Class of 2026: Matthew Van De Vyver

Matthew Van De Vyver has loved making a positive difference while studying at Essex and putting robotic design skills into action.

The School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE) graduate got involved in vTeam, the Students’ Union’s volunteering programme, and was project leader of VTeam’s Repair Café.

He has also been part of an CSEE-based team which has developed a Mars-style rover which will compete at RAL Space – the UK's National Space Laboratory – this summer.

And after graduating with BEng in Computer Systems Engineering he will be a new role as a Graduate Hardware Engineer at Arm in September.

His inspiring work led to Matthew being named Project Leader of the Year at the SU’s Volunteering Awards in 2026.

Matthew has been the driving force behind Repair Café for the last two years, an on-campus initiative that offers free repairs to students.

The project even caught the attention of the Unversity’s Sustainability Team, and helped VTeam secure a Platinum level Sustainable Essex Award.

Matthew said: “Repair Cafe is a V-Team Regular Project I created two years ago with a couple of other students, as we felt there was a real gap on campus.

“The project runs weekly sessions, where students with broken tech can come along, and a volunteer will help them with the issues they are facing.

“The modern world is filled with tech, and a lot of it is surprisingly easy to fix, so this is a great way of showing this to people, reducing e-waste on campus due to less devices needing to be replaced, and hopefully giving them the confidence to have a go fixing things in future.

“VTeam was awarded a sustainability award, in part for the work Repair Cafe does, alongside the amazing work of other projects such as Clothes Exchange and Green Thumbs.”

Matthew also played a key role in a hugely successful STEM and Robotics Day at a local primary school during British Science Week.

Additionally, he has been the treasurer of the CSEE Society and won the Exceptional Services to Societies Award at the SU Society Awards.

Matthew said: “I saw the opportunity to make a positive difference to the experience of other students, whilst also improving my skills, such as organisation and communication.

“Through the Repair Cafe, I've been able to see so many students learn how to fix the devices, which they otherwise wouldn't have been able to, and learn a little about reducing e-waste whilst at it.

“Through being an exec of the CSEE society, I've been able to help CSEE students meet each other, especially during the first few weeks of the year."

Roving robots

Matthew added: “I've also been able to take on the role of Team Lead for the CSEE Society's Rover team, which enters the UKSEDS Olympus Rover Trials. This has been an amazing experience, working with other students to design, build and test Mars-style rovers, helping us develop skills beyond those taught on our course, and practice our project management and communication on a real project, with a real end result. The team is heading to RAL Space in August for the test day phase of the competition, where our rover will be put through its paces.”

Shout out to staff

Matthew gave a special mention to a couple of CSEE academics. He said of Dr David Richerby “every module I've been taught by him had incredible attention to detail, it is very clear he cares a lot about students, and is always happy to discuss content beyond the course”. Meanwhile, his final year project supervisor Dr Sangeet Saha “provided great guidance and support throughout”.

Advice for new students

Finally, what is Matthew’s tip to new students:“I would tell them to get involved with as much as they can whilst here, there's so many ways to get involved, from volunteering to societies to sports, and it's such a rewarding experience.”