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Railway Quiz Night

Thursday, 12 June, there was only one place to be in London and that was at the Annual Railway Quiz Night! We had our usual room with a view courtesy of Doggetts Coat and Badge at Southwark. Peter Sheppard did the honours as Quiz Master once again and didn’t disappoint by wearing yet another different uniform. This time his uniform actually formed part of the Quiz, you got a bonus for solving the cryptic clue ‘"Instant Shed Less High Cowl" which turned out to be Freight Operating Company (FOC) "English Welsh and Scottish". There was a good turnout for the event with a mixed age group and it was excellent to see so many young railway professionals present. Following the questions there was a networking opportunity/buffet before team ‘Twenty Four Trains’ were declared the winners. The Railway…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Career Manager Version 3: One Year On!

It has now been a year since the launch of IET Career Manager v3, so we thought it would be a good chance to give you an update on what has been happening since the launch. One year ago, on the 24 th June 2013 after an extensive period of user acceptance testing with our volunteers and with updated and added functionality, we switched over from our v2 of Career Manager to v3. Following initial feedback from early adopters of the new system, and with the enhanced change control functionality we had built into the tool, we have been able to apply some minor changes mainly to the labelling and guidance to ensure that Career Manager v3 continued to be embraced by its users. With a steadily increasing user group of approximately 8600 users now using the new version of Career Manager, and 4689 brand…

Kathryn Bain
Could You Be An IET Media Expert For Space Engineering?

The IET is often approached by external media outlets with requests for interviews with spokespeople working in specific areas of engineering and technology. We are aware that some of our volunteers may be experts in these areas so wanted to bring this opportunity to your attention. Being a spokesperson for the IET can be a very effective way of raising your profile and it can also count towards your CPD. One of the key areas where we lack media spokespeople is space engineering . What we are looking for in a spokesperson: Able and willing to represent the IET – and the IET’s position on space engineering Wide and up-to-date expertise, with many years of experience in the subject area – and an objective perspective Engaging, personable and confident speaker Willing to attend a day’s media training…

Former Community Member
IET - Isle of Man Group TT Zero Event

The IET Isle of Man Group recently organised an event to coincide with the TT Zero races on the Island which forms part of the annual TT Race series. This year’s race was won by Team Mugen who were also runners-up, however, the students from Team Buckeye Current at Ohio State University came an amazing third. The IET event consisted of a networking opportunity before the event to view the motorcycle that won the 2009 TTXGP race and meet up with members, non members, guests and some of the teams/riders involved in the 2014 TT Zero race series. There were presentations from Team Buckeye Current, Team Ion Horse at Kingston University and Brammo, together with a rider’s perspective from Robert Barker from Buckeye. The event was Chaired by Stan Kewley, Chairman of the IoM Group who commented as…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
IET Isle Of Man Group - TT Zero Event

The IET Isle of Man Group recently organised an event to coincide with the TT Zero races on the Island which forms part of the annual TT Race series. This year’s race was won by Team Mugen who were also runners-up, however, the students from Team Buckeye Current at Ohio State University came an amazing third. The IET event consisted of a networking opportunity before the event to view the motorcycle that won the 2009 TTXGP race and meet up with members, non members, guests and some of the teams/riders involved in the 2014 TT Zero race series. There were presentations from Team Buckeye Current, Team Ion Horse at Kingston University and Brammo, together with a rider’s perspective from Robert Barker from Buckeye. The event was Chaired by Stan Kewley, Chairman of the IoM Group who commented as…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Interview With Professor Simon Iwnicki, Institute Of Railway Research, Huddersfield University

Railway Professional magazine have recently interviewed Professor Simon Iwnicki, Head of the Institute of Railway Research at Huddersfield University ahead of his forthcoming year as Chairman of the IMechE Railway Group. See here for the full interview .

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Interview with Simon Iwnicki, Institute of Railway Research, Huddersfield University

Railway Professional magazine have just interviewed Professor Simon Iwnicki, Head of the Institute of Railway Research at Huddersfield University ahead of his forthcoming year as Chairman of the IMechE Railway Group. See here for the full interview .

