We are delighted to announce that one of our PhD students, Siddartha Khastgir, has been recognised as part of the prestigious FORBES 30 Under 30 Europe Industry list.

Siddartha joined other ‘young disruptors’ at an exclusive launch event in London last night (Monday 22 January 2018), to celebrate the brightest young entrepreneurs and breakout talent in Europe.

Siddartha sits within the Intelligent Vehicles team at WMG working under the supervision of Professor Paul Jennings on ‘Developing testing methodologies for ensuring safety of autonomous vehicles and his work is influencing international standards.’

In June 2017 he was elected to the respected IMechE Council of Members. He also holds a number of other key positions at IMechE too, as Chair of the IMechE International Young Member Committee, and as a member of the International Strategy Board of IMechE.

In April he also received the prestigious ITS UK national award for Young Professional of the Year in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and more recently he was declared the UK’s leading engineer under 30 at the TechWorks Awards.

Siddartha said: “While it came as a big surprise to me, I feel extremely honoured and excited to be recognised in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2018 Industry list. Meeting others, that have also been honoured, at the launch event in London yesterday was inspiring with many interesting conversations and future collaborations formed. I feel humbled to be in such illustrious company.

“I am also grateful to WMG, University of Warwick, IIT Kharagpur and IMechE for all the support they have provided me over the years. I am especially thankful to Professor Paul Jennings for his guidance throughout my career. I came to WMG as an exchange student intern in 2009, and Paul has been a great mentor to me ever since.”

The FORBES 30 Under 30 Europe Industry list was created using nominations from a variety of sources. The judges for this category were Johanna Schulz, founder and CTO of akvola Technologies; Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Dean of Faculty of Engineering Sciences of University College London; and Riccardo Donadon, Founder & CEO of H-Farm.

The third annual 30 Under 30 Europe list features 300 ‘young disruptors’ across a diverse list of categories, including entertainment, finance and technology. Forbes reporters vetted thousands of nominations and polled expert judges to compile the list and ensure that each member, whether a chart-topping musician or founder of a multi-million-dollar e-commerce company, is a leader in his or her industry.

The full FORBES 30 Under 30 list can be found here.