Each university nominates the top software engineering project submitted by its final year undergraduates to be submitted for the awards.
Stuart follows in the footsteps of last year’s winner Craig Paul - who secured a job with Amor Group after impressing the panel.
Using the campus of the University of Dundee as a template, Stuart developed a Multitouch Geographical Information System (GIS) for use in town and regional planning brainstorming sessions.
This concept would allow town planners to electronically plot new buildings and developments and collaborate on a large display that shows existing roads, paths, waterways and other landmarks, replacing the need for paper maps and large sheets of tracing paper.
The 22-year-old was presented with the Amor Group award and a cheque for £1,000 donated by the company, while his university will also receive the Amor Group trophy.
He graduated in the summer with a First Class Honours degree in Applied Computing and is currently on a temporary contract at the Advanced Solution Concepts team of NCR Labs in Dundee after a successful internship there.
Stuart said: "I was surprised to be put forward for the award so I was delighted to actually win the prize, which will hopefully stand me in good stead for when I am looking for a permanent job early next year. The client for my project was the regional and town planning department at the university and I designed an electronic mapping system that would allow planners to see the existing plans and layer potential new developments on top, at the touch of a button."
John Innes, Chief Executive Officer of Amor Group, said the award was well deserved.
“We are delighted to sponsor this special award which recognises excellence in software engineering and encourages creativity and innovation, traits which are both key to the growth of Amor Group,” he said.
“Stuart impressed the judges with his Multitouch GIS system and he is an extremely deserving recipient of the Amor Group Prize for Software Engineering. The quality of the students recognised by the awards is exemplified in last year’s winner, Craig, who is now working for us as a software developer after showing real skill and understanding in his project.”
St Andrews University graduate Craig designed a training simulator for a small single-handed sail boat, aimed as a computer training aid for beginner sailors.
Craig (22) is now based in Amor Group’s Edinburgh office, where he provides support and ongoing development for a solution utilised by a number of Amor Group’s local government customers.
He believes his inroad into a career in the IT sector came from his success at last year’s awards.
“Just being nominated by my university was a great honour. Some of my classmates were working on very difficult projects, each of which could have been worthy of the nomination. Finding out I had won an award was incredible and I’d like to congratulate this year’s winner, Stuart Birse,” he said.
“When Amor Group offered me a job I jumped at the opportunity. It is great to be based in Scotland and working for a fast expanding technology company which is winning new business and taking on so many new staff at a time when many other companies are finding things tough.”
The highlight of the Scottish ICT industry calendar, incorporating a thought leadership forum, the ScotSoft awards dinner and the Young Software Engineer of the Year Awards, ScotSoft2010 took place at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh.
ENDS
Issued by The BIG Partnership on behalf of Amor Group. For more information, please contact Shona Hendry on 01224 615003 or 07739 314158
NOTES TO EDITORS
Amor Group provides business technology solutions, professional services and managed services to the energy, transport and public sectors, with more than 400 staff across its Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Coventry and Houston offices.