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
New Survey from WES for Qualified Women Engineers

Women in Engineering: Are you In or Out new survey from WES for qualified women engineers. Can you help by filling this out please?

Former Community Member
IET International Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Conference 2014 - China

This International conference aims to bring together global experts from government, academia and industry to examine the recent advances in hybrid and electric vehicle technologies and to discuss issues, problems and solutions involved in the large scale adoption of electric vehicles around the world. This three-day conference includes a mixture of technical presentations, panel discussions, followed by a technical visit to a prominent electric vehicles (EV) factory/research centre in Chongqing. Attendees will learn about the latest technology applications being developed in hybrid and electric vehicles; batteries, infrastructure and power supply as well as clean energy generation and storage. The event will also cover topics such as charging technologies and facilities, branding issues, innovative…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
GNSS Vulnerability Workshop, Sydney, December 2013

The workshop brought together Australian experts on GNSS vulnerability from academia, industry and various government departments at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia on the 4th of December, 2013. Speakers at the workshop highlighted the threats, including from cheap illegal jammers, the other infrastructure sectors affected from aviation and maritime to communications and banking, and the remedies available, including technology being developed in Australia to geolocate interferers. The incorporation of GNSS into the national infrastructure resilience strategy was also discussed. Open discussion led to agreement that different measures to deal with vulnerability must be pursued in parallel: to protect GNSS as effectively as is possible, and to ensure backup systems exist…

Former Community Member in Navigation
Women In Engineering Webcast

If you missed the webcast this afternoon, fear not! Here is the link.

Former Community Member
Exclusive: Watch An Interview With Trunki Founder Rob Law

Trunki founder Rob Law loves a challenge, or so it would seem. Undeterred after being rejected by the Dragon’s Den panel, he went on to make his funky suitcases for children a huge success. Rob took on another challenge when he started looking into re-shoring the manufacturing of Trunki suitcases back to the UK. Despite no Government assistance being available at the time, Rob worked with the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) to ensure efficiency and the manufacturing of Trunki was successfully moved to Devon, UK. In this exclusive video Rob gives an insight into how to approach the idea of re-shoring, and how clever re-engineering of the product has allowed the company to match UK production output with Chinese output through cutting labour costs. Government support for re-shoring has since…

Former Staff Member
female engineers' & scientists' advice to the next generation

Girls can't what? Our female engineers' & scientists' advice to the next generation http://t.co/6QeYOqGmKp #NWED pic.twitter.com/fCMwLWP4u9 — Malvern Instruments (@malvern_news) June 23, 2014

Joanne Longton
Social Media

In an attempt to reach those potential members and guests at our events, the Local Network for Southern California can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/IETinSoCal or on twitter at @IET_SoCal

Richard Tregaskes
IET Tribology Tour 2014-15 Bringing Tribology To Life

Bringing Tribology to life The science and engineering of friction, wear and lubrication – collectively known as Tribology – is fundamental to energy production, manufacturing, transport, healthcare and many other industries. Tribology can be applied wherever there are mechanical interfaces in relative motion and there is a desire to improve efficiency, reliability or cost-effectiveness. Tribology can open up exciting and powerful paths to new technological solutions. It improves the sustainability of products and systems, benefits the environment and increases economic competitiveness. In association with IET Local Networks, the IET Tribology Network will visit eight locations for a series of evening talks, aiming to bring Tribology to life through real examples and case studies. The IET Tribology…

Former Community Member in Tribology
Cities in the sky

Housing crisis? You ain't seen nothing yet. So how will the cities of tomorrow cope with an exploding population? Or with mass flooding caused by global warming? Or even when there is no space left to build on? Today's forward-thinking architects are already on the case, devising everything from horizontal skyscrapers providing midair communal areas and forests in the sky, to a floating metropolis and new cities built on the spires of the last. Welcome to the future. Now we just have to build it. Article in full: http://bit.ly/1pHpFvE

