Saudi Arabian students honoured with Excelling Student awards

Three postgraduate research students from the University of Southampton have been presented Excelling Student awards at The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

Computer scientists Dr Abdulrahman Ayad Alharthi, Madini O Alassafi and Dr Alaa Abdullah AlMarshedi received the honours from HRH Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud this winter, recognising the importance of their PhD research in the Department of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS).

The students were among just 30 people selected from across the UK for the prize, which is celebrated annually at The Royal Embassy in Charles Street, London. The awards recognise research and study distinction as well as scientific innovation and excellence, with recipients receiving a royal invitation to a lunch event which includes an honorary shield, certificate and financial reward.

Abdulrahman and Madini have centred their PhDs on cloud computing in migration and adoption projects, while Alaa Abdullah focused on gamification for the self-management of chronic-illnesses. The three students have been working with supervisor Dr Gary Wills from the Cyber Physical Systems research group and Abdulrahman and Alaa Abdullah have both recently completed their studies.

“It’s an honour to have been selected for such a prestigious prize,” Abdulrahman says. “I am proud to have demonstrated the high quality of ECS students at Southampton both to The Royal Embassy and other represented universities.”