Dr Wagih, who is Lecturer in Implantable Electronics at the University of Glasgow, will receive the Sir George Macfarlane Medal for exceptional achievement in an early stage of his career, to be presented at the Academy’s annual Awards Dinner in London on 8 July.
He will also receive a £3,000 cash prize as one of the RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineers of the Year, a prize for early-career UK engineers, supported by the Worshipful Company of Engineers.
During a degree in electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Southampton, Mahmoud completed a research internship in radio frequency engineering. He then studied for a PhD incorporating antennas into clothing to make wirelessly charging wearable devices.
Mahmoud worked in industry at chip designer Arm and then moved to the University of Glasgow, where he now runs a large, interdisciplinary team that makes up the Green Electronics Lab. Their current projects include biodegradable circuits and a trial of over 1,000 prototype battery-free smart socks for at-home healthcare monitoring. He has also founded a startup called RX Watt to make chips for sustainable long-range wireless device charging.
Mahmoud says: “My undergraduate project included designing Bluetooth antennas and circuits for insoles, allowing continuous tracking for step counting. My favourite engineering moment continues to be receiving a device that I, or a team member, designed for the first time. It’s always a long-anticipated moment that gets me instantly into the lab.”
Supporting Dr Wagih for the award, Professor William Whittow, Professor in Radiofrequency Materials at Loughborough University, says:
“Mahmoud is an all-round outstanding researcher and academic; this relates to all aspects of his work including experiments, developing analytical theory, developing innovative techniques to solve problems, networking with industry, outreach, and having a vision for long term opportunities. He is driven by his passion to solve problems and make a difference to society.”
Dr Mahmoud Wagih of the University of Glasgow, winner of the 2025 Sir George Macfarlane Medal
Notes for editors
- The Sir George Macfarlane Medal is named after one of the Academy's founding Fellows, Sir George Macfarlane, whose groundbreaking work during the Second World War enabled the introduction of radar for guiding bombers and spotting U-boats. After the war he was instrumental in guiding government research and overseeing the introduction of optical fibre and digital technology into telecommunications. His work with the Academy focused on engineering education and links between universities and industry.
- Four more RAEng Engineers Trust Young Engineers of the Year will be celebrated in September 2025. With the generous support of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, the Academy makes five awards of £3,000 each year to UK engineers in full-time higher education, research or industrial employment, who have demonstrated excellence in the early stage of their career (defined as less than ten years since graduation from their first degree in engineering or equivalent qualification).
- Annual Awards Dinner 2025. This year’s Royal Academy of Engineering Awards Dinner takes place on 8 July. The event will also celebrate the winners of other awards and prizes including the Rooke Award for public promotion of engineering and the MacRobert Award for UK engineering innovation. https://raeng.org.uk/events/2025/july/awards-dinner-2025/
- The Royal Academy of Engineering creates and leads a community of outstanding experts and innovators to engineer better lives. As a charity and a Fellowship, we deliver public benefit from excellence in engineering and technology and convene leading businesspeople, entrepreneurs, innovators and academics across engineering and technology. As a National Academy, we provide leadership for engineering and technology, and independent, expert advice to policymakers in the UK and beyond.