The winner of this year’s Paul Fletcher Prize for Volunteering is a data engineer from Mumbai, who also chairs the IET’s Mumbai local network. He is Vimal Chaubey.  

With a five-and-a-half-hour time difference, we met with Vimal at the end of his day. If he was tired, it did not hide his infectious enthusiasm for his regular work - and the work he puts into promoting engineering in Mumbai and across India. 

An IET journey  

Vimal joined the IET in 2013 as a student member in Mumbai. He said, "Though the IET had been present in Mumbai for more than 65 years, we did not have any student members until 2013." That year, he was one of the founder members of the first-ever IET student chapter in Mumbai. His IET journey had only just begun.

When he left college, Vimal went from the organising head of his college IET student chapter to being an ordinary IET member, which did not last long. He began running the Mumbai local network's Young Professionals as their secretary, later adding 'chairperson' to his collection of positions. 

In the same year, along with his colleagues, Vimal helped found another IET grouping, this time a Young Professionals Community Committee (YPCC) in South Asia, or the Young Professionals Community South Asia. 

Vimal comes across as the kind of person who always wants to build. He had already done a great deal of work up to 2020, but when Covid struck, Vimal became Secretary of the IET Mumbai Local Network, being named the Mumbai local network Chairperson in 2024. 

Being NICE to people 

Something that is especially close to his heart (Vimal made a point of saying this) is Nurturing Intelligence for Curious Engineers (NICE). This was just one event from the last 11 years that expanded from Vimal's College to the local network to the South Asia level.

The main target of this event is the engineering student in schools or colleges. People do not always choose a branch of engineering because it interests them but because of peer pressure. 

Vimal told me, "When I did my engineering in 2010-2014, students chose their engineering field because of peer pressure. People would say, 'This is a good branch,' or 'You will earn more money,' and 'You will become a government officer.' Students did not select their field because of their interest or what was happening in that branch. We decided to try to tackle this problem through Nurturing Intelligence for Curious Engineers."  

The program involved sending a group of (4-5) third and final-year engineering students to speak to some of the 75 thousand students in India's schools and colleges. There, they would talk about what happens in a particular engineering field. 

"It was the kind of session where pupils or undergraduates could connect what they learned during their engineering classes with real-life examples. The young people in the pre-engineering classes didn't know much about the job, which meant the visiting engineering students would have to connect their knowledge with real-world examples and in a simplified manner." 

Beyond the shores 

NICE began in 2014 with a pilot event in Mumbai. Then Vimal and his colleagues took it out from Mumbai to the wider Maharashtra state, then beyond Maharashtra to states such as Goa, Gujrat, and Kerala (Kanyakumari) state. The next step was to take it to Sri Lanka and a more global stage.

In 2020, Vimal followed up an invite to the Young Professionals event (YPCVC) in Bengaluru. This conference was the birthplace of the Young Professionals Community South Asia (YPCSA). It allowed him to meet with young professional delegates from local networks across the country. It was also where he brought NICE to a broader audience, who were keen to explore the idea in their own networks and regions.

Then COVID-19 happened, which disrupted everything, including the NICE expansion plans.

Other opportunities present themselves. 

Vimal told me, "…it did give us the opportunity to start 'Present Across the Network.' As Covid was going on, I was invited to conduct an online session about the 'Internet of Things (IoT),' and other topics. I found that while presenting online, I was unable to see the reaction of my audience. " 

"So how to make that session engaging? It's very different to an in-person event." 

"I was YP Chair at the time, so as a committee, we realised two things. First, that online presentations require a different level of skills, so we cannot evaluate the person in an online scenario in the same way we would at an in-person event. The second thing - these skills will still be required after the pandemic is over." 

'Present Across the Network' began with a pilot program in Mumbai, to which YPCC members and contacts made in Bengaluru were invited. People joined from around the world. After people saw it in action, 'Present Across the Net' was taken as a Global PresentIn10 challenge. 

Close to the heart 

For Vimal, "Two developments are very much close to my heart – one, that we started 'Nurturing Intelligence for Curious Engineers' as a pilot in India and that we took it to an international level. The second is the 'Present Across the Network,' which we gave the PresentIn10." 

"Apart from that, this year, we started with 'Women Leading the Way' to celebrate women in engineering. That also got a very good response to a situation where all the speakers were women while the audience was mixed. We also tried an activity where the audience was divided into groups."  

"People were given stationary, cardboard, crayons, pencils, pens, etc. The question they had to answer was, 'How can you solve a problem for women in engineering in leadership? How to break the barrier? Everyone was given different questions, and people presented their ideas. They chalked out their idea on the cardboard, and then given 90 seconds to every group to present their ideas in front of the audience, which was very well received." 

What start-ups need 

Vimal believed helping start-up companies was an important issue to tackle.

"When the YPCSA was formed in 2020, it discussed what people do with their careers. While doing a degree and getting a job is clearly fine, many others decide to launch a start-up company. The obstacle was not finding technical solutions to problems; it was selling that solution to the market, persuading people to pay and making a profit from it – getting the regulatory compliance right, making the best use of their intellectual properties and protecting those IPs." 

The point he was trying to make is there are many things for which start-ups need help, and many things to consider. Only actively thinking about and solving these issues can allow them to become mature businesses and survive. To help this, they will require financial aid, including funding from venture capitalists, amongst others. 

Next on the agenda… 

As busy as he is, Vimal has a lot of ideas for what he wants to pursue while he is Chair of the Local Network in Mumbai. 

"Every year, after the election of a new committee for the next year, the newly elected local network chairman has to declare a theme for the local network for the next year, and then a committee is elected. In the current year (2024), the theme was 'Leadership in Engineering and Technology Excellence.' For next year (2025), I wanted to highlight 'Collaboration for Engineering and Technology Excellence.' 

"Because we are an international body, we have around ten local networks in South Asia. My idea is to have a volunteer exchange program. Considering the vast geography and diversity in India, if each local network can help each other - students, young professionals, and professionals - if they can travel from one local network to another, they will learn something as well as receive a platform to share their experience and their knowledge. It will help them to create their own brand." 

"For example, this year, I have been working with IET India at the national level and for IET academic affiliates in India, such as Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, and Manipal Institute of Technology, in Manipal. At these colleges, I carried out a workshop on Generative AI and Cloud Services."

"The idea is not to just give theoretical knowledge but to provide direct experience. I created and shared the cloud resources in front of them. I showed how to create a generative AI model and computer vision model and how to use them. I created and shared those models with the students. They could use these right in front of them, not just in theory, but as practical examples. "

"There are three things—first, collaboration. Second, increase the engagement of the audience as we have done with leading the way for women in engineering. Thus, whoever comes to our program, they should not only sit at the receiving end, but they should also feel engaged and be able to provide their input."  

"The third thing – we should not only focus on the theoretical part or the book knowledge. We should also implement more practical approaches and direct learning. Whatever session I am trying to conduct, where I am a resource, I try to have some kind of firsthand learning and hands-on experience for my audience." 

"The IET has provided me with a platform to nurture ideas, help with execution, and drive excellence. It has given me the opportunity to explore the pioneer within me and develop as a leader of the future—a recognition acknowledged by London Business School in 2023."

The IET awards the Paul Fletcher Medal to an early career IET volunteer for outstanding achievement in contributing to the IET.