Two evening events were held by IET Kent in October 2014
On the 22nd October, IET Kent held the inaugural Jennison Lecture at the University of Kent, to an audience in excess of 100. This event also opened the University’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations. The Lecture is named after Roger Jennison, the first Professor of Physical Electronics at the University in 1965 and founder of the Electronics Laboratory; which has now grown into the School of Engineering and Digital Arts. The speaker for the evening was Rhys Phillips (Research Engineer, Lightning & Electrostatics, from Airbus Group Innovations UK). His talk was titled "Thunderbolts and Lightning - are they really frightening?" and he delivered an informative and entertaining presentation. Rhys looked at the phenomenon of lightning and explained, with of audience participation, the processes which lead to a lightning strike and the different types of lightning that can exist. He included in this an explanation on Ball Lightning, a subject of particular interest to Professor Jennison.
Our second evening event was held on the 26th October at the Hilton Hotel Maidstone. To a packed room, Professor John Loughhead presented on “Powering the Future – how different will it be?” IET Kent felt particularly privileged to have Professor Loughhead as its guest. He is a Past President of the IET, the Executive Director of the UK Energy Research Centre and the Chair of the IET Energy Sector. In addition, Professor Loughhead has just been appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and has been voted one of the top 500 most influential people in Britain. Professor Loughhead gave a very informative talk, covering all aspects of Powering the Future, from wave, solar and wind through to nuclear and carbon based fuels. He explained the difficulties and challenges facing the UK to meet our power needs and the energy issues affecting the World. He concluded the evening by answering the many questions from a fascinated audience.