National Student Esports (NSE), a UK-based university esports body, has announced the Intel FutureGen 2024 cohort, and results from the BUEC British University Esports Championship 2023 Winter Season.
Intel FutureGen 2024 cohort
NSE said they’re proud to see women making up 60% of the cohort this year, its highest so far.
The Intel FutureGen initiative aims to ‘nurture high achieving student leaders and help develop their skills and enhance future careers’.
The Intel FutureGen 2024 cohort is as follows (in alphabetical order):
- Ashley Leboho, University of Roehampton, Digital Media
- Ashley Khoo Xiang Yi, London School of Economics and Political Science, Accounting and Finance
- Gabriella Alvares, Durham University, Music
- James West, University of Salford, Media Technology
- Jennifer Hart, Staffordshire University, Esports
- Jessica Dickson, University of Nottingham, Veterinary Medicine and Surgery
- Jody Irving, Northumbria University, English Literature and Creative Writing
- Maya Szollosy, Durham University, Biological Sciences
- Melissa O’Brien, Bournemouth University, Media Production
- Meredith Brady, University of Sunderland, Glass and Ceramics
- Nikolai Droumev, University of Warwick, Management with Entrepreneurship
- Rachel Louise Horner, Manchester Metropolitan University, English Studies
- Robin Fang, London School of Economics, Economics
- Russell Bagot, Sheffield Hallam University, International Business
- Sarah Anzhen Yang, University of York, Robotic Engineering
- Sum Yi Lai, University College London, LLB (Laws)
- Sunjaya Phillips, Oxford Brookes University, Marketing Communications Management
- Tal Murphy, University of Chichester, Esports
- Victoria Reile, University of Warwick, Media and Creative Industries
- Wai Hon Chang, University of Manchester, Information Technology Management For Business
FutureGen consists of a programme featuring talks from senior industry leaders, Q&As, workshops, a buddy system with one-to-one mentoring sessions from esports/games industry figures, access to industry events and more.
Online sessions will be also available in 2024 on the NSE Twitch channel to everyone who wishes to participate, regardless of their application to Intel FutureGen.
NSE told Esports News UK in a statement: “The quality of Intel FutureGen candidates continues to rise, NSE and the industry judges had a difficult time selecting the final 20 students to be on this year’s cohort.
“We’re excited to kick off the programme in the new year with new industry buddies for the cohort and industry talks available to everyone.”
Update: The list of industry buddy mentors for the students has also been confirmed, and includes ODEE from Scan Computers, Sam Cooke of Esports Insider, yours truly – Dom Sacco of Esports News UK – and more.
You can see the previous Intel FutureGen 2023 cohort and Intel FutureGen 2022 cohort here.
British University Esports Championship 2023 Winter winners and standings
NSE has also revealed the winning teams and current year-long standings from its British University Esports Championship (BUEC) 2023 Winter Season.
The University of Warwick is on top so far, with 2,285 points, ahead of the University of Southampton (1,112 points) and Durham University (1,090 points).
Winning teams in the BUEC 2023 Winter Season are as follows:
- Apex Legends: Swansea Storm (Swansea University)
- CS2: podbots (University of Southampton)
- Dota 2: UCL Instant Reflex (University College London)
- League of Legends: wang shi ru feng (University College London)
- Overwatch 2: Oxford Omnics (Oxford University)
- Rainbow Six Siege: UWE Sea Stags (University of the West of England)
- Rocket League: Roehampton Esports Gold (Roehampton University)
- Splatoon 3: SeaSLUGs (University of Sheffield)
- Super Smash Bros: incineroar fan club (University of Warwick)
- Teamfight Tactics: Shaun Fernando (University of Warwick)
- Valorant: UCL Silly Cats (University College London)
- Valorant Women and Non-Binary: Lincoln iladies (University of Lincoln)
- Overwatch 2 Women and Non-Binary: MeowMeowMeow (University of Southampton)
- League of Legends Women and Non-Binary: orianna grande (University of Nottingham)
- Assetto Corsa: Ben Gilroy (Durham University)
- F1 2023: Matthew Agius (University of Kent)
- Guilty Gear Strive: sstegy (University of Chester)
There’s more team placements in NSE’s BUEC Winter 2023 Wrap Up article linked here and in the tweet above.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
