In the next in our series on the latest EW BrightSparks of 2025, we profile Aurelia Brzezowska, a University of Staffordshire student.
Achievements
Aurelia Brzezowska was a popular choice – she was nominated by more than one person! But her journey into tech was shaped by personal challenges, we learned. It was during the COVID-19 lockdowns, for example, that she earned the Amazon Future Engineer bursary from the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Another achievement she shared was reviving the Computing Society at her university and turning it into an award-winning hub of activity.
“When I took over in May 2024, the society was inactive. Within six months, I rebuilt it from the ground up, growing it to 130 members. I created a space where students could access real-world tech experiences through events like upskilling workshops, industry hackathons and robotics session co-hosted with other societies, professionals and technicians. I personally funded many of these events to keep them free, so cost would never be a barrier to opportunity like it was for me. I built partnerships with departments across university and invited companies for networking events, technical talks and live projects.”
The society went on to win Academic Society of the Year and an Inclusion Advocate Award for its dedication to upskilling and opening doors for students from under-represented backgrounds.
“As Computing Society manager, I didn’t just rebuild an inactive group, I turned it into an award-winning hub of activity. We run hackathons, bring in professionals for talks and collaborate with departments. These events directly engage the student body, often attracting 20-40 participants per session. And I made sure the society stayed free, funding many events myself, to ensure no student was excluded due to financial constraints. We consistently attend local events, doing careers talk at local primary and high schools to support the community. We even formed the first BCS student chapter at Staffs!”
As a subject and course rep at her university, she has also pushed for change – from securing BCS re-accreditation for the robotics course to enhancing teaching materials at the London campus.
Aurelia also founded Byte Queens, a UK-wide women-in-tech student community supporting the transition from university into careers.
“We host skill-building sessions at universities, such as Queen Mary University of London and publish regular newsletters to keep students informed on industry trends and opportunities. Byte Queens is designed to challenge the isolation and drop-off many women face in tech courses by providing visibility, mentorship and peer-led support. It has already reached hundreds of students and continues to grow through direct outreach and collaboration.”
During her placement year at IKEA, she worked across Information Security, Project Management and IT Support.
“One of the most challenging and rewarding projects I led was the network switch decommissioning, and upgrade for the Oxford Street store. This was an immense responsibility, and I took ownership of it. Seeing Oxford Street’s store open with the network infrastructure I helped bring was extremely fulfilling.”
And we read the praise from her line managers. Indeed, her work was recognised internally at IKEA for its high technical quality, collaborative leadership and impact.
Academically, Aurelia consistently achieved top grades, with all her marks between 80 and 95 percent. She also holds a Linux Essentials certification and has run peer study sessions through the society. These sessions focus on areas students find difficult such as software engineering. When peers struggled with course content, I created in-depth workshops to teach the material interactively, often attracting 20 or more attendees at a time.
She has also served as a course and subject representative, where she fought for and secured the re-accreditation of the Robotics degree from the BCS, ensuring future cohorts would not lose professional recognition.
“I pushed for improvements in teaching quality on our London campus and worked with faculty to align it more closely with our Stoke teaching standards. My efforts were recognised with Subject Rep of the Year (2024), the Commitment to the Role Award (2025), and the Biggest Impact Award for (2025.)”
And finally, her former line-manager also shared:
“Her work ethic is second to none. I highly recommend her for EW BrightSparks, she has a bright future in electronics and technology and dedicates a lot of her time to giving back to others to make sure they can do the same.”
Community
In terms of community work or STEM support, we learned it is at the heart of what Aurelia does. She has been very involved with a wide range of initiatives, involving hundreds of hours of work and thousands of students.
She told us her mission has always been to make technology accessible, especially for under-represented and economically disadvantaged students.
For example, she led sessions for the National Centre For Computing Education’s I Belong in Computing. This involved delivering technology webinars to over 1,500 students. She regularly supports Q&A sessions for high schools in underfunded areas, too. This involves offering talks about tech careers, sharing practical advice and guiding students toward their next steps.
