Omar Dilery has won the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers Prize for being the best graduate across all Materials MSc programme streams in 2025.

The prize was announced at the School of Engineering and Materials Science Industrial Liaison Forum on 5 November. Omar completed his MSc project, titled “Characterising Viscoelastic Foams in the Midsole to Enhance Elastic Recoil," under the supervision of Professor James Busfield in the Soft Matter Group.

Omar’s project examined the elastic response of foams used in high-performance training shoes, developing a home-built torsion pendulum to measure their viscoelastic behaviour, which performed well beyond the operating range of a standard laboratory dynamic mechanical analyser.

The project was carried out in collaboration with Zotefoams, a leading provider of high-performance foams based in Croydon, with additional support from recent graduate Karolina Dabkowska.

Professor James Busfield commented: “From the outset, Omar was the model of the ideal MSc student. He applied himself to building the test set-up, carrying out the measurements, and evaluating the results. The company has been very complimentary about the work, and this award is well-deserved recognition for an exceptional student who was a pleasure to teach.”