Young Riddlesden woman Laura Duffey has won a top student award.

Laura, 20, a medical biochemistry student at Birmingham University, has been chosen as the most enterprising student of this year's Bradford STEP programme. She spent the summer working for Keighley Business Forum on an innovative waste minimisation programme.

Laura now goes on to represent Bradford at the regional final in Leeds in September.

Chris Sealey, of Keighley Business Forum, says: "We are delighted at Laura's success and with the excellent project she completed for us."

Laura has developed a waste exchange database which matches companies wanting to dispose of waste material with organisations which can use it.

The national STEP programme is organised locally by Bradford University's careers service, with support from Bradford Business Link, Bradford and District TEC and NatWest Bank.

The programme places undergraduates into small business and community organisations for an eight-week project during the summer. Among this year's placements have been ones at Design and Display Ltd at Skipton and Independent Living, of Keighley, a non-profit organisation which assists the disabled.

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