The BEng (Civil Engineering) student is one of 20 specially chosen from across the UK.

By Mr John Stevenson (Senior Communications Officer), Published

712188Mahraz Abdullah, a Second Year BEng Civil Engineering student in the School of Science and Technology, has been selected as one of 20 students from across the UK to be part of the Intel FutureGen Programme cohort for 2023.

He was selected from among over 100 applicants by National Student Esports (NSE), which was established in 2018 through a partnership with British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS), the governing body for university sport, to support the growth of Esports within the higher education sector.

Mahraz, Vice President of the City Esports Society, first heard about the Intel FutureGen programme through the NSE’s social media platforms and sought more information about it:

“After speaking to the NSE team and learning more about the programme and the opportunities it offered, I thought that it would be the perfect place to combine my passion for Esports and the society I run, whilst also progressing my career in terms of managing teams and projects.”

NSE is responsible for running the British University Esports Championship, the official Esports competition of British universities; in 2021 the competition saw over 2,100 teams from 100 universities compete across a number of Esports titles, with approximately 70% of participants enrolled on a STEM course. NSE works with major publishers including Nintendo, Riot Games, Ubisoft and Hoyoverse and has long-term successful partnerships with Intel, Monster Energy and PCSpecialist.

Rapidly improved team

Mahraz has been “a massive fan of anything competitive and indeed anything to do with gaming”.

He has been part of a rapidly improved City Esports team:

“At City we have many students who play games and strive to become the best. The best place to find us is in the City Esports Society (CES) which I currently run. The goal of the society is to connect students that have a love for games or want to experience competitive gaming. My role within the Society is to help other committee members - whether that involves sorting out teams, talking to brands about sponsorships and planning events. My aspiration is to create an inclusive space for everyone, in addition to improving our team. We recently became the most improved university within competitions, jumping up 35 places.”

“My goal for the year ahead is to make the best use of the Intel FutureGen programme by meeting new people in the industry, creating new connections and developing my experience running tournaments and events as part of the City Esports Society.”