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2025 Global Winners

Winners Coming Soon!

Our judges are currently reviewing submissions and selecting this year’s winners. Check back soon to see if you are your subject’s Global Winner.

Ridwan Noor

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Architecture & Design

Bryen Isaac Chen Tze-Yang

Nanyang Technological University
Art History & Theory

Cameron Schmidt

Toronto Metropolitan University
Business & Economics

Clarissa Joanna Lim

Nanyang Technological University
Chemical & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Jadyn Faith Zajac

Western University
Classical Studies & Archaeology

Yong Jian Ng

Nanyang Technological University
Computer Science

Maria Cooper

Trinity College Dublin
Earth & Environmental Sciences

Shaikha Yousef Mohammed Rahmah Alshamsi

Higher Colleges of Technology
Education

Balvinder Kaur Dhillon

Queen Mary, University of London
Engineering

Waron Maneenetr

University of Hong Kong
History

Leana Shin

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Law

Raegan Cordelia Sim

National University of Singapore
Life Sciences

Rachel Wee Hui Ying

Nanyang Technological University
Linguistics

Bryen Isaac Chen Tze-Yang

Nanyang Technological University Literature

Michael Chow

University of Southern California
Mass Communications

Nikolai Argatoff

University of Helsinki
Mathematics & Physics

Emilia Herdes

Brown University
Medical Sciences

Madison Torkoff

New York University
Music, Theatre & Film Studies

Tung Kin Chong Colin

Nanyang Technological University
Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Healthcare

Rían Coady

Trinity College Dublin
Philosophy

Bavan Pushpalingam

University of Toronto
Politics & International Relations

Angel Yee Fong Au

University College London
Psychology

Bavan Pushpalingam

University of Toronto
Social Science: Anthropology & Cultural Studies

Claire Lee Si Hui

University College London
Social Science: Sociology & Social Policy

Brigette Teo & Nicky Josephine Tjandra

Nanyang Technological University
Visual Arts

Ridwan Noor

Architechure & Design

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

Winning Work: Urban Tune-Up : Architectural Packages for Block-Based Rooftop Spaces as Containers of Public Life 

Ridwan Noor graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Alongside his studies, he worked as a lead illustrator at a local newspaper, where listening to people’s stories and translating them into visuals shaped his design thinking.

He sees architecture as hearing, seeing, and translating collective narratives into space rather than imposing forms. For him, design should make cities more humane and hopeful, carrying joy as much as utility.

Looking ahead, he aims to work at the intersection of urban design, public space, and environmental performance, shaping cities that are sustainable and socially vibrant.

Bryen Isaac Chen Tze-Yang

Art History & Theory

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: The Intimate / Inanimate: Locating Love Beyond the Human

Bryen is pursuing an MA in English at Nanyang Technological University, supported by the NTU Postgraduate scholarship. A top graduate of NTU’s double major humanities programme and a former Ministry of Education HSP Scholar, he is a recipient of the CJ Koh Scholarship Fund, NTU President Research Scholar title, and the RSTN Scholarship Award.

Bryen’s interest in aesthetics and visual culture began when he took Art for the GCE ‘A’ Levels and received the subject day prize—a foundation which continues to shape his interdisciplinary research.

His winning paper, developed for a course on radical and experimental art writing, draws on Speculative Realism, New Materialism, and Object-Oriented Ontology to examine affective formations of kinship and care within inanimate subject matter.

Cameron Schmidt

Business & Economics

Toronto Metropolitan University

Winning Paper: Optimal Economic Intervention: A Bayesian Global Games Approach to Policy Design

Cameron Schmidt earned his Bachelor of Commerce in Economics at Toronto Metropolitan University, where his dissertation, supervised by Dr. Haomiao Yu, applied game theory to study how policy interventions can stabilize markets and prevent crises.

He is now completing a Master of Science in Statistics at Carleton University under the supervision of Dr. Minyi Huang, with research in Mean-Field Game theory that models collective behavior in large populations under uncertainty.