Former Community Member in Space
Spotlight On Recruitment And Retention

National Women in Engineering Day (NWED) is fast approaching and to mark this important day, we wanted to let you know that the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is launching a new campaign to encourage companies of all sizes to revisit their approach to recruitment and retention – to make sure they are doing everything possible to attract more women into engineering roles. Only 7% of the total UK engineering workforce is female. This effectively means that engineering companies are not accessing half of the potential talent pool which, given the impending skills crisis in engineering and technology, makes poor business sense. Championing the campaign is IET Deputy President, Naomi Climer, who is also President of Sony Media Cloud Services. Naomi led a 50:50 campaign for Sony…

Former Community Member
Virgin West Coast Contract Extended

Pleased to hear that Virgin have just been awarded the West Coast Main Line Contract for a further two years and nine months. As a result they've promised to invest a further £35m updating the trains and providing more standard class seats. Plus they will also invest more than £20m modernising stations and improving the waiting rooms, seats and shelters. More information on the announcement ca n be found here.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Inmarsat to lead EU-wide rollout of in-flight passenger broadband services

Inmarsat plc has recently announced its aim to deploy an integrated telecommunications network to deliver aviation passengers connectivity services on an EU-wide basis. To achieve this ambition, Inmarsat confirmed its order for a new S-band satellite , to be called Europasat, and expects to complement this satellite with a fully integrated air-to-ground network across the EU.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
New Jet Hangar at Seletar Aerospace Park - Singapore

A state-of-art jet maintenance hanger has been officially opened at the Seletar Aerospace Park in Singapore. The new hanger will meet the maintenance requirements for Boeing, Bombardier, Gulfstream and Nextant business aircraft is an excellent example of Building Information Modelling.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Rail Innovation & Development Centre - Voucher Scheme

We’ve been asked to help publicise the following scheme, a joint initiative for Network Rail who with the Enabling Innovation Team (EIT) which is itself funded by RSSB, to provide subsidised testing at the Rail Innovation & Development Centre (RIDC) Tuxford and Melton. For a fee of £750 qualifying companies and Academic Institutions get up to 2 days of Network Rail Engineering experts’ time and up to 5 days of testing in a safe, controlled, representative environment. The benefits of this cost effective and realistic approach is quick response and low risk collaboration with Network Rail providing an honest view of viability of a product or service. For non-qualifying companies or if testing exceeds the parameters of the scheme they offer testing in the same environment at commercial rates…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
FREE Workshops & Lecture 'Risk Strategies To Protect The Built Environment From Malicious Attack & Nature's Fury'

Join us at the London Transport Museum on 3 July for your choice of an afternoon of free workshops and / or a free to attend evening lecture on ‘Catastrophic events: resilience of and recovery from incidents in the built environment.’ Event topics will look at risk strategies to protect the built environment from malicious attack and nature's fury. Topics to be covered include: Holistic planning for Triple Threat mitigation for UK Grid Compiling threat assessments Mitigation during an event Delivering post-event recovery Supply chain critical issues for sustainability Complimentary access to tour the London Transport Museum 12.00 - 14.30 is included with registration for the Afternoon Workshops. Online registration is essential. Afternoon Workshops Programme 12:00 – 14:30 Complimentary Museum…

Former Community Member
Cockpit complete for 1,000mph Bloodhound Car

Just spotted this on the BBC News . Looks like Bloodhound have now built and fitted out Andy Green's cockpit for the World Land Speed Record bid. The car is now approximately a year away from full aseembly, ahead of the plan to break the record in the Autumn of 2015.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Wilmington’s first passive house

Lucien Ellison has felt a responsibility to live as sustainably as possible since an ecology course opened his eyes in college, but all it took was one beautiful view to inspire him to spend years building a house in line with one of the strictest green building standards in the world. Article in full: http://luminanews.com/2014/06/wilmingtons-first-passive-house-2/ Are you developing or installing passive house technologies?

Former Community Member

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