since my school days, I have been fascinated by science, and I knew I wanted to study engineering. I finished my A-levels in India and then moved to Singapore to pursue a BEng in Bioengineering at Nanyang Technological University, from where I graduated with first class honours in 2008. I was then drawn to the area of drug delivery and in the same year, I started my PhD on the fabrication of micro and nanoparticles for pharmaceutical applications. After I complete my PhD I would like to get some experience working in the pharmaceutical or materials industry.

Entering PATW...

I got to know about the PATW at my university through an IET advertisement for PATW, and I thought I would take the opportunity to brush up on my presentation skills. Besides that, I could not have missed the opportunity to win the attractive cash prizes and the sponsored trip to Hong Kong for the next round, and later London.  My presentation is about the material ‘Graphene’. I recently started working with this material, and I was very much fascinated by its exceptional properties and the interesting facts about its isolation which lead to the 2010 Nobel Prize for its pioneers and so I decided to speak about the same during the competition. 

Global Finals in London...

I won the Singapore National finals and represented Singapore in the Asia-Pacific regional final in Hong Kong, which I also won. I then progressed to the next level which was the global finals in London. The competition was held during the IET Ambition and Achievement Awards Ceremony on 9 November 2011. I was quite nervous not only because all the participants were really good but also because of the fact that everyone present during the ceremony was a winner and with such an eminent audience you just could not go wrong. But I was able to deliver my best and winning the competition gave me the satisfaction that the audience appreciated it.  It was a wonderful experience being congratulated by such distinguished personalities, who I would not have otherwise met.

The PATW experience...

Participating in the PATW 2011 has been a very enriching experience.  As an engineer the challenge lies in conveying the technical information in the simplest and least boring way.  During PATW, I learnt to make the presentation more interesting and less technical so as to hold the attention of the audience. I can now say that a good presentation is not the one which is very complex, but rather the one which simplifies the complexities and thus connects with the audience.

The IET has provided a wonderful platform for young engineers to not only improve their presentation skills but also to network with other engineers. So far, it has been a great learning experience and I would encourage all young engineers to grab the opportunity to participate in the PATW competition.  You get to travel to new places and interact with new people. It is exciting to meet other engineers from different parts of the world and hear about their work and also learn the different presentation styles.

Brief synopses for international finalists 2011

	Americas - International Finalist Emily Hicks is studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Calgary.  A resident of Calgary, she has worked as an undergraduate researcher and student team leader on the University of Calgary's International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition (iGEM) team.   Emily's entry for the competition was  "Biobricks - a revolution based on standards" View Emily's presentation slides (PDF).
	Great Britain and Ireland - International Finalist Graham Lee is a Photonics PhD Student in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, Aston University, Birmingham.   The title of Graham's  presentation was  "Machining in a world less than the width of a human hair"
	South Asia - International  Runner-up  Muhammad Saad Ali is studying Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at UET, Pakistan.  Muhammad lead the team which was awarded the Asian level runners up of the coveted 'International Space Settlement Design Competition' sponsored by NASA.   The title of Muhammad's presentation was "Carbon nanotube - the big small thing"
	Europe, Middle East and Africa - International Finalist Theodora Chrysostomou attended University College London from 2006 to 2010 where she graduated with a Master of Engineering in Biochemical Engineering.  While at UCL Theodora was awarded first place on the Lonza Pilot Plant Project where she was leader of a team of six working to produce a Hepatitis vaccine.   Theodora presented her entry entitled "The use of autologous cell therapy for treatment of cardiac disease".     View Theodora's presentation slides (PDF)