After his Master’s, Cameron plans to study law, applying game-theoretic ideas to mergers, competition policy, and corporate transactions.

Clarissa Joanna Lim

Chemical & Pharmaceutical Sciences

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: A Lysosomal Glycohydrolase-Activatable Photosensitiser for Photodynamic Therapy in Glioblastoma

Clarissa graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a BSc in Chemistry and Biological Chemistry and a Minor in Life Sciences. Her award-winning thesis focused on the design, synthesis, and validation of a novel prodrug for selective photodynamic therapy of glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain cancers worldwide.

With a passion for bridging chemical design and biological application, she will soon join Luminicell to advance bioimaging technologies for translational research and aspires to contribute to the development of therapies with real-world impact.

Jadyn Faith Zajac

Classical Studies & Archaeology

Western University

Winning Paper: God is a Woman: Women in Positions of High Religious Authority in the Early Church

Jadyn is completing her fourth and final year of an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies at the University of Western Ontario. She specializes in the study of women’s lives in antiquity, with a particular focus on ancient Greece.

Over the summer, she completed an undergraduate research internship examining legislation on magic in ancient Athens through three case studies of women whose trials are sometimes described as witchcraft prosecutions. Her current research explores the conflation of marriage and death in the lives of Greek women, a project she is undertaking as her undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Dr. Kelly Olson.

Following the completion of her degree, Jadyn plans to continue her education in business school, with the goal of joining her family’s financial planning firm.

Yong Jian Ng

Computer Science

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: Modeling Neural-Behavioral Dynamics in C. elegans with RNN-Based State Space and Video Generative Models

Yong Jian is a final-year student pursuing a double degree in Computer Science and Economics at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests lie in Machine Learning and Data Science, with a focus in Computer Vision. He has contributed to four research laboratories at NTU and undertaken projects spanning computational neuroscience, aerospace, and hardware security. His work focuses on developing ML models for complex, interdisciplinary applications. Notably, he has published and presented a paper on image segmentation for integrated circuit image analysis at a regional conference.

Maria Cooper

Earth & Environmental Sciences

Trinity College Dublin

Winning Paper: Investigating the Feasibility of using Nature-based Solutions for Flood Management in Mogeely, Ireland, and Beyond

Maria graduated in 2025 with a B.A. (Hons) in Geography and Political Science. She has worked as a research assistant on projects spanning peatland mapping, nature-based solutions, flood mitigation, and natural capital accounting.

Her winning thesis combined geospatial analysis with stakeholder surveys to explore the opportunities for using nature-based approaches to manage flood risk in rural Ireland. She has presented the results at two national conferences. Maria now works with the Rivers Trust in Northern Ireland and hopes to use her skills to bring about positive environmental management change.

Shaikha Yousef Mohammed Rahmah Alshamsi

Education

Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE

Winning Paper: Developing Early Childhood Basic Math Skills Through Interactive Learning Centers in the UAE

Shaikha Yousef is an undergraduate student at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Sharjah, currently in her final year pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education.

Shaikha sees her young students as seeds. Each seed is unique to her in where it came from, how it grows, the amount of water it needs, and the pace at which it grows. Even if she won’t witness what they will become, she believes that those seeds need patience, care, and a belief that one day, they will grow into the best forms of themselves.

Shaikha was taught by her young nieces and nephews that teaching is nothing more than a good relationship, where both sides ‘listen’ to each other.

“We make, we don’t break.”

A simple yet inspiring phrase she heard recently that influenced her thinking. It made her realize that the mission of an early childhood educator is to build and nurture children, and to be accountable for their words and actions, which is the kind of eduator she aims to be.

