Where are they now? Becky Inkpen

In this new blog series we’ll be catching up with some of Student Robotics ex-competitors to see what they are now up to and how competing in Student Robotics has helped them to get there.

This week we’ll be catching up with Becky, who is now a PhD Student at Sussex Uni. Becky competed in SR2015 and SR2016 as a part of team CLY from Collyer’s Sixth Form College.

Becky Inkpen
Becky Inkpen

How did you first get involved in Student Robotics?

My college had a Robotics club which I joined during my first year and we entered Student Robotics both years I was there. I helped with the mathematical parts of the code, as well as arguably the most important part of decorating the robot!

What are you doing now?

After completing my MSc in Maths, I am now doing a PhD in Maths at Sussex University. I am looking into batteries; what can we change to make them more effective, as well as epidemiology; how an infection will spread through groups of people and how long will the infection last.

How did Student Robotics help you get to where you are today?

Student Robotics has really helped me career wise, it’s a great talking point, especially during interviews. Being able to work on a real world engineering project with a deadline was a fantastic experience.

What was your favourite part about competing in Student Robotics?

It gave me a solid group of friends that I’m still in contact with and we had great fun designing and building a robot together. It was also very satisfying watching our creation come to life. Once I left college, I started volunteering for Student Robotics and it’s been just as fun and rewarding!

What advice would you give to yourself aged 16-18 knowing what you know now?

I wasn’t very confident when I was younger and I was very nervous about joining clubs and activities. I’ve never regretted any of the things I did end up taking part in so my advice would be to not be afraid to join anything that looks interesting!


Student Robotics is 100% free to enter and provides exciting real world engineering challenges for students aged 16-19. If you’re interested in taking part you can find out more on our Compete page. If your organisation is interested in sponsoring Student Robotics you can find all the information on our Sponsor page or reach out direct to fundraising@studentrobotics.org