“One of my most impactful recent contributions was supporting University of Staffordshire’s Girls in IT Day,” she told us. “I spent an entire day supporting 150 local Year 7 and 8 girls, judging a Dragons’ Den-style challenge and acting as a guide and role model. It’s these face-to-face moments, answering questions, encouraging curiosity, that I find most meaningful. They show young girls that yes, tech can be for them and women exist in these spaces.”
Beyond volunteering, she also creates further opportunities for engagement. For example, as founder of Byte Queens, she built a community for women in tech across the UK.
This involves running skill sessions, hosting events and producing newsletters. They are full of curated career advice, trending tech news and resource guides. She told us it also helps bridge the university-to-career gap and ensure women feel supported and equipped to succeed in tech. They have hundreds of followers via LinkedIn and share detail resources to their signed up members for free.
Aurelia is also involved in national-level conversations. As a representative at the UK Cyber Security Council, she’s already delivered webinars. And she is now preparing to visit more schools and universities, making cybersecurity education more visible and accessible. She also collaborates with BCS, Bright Network, Gradcracker, SheCanCode and Techskills UK to champion inclusive routes into tech.
Mentoring is another key part of her outreach, she told us. Whether helping her coursemates prepare for assessments through peer-led revision sessions or explaining Linux concepts during lab sessions, she always try to be a support.
For example, when fellow students struggled with key cybersecurity concepts, she created targeted learning events for them (with average attendance of 20+ students). She even setup a professional mentorship scheme, matching 12.5% of her student group.
And her efforts have not gone unnoticed. She won the Young STEAM Personality of the Year at the Inspirational Youth Awards, for example. This celebrated both her outreach work and leadership.
Indeed, one of her nominators told us:
“What sets Aura apart is not just the volume of her engagement, but the authenticity and enthusiasm she brings to every interaction. She is deeply passionate about making STEM accessible and exciting, especially for young women and those who may not see themselves reflected in tech careers. Through her work, Aura continues to break down stereotypes and open doors for the next generation of innovators.”
And another nominator vouchsafed:
“In amidst her placement she has been juggling two societies, SCS and Staffs Women in STEM, being a student trustee, subject rep, Byte Queens, course rep and all of the volunteering she does. She has devoted hundreds of hours so all of these to make tech more inclusive for everyone, all while gaining experience in industry doing what she loves and I couldn’t be prouder. Through SCS Aura has been a star to those around her, working tirelessly to create bi-monthly events for free for students that focus on upskilling, opportunity sharing and career development.”
“She goes out of her way to find professionals to come in and do lectures, talks, activities and everything in-between. She matched 16 students including an under 18 with professionals in tech to support their careers. And she has been amazing volunteer with STEM Ambassadors too, dedicating time to answering Q&A, going in to primary and high schools to do various sessions like careers fairs and participating in webinars online for hundreds of students across all ages. At Clarice Cliff Co-Op academy she set up a stall for 120 primary school students to learn about careers in tech from early on, interacting with children with stuff she brought too!”
Another nominator recognised her “fantastic contribution” to I’m a Computer Scientist, Get Me Out of Here.
The Head of Scientists for the programme told us:
“Since joining in September 2024, she has taken part in 22 live chats through I’m a Computer Scientist, Get Me Out of Here, engaging with approximately 350 school students from across the UK – an incredible impact! Her involvement has played a key role in supporting students’ science capital and helping them see STEM as accessible and relevant.”
“I’m a Computer Scientist, Get Me Out of Here prioritises schools with a higher than average number of students eligible for free school meals and schools that are more than a half an hour drive from the closest higher education institutions. These students are less likely to get public engagement opportunities with scientists so Aurelia is connecting with the students who need her most.”
And if that was not enough, she has also been judging and supporting other STEM competitions, such as the BIEA 2025 International STEM Competition, helping young people showcase their talents and gain confidence. Very impressive.
Congratulations to Aurelia Brzezowska!
See also: Elektra Awards 2025 – The Winners