Balvinder Kaur Dhillon

Engineering

Queen Mary, University of London

Winning Paper: Developing a Multimodal Deep Learning Pipeline for Automated Glioma Subregion Segmentation and 3D Reconstruction with Integrated Spatial Analysis for Clinical Insight

Balvinder Kaur Dhillon is an MEng Biomedical Engineering graduate from Queen Mary University of London and a postgraduate student in Human and Biological Robotics at Imperial College London. Returning to collect her second Global Winning Thomas Clarkson Medal for Engineering from the Global Undergraduate Awards in 2024.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of robotics, machine learning and healthcare, with experience in prosthetic control, cardiac modelling, and assistive technology design. She has presented her work at UK Parliament and several international conferences, contributing to interdisciplinary collaborations in biomedical innovation.

She is particularly motivated by the potential of accessible, technology-driven solutions to support patient care, aiming to bridge gaps in healthcare through engineering research.

Waron Maneenetr

History

University of Hong Kong

Winning Paper: Can Siam Be Reformed Through International Spaces? Venues of Personalized Modernity and Self-Discovery

Waron Maneenetr (Teak) recently graduated from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), where he majored in history and economics. He aspires to bring Thai history into the global realm, a field often overlooked by historians due to language barriers and accessibility issues. His work synthesizes domestic and international perspectives to demonstrate how historical reforms have effects that transcend national borders. Although he was initially not interested in Thai history, his perspective changed after meeting a HKU lecturer who inspired him to write history that actually matters to himself.

Currently, he is a postgraduate student in the MSc in Economic History programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Leana Shin

Law

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Winning Paper: Justice by Proxy: When AI becomes the voice of the silent in asylum adjudication

Leana Shin is a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Informatics and completing the department’s Senior Honors Program.

Her academic interests lie at the intersection of law, technology, and justice, with a focus on how artificial intelligence can improve access to legal resources for marginalized populations. She has worked with international organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), supporting initiatives on digital inclusion and accessibility.

Leana aspires to pursue a legal career dedicated to advancing equity and systemic reform.

Raegan Cordelia Sim

Life Sciences

National University of Singapore

Winning Paper: Intercellular mitochondrial transfer from poly-aneuploid cancer cells drives chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer

Raegan graduated from the National University of Singapore with a BSc in Life Sciences and a minor in Public Health. Her research focuses on cancer biology and therapeutics, with an interest in uncovering novel mechanisms that drive disease progression and treatment resistance. In her award-winning thesis, she identified the crucial role of intercellular mitochondrial transfer in promoting chemoresistance. This work lays the foundation for further research into mitochondrial transfer and its implications in cancer, highlighting its potential as a target for future therapeutic strategies. Raegan is committed to advancing the biomedical field, whether through scientific research or broader contributions to healthcare innovation.

Rachel Wee Hui Ying

Linguistics

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: The Waves Carrying The Waveforms: The Tones of Sarawak Hokkien and Its Cross-Peninsular Relation to Penang Hokkien

Rachel is a language enthusiast who loves to both learn languages and learn about languages. She is fascinated with phonetics and phonology, and while she hates to be considered a polyglot, she has pursued Spanish and German out of interest, in addition to the languages she has spoken from a young age i.e. English, Chinese, and Sarawak Hokkien.

Outside of linguistics, she is someone who refuses to see boundaries based on her field of study, which has seen her taking up internships in the finance sector. Ultimately, she believes she can do everything, except the things she cannot do.

Bryen Isaac Chen Tze-Yang

Literature

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: Trauma Playgrounds: Ludic Experiments and Formal Techniques in Traumatic Childhood Fiction

Bryen is pursuing an MA in English at Nanyang Technological University, supported by the NTU Postgraduate scholarship. A top graduate of NTU’s double major humanities programme and a former Ministry of Education HSP Scholar, he is a recipient of the CJ Koh Scholarship Fund, NTU President Research Scholar title, and the RSTN Scholarship Award.

Anchored in the intersections between literary theory, psychology, and art, Bryen specialises in psychoanalytic disorders and the latent effects of trauma. His winning entry is an abridged version of his final-year thesis, which examines how traumatised children in contemporary fiction register or interpret adverse experiences—from intimate abuse to international violence.

