Aiming High

Read about inaugural Student Opportunities Fund scholar, Adam Scholefield, who last year achieved first class honours is his undergraduate studies and is now studying for a PhD at the College.

With a first class degree and a series of notable sporting triumphs under his belt, 22 year-old Student Opportunities Fund scholar Adam Scholefield has become accustomed to success. Now, as he begins a PhD in Image Processing at the College, we find out more about both his academic and sporting achievements, his current studies and his hopes for the future. 

Joining the College in 2003, Adam was one of the first students to benefit from a scholarship through the Student Opportunities Fund, embarking upon a four-year course in Electrical Engineering. “My first two years focused on electronics and incorporated a lot of basic maths,” says Adam. “I went on to specialise in signal processing in my third and fourth year and completed my final year project on image processing.” 

One of Adam’s greatest passions is water polo and throughout his undergraduate studies he spent around 25 hours per week training with the Great British Water Polo team. “I became captain of the Junior National Team when I was 16 and went on to join the senior team at eighteen” he said. His talent is such that in August 2006 Adam represented Imperial College at the World University Games in Bangkok, as Captain of the Great British Men’s Team.  

His academic efforts were rewarded in October 2007 when Adam graduated with first class honours. “It was great to hear that I had achieved a first as I’d been on track for it throughout my course” Adam commented. “My scholarship has made a huge difference to me. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to study at Imperial without taking up a part-time job. It has undoubtedly contributed to both my academic and sporting achievements” he continued.  

Not content with just a first class degree and Masters, Adam is now back at the College studying for a PhD funded by the British Research Council in Image Processing, under the supervision of Dr Pier Luigi Dragotti. He says: “I decided to focus on image processing as a result of my final year project. At the moment I’m concentrating on image-based rendering and multi-view imaging. I'm investigating the structure of data acquired from multiple cameras pointing at the same scene from different viewpoints. I'm looking at ways to extract and modify useful parts of it.” 

Adam’s next big sporting challenge will be the European Water Polo Championship qualifiers which take place in Croatia in January 2008. “At the moment I’m training for four hours per day,” he says. “If we are lucky enough to get through the qualifiers, the Championships will be held in summer 2008.” 

As far as future plans go, Adam has yet to decide upon a career path. “I’d like to keep my options open at the moment. Research seems quite appealing, but I’d like to see how the next three years go first.” 

We wish our inaugural Student Opportunities Fund scholar all the very best for the future and extend our gratitude to each and every donor who has contributed to his success.