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IET Scotland North Chairman’s Welcome 2013/14

It is both an honour and a privilege to welcome you as the Chair of the IET North Scotland Network (SN) to our 2013/2014 programme. I hope that this year’s programme can build on the success of last years. The IET covers an extremely wide range of disciplines and the above programme’s breadth reflects this. No matter your background, we hope the session provides a range of events that will be of relevance and interest to you. The network already has a full programme of events in place with a wide range of lectures and events including: Community Energy Schemes in Western Isles Hydrogen Fuel Cells update North Sea Enhanced Oil Recovery Through CCS Powering the Commonwealth Games Present Around The World (PATW) competition Various Lifeskill events across the regions PRA events We are also in…

Lynsay Callaghan
Design Development Of The Emirates Arena And The Sir Chris Hoy Veladrome

Glasgow's Commonwealth Arena, incorporating the Indoor Sports Arena & Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, is the only major new sports facility planned to be used as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The complex is also designed for its legacy use as both a centre for sporting excellence, providing a local, regional and national training centre and competition venue, and as a community sports facility. The talk by Gordon McGhie, Director of Glasgow Architects 3DReid, explains the design development of this unique facility, its impact on the East End of Glasgow and the challenges of creating and constructing a facility which both meets the requirements for Commonwealth Games events and is suitable for intense everyday use by a wide range of participants, spectators and sporting bodies. About the speaker…

Lynsay Callaghan
Joint Institutions Annual Dinner

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the closing date for bookings for the Joint Institutions Annual Dinner on 24th January is this Wednesday, 15th January 2014 . See the flyer for details of the restaurant, booking form. I can allow some leeway on the booking date up to the end of the weekend.

Phil Dunbar
Joint institutions Networking and Social evening

I would like to remind those of you who are in Paris this month that the first Institutions' (ICE, IET, IMechE, IStructE) joint networking and social evening of 2014 will be held next Thursday 16th January 2014 from 19h00 at Carr's bar and restaurant, 1 rue Mont Thabor, Paris 75001 (Métro Line 1 Tuileries) . Spouses,partners and friends welcome. This regular event takes place the 3rd Thursday of each month. There will be an optional group dinner from about 20h30. Ian Dewsbury will be hosting the evening for the ICE French LA and he looks forward to seeing you there for a drink and chat about past and future Institution events in 2014.

Phil Dunbar
IET France Network Committee

The IET France Network Committee organises programme of activities for IET members, engineers and members of the public in France . All of these events and activities are made possible by the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. If you would like to know more about the committee or volunteer your time to help with our activities, please get in touch with any of the current committee volunteers listed below. Phil Dunbar Chairman K Rao Vice Chairman Timothy Lorkin Secretary Vacant position Treasurer Peter Morgan Member Robert McCann Member Ian Gillis Member Brian Wyld Member Hugues De Saint Acheul Member

Lisa Miles
EMEA PATW Finalist Interview

Here's an interview with Hassan Al Ismail, our PATW finalist from EMEA. If your LN have not done a PATW competition , then please do get in contact so that we can help you make it happen! Follow @IETAwards on Twitter.

Former Community Member
An Idea For Running Professional Registration Events....

The PCEUAE (Professional Chartered Enginners in theUnited Arab Emirates) group have kindly shared their method of running Professional Registration workshops. Please have a read through the attached file as you might find it useful! If you're interested in learning more, or would like to see mroe professional registration activity in your area, then please do contact me.

Former Community Member in CEng
Providing All The Inspiration You Need During The Gloomy Winter Months…!

With the risk of bordering on being late: Happy New Year everybody! For the majority of us, this Monday will be the second working week but probably the first week we are getting our head around work, friends and the IET again. The Christmas break is now well and truly over and for some, it might even seem like a distant memory. The two months after the festive break are always considered the most dark of them all: cold, wet and dark with no real break to look forward to…. Not if we can help it! Our Network in London has an inspiring programme of events to see you through the winter months! The Central London group will kick-off events this Wednesday with one of their well-established evening lectures, followed by the group in Hammersmith the week after: How do we manage safety and risk in…

Davy Thielens
Feedback from the ROS Workshop, November 2013

Feedback from one of the attendees at the ROS workshop Thanks for the event. As a new Robotics PhD student who knows a lot about programming and not very much about robots, this has really helped me gain confidence that ROS is indeed very helpful to abstract the controls and focus on the what, not the how. When I used the simulator I got a vague idea of how the system operates, but testing it on real robots made me aware of practical implications, connectivity issues, etc and reassured me that I can indeed "make it work". It has also been very valuable for me to talk to and work with people that are also exploring this -potentially revolutionary- piece of software. It opened my mind to the fact that not just academics but also small and large companies and independent individuals are indeed…

Joanne Longton
How Artificial Intelligence Is Used To Detect Financial Fraud And Tax Evasion