Michael Chow

Mass Communications

University of Southern California

Winning Paper: “At least X is better than Z”: Humor as wartime public diplomacy on Twitter/X by Ukraine

Michael explores how communication technologies shape institutions of power. They graduated from the University of Amsterdam with an MA in Media Studies (Cultural Data and AI) and from the University of Southern California with a BA in Communications and a Documentary minor. Drawing on more than 10 years of visual storytelling experience and budding use of computational data analysis, Michael blends communication theory with hands-on practice in different mediums of storytelling.

Their work emphasizes amplifying diverse perspectives and connecting research with real-world impact. If they are unable to pursue mountaineering full-time, they aspire to be a photojournalist in the future.

Nikolai Argatoff

Mathematics & Physics

University of Helsinki

Winning Paper: Theoretical Investigations of Superconducting Qubits Under a Subharmonic Drive

Nikolai graduated in 2024 with a B.Sc. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Helsinki and a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Aalto University, Finland. As an undergraduate research assistant, he studied the Bethe Ansatz for the six-vertex model with Prof. Eveliina Peltola and investigated the dissipation of superconducting qubits with Prof. Mikko Möttönen.

Currently, he is pursuing a Master’s in Applied Mathematics at ETH Zürich, focusing on applying artificial intelligence for problems in natural sciences. Alongside his studies, Nikolai works part-time as an Associate Quantum Algorithm Engineer at the quantum computing start-up QMill.

Emilia Herdes

Medical Sciences

Brown University

Winning Paper: Multispecific Antibody Targeting-Mediated STING Agonist Delivery to Dendritic Cells for Enhanced Antitumor Immunity

Emilia Herdes graduated from Brown University in May 2025 with a ScB in Biomedical Engineering. Emilia completed her honors thesis in the Desai Lab for Therapeutic Micro and Nanotechnology at Brown, where she worked on the development of a targeted nanoparticle to induce an anti-tumor immune response. She now works as a Technical Associate in the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Emilia is interested in becoming a physician-scientist, combining her passion for translational biomedical research with clinical care.

Madison Torkoff

Music, Theatre & Film Studies

New York University

Winning Paper: Beyond the Gaze: Performing Femininity and Staging the Self Through the Works of Clare Barron and Paula Vogel

Madison Torkoff is a Canadian performer and scholar currently based in New York City. She is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch’s Drama program, where she earned a B.F.A. in Theatre with minors in Producing and Dramaturgy, as well as Honors in Theatre Studies. Her dual practice as an actor and dramaturg investigates gender roles, the performance of femininity, and the politics of intimacy on stage. She is especially interested in how the female body can function as a site of both resistance and reimagination, and her work seeks to expand the ways theatre represents power, agency, and vulnerability.

Tung Kin Chong Colin

Nursing, Midwifery & Allied Healthcare

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Paper: Within-session Post-activation Performance Enhancement for Countermovement Jump performance in Morning vs. Evening: A pilot study

Colin is a recent B.Sc. graduate in Sport Science and Management with an Honours (Highest Distinction) from Nanyang Technological University, where he focused on strength training on athletic performance. In his first year, he led a narrative review on stair climbing exercise Alongside his years of applied coaching practice, his academic oeuvre includes two undergraduate theses, a publication, and numerous international conference presentations.

He plans to pursue a PhD at Robert Gordon University with hopes to specialise in Bayesian modelling in physiological physical capacity and wellness.

Rían Coady

Philosophy

Trinity College Dublin

Winning Paper: Mackie and Boyle on Self-Refutation

Rían graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2024 with a first-class B.A. in Philosophy, Political Science, Economics and Sociology. He has received numerous academic awards, including Trinity’s Foundation Scholarship and Gold Medal. He also served as an Editor of the Trinity Student Philosophical Review.

His philosophical interests range throughout theoretical analytic philosophy, with particular interests in metaphysics (especially causation) and metaethics. His undergraduate dissertation argued against moral non-cognitivism using commonsense philosopher G. E. Moore’s method.