An event which attracted an audience from the legal, accountancy, police as well as computer science and engineering professions was held at Staffordshire University on 12 th November 2013. Dr Caroline Chibelushi of Data Burrowing Solutions gave a presentation on how the use of artificial intelligence is used to detect financial fraud and tax evasion. She explained that detecting financial fraud is complex and requires the analysis of large amounts of data obtained from a variety of sources such as banks, investment institutions, mobile phones, insurance and import/export paperwork - Big Data. It is difficult for humans to process such data and manually identify fraud but the use of Artificial Intelligence has the potential to transform the traditional ways of detection and greatly improve…

Joanne Longton
Visit To Media City UK At Salford Quays 12 February 2013

In mid February an enthusiastic group of 27 braved the cold to visit the new BBC base at Media City UK, Salford Quays, Manchester. Organised by the North West Midlands Network the event attracted a range of members, from students to the retired. Some travelled from as far away as Birmingham and Shrewsbury; one lucky member was able to stroll down from her apartment at The Quays. Paul Newman, Communications Director for Peel Media Ltd who have developed the Salford Docks site and own Media City welcomed the group and explained how the site has been designed to be a world class centre for television and other media program production and distribution. The production equipment is owned by Peel so sharing between the tenants improves efficiency. As well as the BBC, who employ more than 2,500 people…

Joanne Longton
Who are the IET? What can the IET do for you?

Report on a presentation given by Justin Mingaye 25 September 2012. Justin Mingaye is the Regional Development Manager for West Midlands and Wales. He delivered a talk ”Who are the IET? What can the IET do for you?” at the Ruxton Technology Centre, Staffordshire University, on 25 September. He prefaced his talk by emphasising that his background is in marketing, rather than engineering, but his talk clearly demonstrated knowledge of what the IET has as the central aims. Justin has seven networks within his region including our network, and is the interface between us and Savoy Place. Justin has a key role in establishing contact with engineering and technology businesses, academic institutions and training providers across the region in order to exploit the services available from the IET and…

Joanne Longton
Engineered for Business Success

Engineered for Business Success was a joint-event in leadership brought by The Institution of Engineering and Technology East Midlands Young Professionals and The Institute of Directors Young Director Forum East Midlands, supported by the IET Transport and Manufacturing Technical and Professional Networks. You can read more and watch the presentations on our resource page

Joanne Longton
Soft Skills for Engineers

In engineering industry today, non-technical skills such as team working and interpersonal skills are recognised as being as important as technical competence. On Thursday 19 th September a group of young members from the IMechE, IET and ICE decided to organise a non-technical training course for engineers in the East Midlands area. The full day event, held at the University of Nottingham, consisted of three workshops focusing on networking skills, communication skills and intellectual property in engineering industry. Each session was led by experienced trainers and experts in their field. Representative from each of the institutions also attended and gave a talk on different routes to professional registration. The event attracted almost 50 participants from companies across the East Midlands…

Joanne Longton
Where are the LGBT Engineers?

Where are the LGBT Engineers? We are hoping to organise an event in London during Spring /Summer to promote this IET group and get some discussion going. One possible theme is teaching and learning of engineering to LGBT undergraduates. Liverpool University have expressed interest in pursuing some research in this area. If you've got any ideas, feel free to share them! Joe

Joseph Helm
The Sir Isaac Newton Lecture 2013

The annual Sir Isaac Newton Lecture for young people was held this year on Wednesday 9th October in Whittle Hall at RAF College Cranwell, Lincolnshire. Sponsored by three Institutions The IMechE, The IET and The Royal Aeronautical Society the lecture is aimed at inspiring young engineers in Lincolnshire and named in the honor of one of our most eminent scientists, mathematician’s and scholars, and most importantly one of Lincolnshire’s most famous sons. This year the speaker was Wing Commander Andy Green and the topic was the Bloodhound land-speed record challenge. Andy Green, already the fastest man on four wheels having driven the current record holding car Thrust SSC, engaged an audience of 400 Lincolnshire teenagers with the aims of the Bloodhound Project, a brief history of the land-speed…

Joanne Longton
2012 Annual Golf Day

The 2012 Annual Golf Day was held on 24 May at Wetherby Golf Club. The competition is open to all IET members who are encouraged to invite their friends, colleagues and customers to play at this excellent course alongside the river Wharfe and close to the A1M motorway. The weather was hot and sunny, and the course was in excellent condition in readiness for an EWGA championship in July, which was reflected in the day’s scores. From a field of 50/50 IET members/guests, the winner of the members’ competition was John-Paul Rooney with an excellent score of 44 Stableford points and the visitors’ competition was won by Gordon MacArthur with 41 points. Generous raffle prizes were donated by Bill Plews (ex local IET Chairman) and by member Tony Hubbert and the event raised over £350 for the IET Benevolent…