Rían is now completing a BPhil in Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He plans to do his BPhil thesis on non-cognitivism in meta-aesthetics.

Bavan Pushpalingam

Politics & International Relations and Social Science: Anthropology & Cultural Studies

University of Toronto

Winning Paper for Politics & International Relations: Counting the Miscounted: The Politics of Malaiyaha Tamil Recognition in Sri Lanka’s National Census

Winning Paper for Social Science: Anthropology & Cultural Studies: Cooking in the Shadow of Shells: Bunkers, Foodwork and the Gendered Labour of Memory and Survival in Tamil Eelam and the Diaspora

Bavan Pushpalingam is a fourth-year Public Policy student at the University of Toronto, Scarborough and a Double Global Winner across the categories of Politics & International Relations and Social Science: Anthropology & Cultural Studies.

His research lies at the intersection of food security and sovereignty, social reproduction, labour, memory activism and Tamil studies, examining the raced, gendered and caste-based implications of food systems and their policies.

A scholar-activist, Bavan has conducted research fieldwork with farmers, government and civil society actors, unions, activists and youth in Scarborough, Sri Lanka, India, Ghana and Mexico, bridging community-based research with policy change.

He is the Founder of the Scarborough Hub for Innovation and Public Policy and has represented Canada at the G7 Youth Summit in Rome.

Angel Yee Fong Au

Psychology

University College London

Winning Paper: Reverse Psychology Marketing: Further Supportive Evidence from Environmental Charitable Donation

Angel graduated in 2025 with a first-class Integrated Master’s in Psychology (MSci) from University College London. For her dissertation, she independently ran a global randomised controlled trial on a four-week procrastination coaching programme, achieving large effect sizes in reducing procrastination and improving life satisfaction. She has founded and scaled student-led organisations at the university, regional, and global levels.

Angel is currently a Co-Founder at Overcome (overcome.org.uk), a global mental health charity training volunteers to deliver online coaching to individuals who otherwise could not afford mental health support, and an EMCC-accredited coach focusing on career development and supporting young entrepreneurs.

Claire Lee Si Hui

Social Science: Sociology & Social Policy

University College London

Winning Paper: From Sentosa to South Bank: Exploring National Identity Negotiation Among Singaporean University Students in London

Claire graduated top of her cohort with a BSc in Sociology from University College London, where her dissertation examined how migration and everyday practices shape national identity among Singaporean students in London. She challenges state-centric views of identity, highlighting the agency of individuals in inventing traditions and providing a transnational account of what it means to be Singaporean.

She is now pursuing an MPhil in Digital Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Focusing on social media platforms such as BeReal, her research explores how practices of self-governance are shaped and reinforced through platform affordances. Looking ahead, Claire hopes to inform social policies on digital governance through research that bridges theory and practice.

Brigette Teo & Nicky Josephine Tjandra

Visual Arts

Nanyang Technological University

Winning Work: Lament for the Anthropocene

Brigette Teo is a Singaporean multi-disciplinary artist whose works contemplate themes of identity and mortality, remaining steadfast in a world where the digital threatens to overwrite analogue mediums. Primarily experimenting with fibre art techniques and mixed media, she emphasises the use of unconventional materials and found objects to create bodies of tactile works and heartfelt narratives.

An Interaction Design major from Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art Design & Media, Brigette has showcased interactive installations in public exhibitions such as iLight SG and Singapore Art Week. She also loves illustrating and introducing the world to her handmade crafts at boothing fairs.

Nicky Josephine Tjandra is an Indonesian-Chinese visual artist from Singapore. A maker at heart, she explores the transmutable nature of materials, not confining herself to one medium. Her work challenges the role of art and the art market, especially in Southeast Asia; blurring boundaries between art making, screen media, design, performance and activism.

Having majored in Interaction Design with a Photography minor, her installation and sculptural work has been showcased in iLight SG, Maryland College Institute College of Art, and Somerset Belt Singapore. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters of Art at University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins.

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