Joanne Longton
HETA AWARDS 2012

The Humber Region IET were pleased to again support HETA through a prize to Joseph Mitchell for an Award for Excellence. Joseph is working towards and NVQ Level 3 Extended Diploma in Engineering Maintenance and VRQ Level 3 Diploma in Maintenance Engineering Technology. Joe has also provided a quote: “I was honoured, grateful and surprised when I heard my name for the IET award for excellence. When I received my reward I was so pleased and in turn write this letter in thanks. The relationship between HETA and the IET is excellent, it is a really good idea to have a company like the IET come into HETA and support so many apprentices at once”. Mark Oldham the Centre Manager says “The relationship between HETA and the IET strengthens the commitment HETA gives to its apprentices by signing them…

Joanne Longton
THE HUMBER REGION ANNUAL DINNER DANCE 2012

The Humber Region Annual Dinner Dance was held on Friday 23 November at the Forest Pines Hotel, near Scunthorpe. A very popular social event which has been running for many decades - this year over 150 people attended with many members, their partners and guests. As always it was very pleasing to see so many companies returning each year to support the event by sponsoring tables and donating raffle prizes including ABB, Avert Fire, ERIKS, IUS Northern Power grid, Quartzelec, Powell S&I, SPEC, SPIE WHS, Sulzer Dowding & Mills. Of course saddening to find that because of the economic situation some familiar companies were unable to be there this year, we hope that next year we will see them again. One of the positive features of the evening is that it is a social occasion with no formal speeches…

Joanne Longton
THE HUMBER REGION ANNUAL DINNER DANCE 2013

The Humber Region Annual Dinner Dance was held on Friday 8th November 2013 at the Forest Pines Hotel, near Scunthorpe. A very popular social event which has been running for many decades - this year over 160 people attended with many members, their partners and guests. As always it was very pleasing to see so many companies returning each year to support the event by sponsoring tables and donating raffle prizes including: ABB, Avert Fire, Dron Dickson, ERIKS, Quartzelec, Sulzer, S&I Powell, SPEC, SPIE WHS, Of course always disappointing to find that because of the economic situation some familiar companies were unable to be there this year, we hope that next year we will see them again. One of the positive features of the evening is that it is a social occasion with no formal speeches, just…

Joanne Longton
Engineering Is Amazing....

A very Happy New Year to everyone I hope you all had a Merry Christmas (or a Happy Holidays!) For my first blog post of 2014 I thought I’d start the year with something a little bit different and share one of my favourite YouTube videos of 2013...Now I’m not a high octane kind of person myself but I do admire the courage and stupidity bravery of those who decide to throw themselves out of aeroplanes at high altitude, perform double back flips on motorbikes (Freestyle MX style), balance on a tightrope over a 200ft drop and perform stunts in cars at speed through treacherous terrain etc. What many people do not appreciate though, is the amount of engineering involved to enable these people to perform such feats…. So below is a compilation video of some of these crazy people. Watch and…

Lisa Miles
Northern Ireland Officers & Contacts 2013-2014

Officers & Contacts 2013-2014 Chair Jayne Brady Vice-Chair Paul Moorhead Honorary Treasurer Frank Taggart Chair of Professional Registration Sub-Committee Alan Webb Chair of Communications Sub-Committee Ben Greene Chair of Education Sub-Committee Keith Chambers Chair of Business Partners Sub-Committee Randal Gilbert Chair of Young Professionals Sub-Committee Matthew Nethercote Chair of Universities Link Sub-Committee Karen Rafferty Prestige Lectures Organiser David Macartney CC-UK Representative Richard Furey My Community Administrator David Procter Honorary Secretary Caron Malone Community Relationship Manager Carlena Probert-Baulch

Lynsay Callaghan
Committee 2014-15

The IET Control & Automation TPN Committee organises a programme of activities for engineers with an active interest in Automation and Control - particularly those involved with the design, implementation, construction, development, analysis and understanding of control systems. All of these events and activities are made possible by the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. If you would like to know more about the committee or volunteer your time to help with our activities, please get in touch with any of the current committee volunteers listed below. William Twohig Simon Hart Stewart Taylor - Chairman Javier Ibanez-Guzman Terence Jayasuriya Nirav Chokshi C. James Taylor Yew Chang Martin Thomas Bayliss David Smith Stefano Longo Joanne Longton - Community Relationship Manager

Joanne Longton
IET YP Best Paper Competition

The IET Railway Network invited young railway professionals from across the industry to hone their writing and presentation skills by participating in the 2013 Best Paper competition. The 2013 theme was 'What is the value of innovation?' The winners of the competition were Jay Shen and Ali Najimi, Atkins with their paper on 'Innovation in the UK Rail Industry - Barriers and their Impact on Innovation Performance. Further information on their paper, together with those of the other entrants can be found here and there are also links to IET.tv where you can watch all the presentations.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie

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