Welcome to the Community Insights blog!

This blog features posts from and about the EngX community. Want to contribute? Read our blogging guide to help you get started.

  • IET Surrey March 2017 Event - How To Hack A Bank

    On Wednesday 22nd March IET Surrey members and non-members learned how to hack a bank! Not literally but rather the methods and technology cyber criminals use to attack largely financial institutions. In front of a packed lecture theatre at the University of Surrey in Guildford, presenters David Cash and Julian Storr - senior consultants with the NCC Group - explained how with often comparative ease cyber criminals can launch controlled attacks on an organisation. This may be from the first phishing email to the complete compromise of an IT infrastructure. Julian's and David's talk highlighted the ever increasing need for technical security controls and awareness and the need to continually review monitoring solutions. Feedback from the audience has been positive, and indication of the interest…

    Mike Prewett
    Mike Prewett

  • Young Professionals Programme (YPP) - From Hong Kong LN Younger Members Section

    Young Professionals Programme (YPP) OBJECTIVES To nurture young professionals in the industry (and potential YMSC members) To promote the IET and its professional registration system To promote the IET Hong Kong and its 6 local TPNs To increase participation of YMS in STEM education Young Professionals Programme (YPP) would be an engineering elite programme open for graduate engineers of the year (or the year before also) annually.  Interested individuals will be required to submit their CV as well as a completed application form consisting of introductory texts and their answers to some engineering topics.  With reference to their CVs and application forms, a total of 10 candidates would be selected to join YPP.  YPP would be offering the candidates chances to meet respected engineers in town…

    Yiu Chi Wai
    Yiu Chi Wai

  • Youth Mentoring Programme - From Hong Kong LN Students Section

    Youth Mentoring Programme - Great Start to an Engineer’s Journey   It is not unusual to hear fellow engineering students sigh, that they are not certain where they would end up after graduating from their university; or even freshmen are not sure which engineering disciplines would be the best for them. Often times they would wish for someone to be there as their mentors to guide them through the maze of engineering.   Embarking on a mission to help engineering students connect with the industry, the Students Section (Hong Kong) of Younger Members Section launched the Youth Mentoring Programme (YMP) in 2011, in an effort to clear some of the doubts young students have in their mind. Through the combination of technical visits, seminars, and most importantly, face-to-face networking sessions…

    Yiu Chi Wai
    Yiu Chi Wai

  • CM Blog - Singapore Network Visit

    Meeting with Chairman Bicky and Main committee members   I visited the Singapore Network 15 – 18 March.  Busy few days, meetings with Main committee, YPS and YPS sub-divisions listening to their sharings about views and vision for the IET. Together with YPS Chairman Tan Eng Hwa and YPS member Morgan, we shared about the IET with the NTU and PSB Academy On Campus group.     Always good to see the old friends and many new faces at both main committee and YPS.   Many exciting events at the Singapore Network in 2016 including their 40th Anniversary celebration event, site visits to Rolls Royce, Microsoft, Cisco, Faraday Challenge, and a new and vibrant On Campus group set up at PSB Academy. NTU PATW Competition Final 2017   Thanks to the NTU OC special projects team led by YIqi and OC in charge…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Young Professionals Committee 2017

    In a not so engineering fashion, this year our new marketing officer, Ms Irene Veliana has decided to interview all our newly elected committee by asking them 2-3 quick random facts about themselves. The result is nothing but astounding. Ms Veliana has created the beautiful committee charts which perfectly captured all the key people within the Young Professionals committee. The quick random facts about our committee will let everyone to get to know all our committee even better. We look forward to yet another productive and fruitful year here at IET WA Young Professionals Leon Marketing & Membership Team Lead IET WA Young Professionals

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Railway TPN Young Professional Visit To The Traffic Management Facility At Romford

    The Young Professionals latest technical visit was to Network Rail’s new Traffic Management facility at the Romford Rail Operating Centre to see the UK’s first deployment of Traffic Management.  Through the Digital Railway programme Network Rail, alongside industry partners, are creating a digital future for Britain’s railway. Their aim is to benefit passengers and support economic growth. As part of this programme of works a Traffic Management System is being developed and deployed. This system will help to reduce passenger delay at times when the service is in perturbation. Network Rail’s Traffic Management system interfaces with the signalling system, business systems and telephony systems to automatically schedule and route trains. We met on the platform at Romford and were guided to the…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Introducing the New Railway TPN YP Chair, David Lawes

    At the January 2017 meeting of the Railway TPN YP Group, the position of Chair was handed to David Lawes.  David would like to pass on his Chair message. Message from David Lawes, Railway TPN YP Chair. I am truly excited to be the next Chair of the IET Young Professionals Rail Network, having been part of various rail committees for the past 4 years.   Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you to my predecessor Matthew Bagshawe, who has looked after the committee for the past three years. Matthew grew the committee and its success and I aspire to build on what he’s achieved.   For me what is most important about chairing this network is actively contributing to the promotion of the rail industry to young professionals. It’s key to our industry to inspire, employ and retain talent; providing…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Speaker Highlight - The 3rd Annual Future Of Medicine – The Role Of Doctors In 2027

    We are delighted that Denis Gilhooly, will be opening The 3rd Annual Future of Medicine – The Role of Doctors in 2027 event, jointly organised by the IET Healthcare Technologies Network and the royal Society of Medicine. The event is taking place on the 18 May 2017 at BMA House, London. Denis will be talking on "Panaceas and Pandora's Box: Digital Health and the Digital Doctor 2027" The mantra of  Silicon Valley guru and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla that 80% of what doctors do today will be done by digital technology tomorrow is most likely inevitable.  However, it is important to recognize that just three decades into the new digital age, we still have only a partial understanding of the nascent and complex nature of digital or network dynamics .  The perennial complexity of health and…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • UTC Reading Computing Students Get Creative At The IET Arduino Club

    Following the partnership between IET and UTC Reading, UTC Reading have been running a weekly “IET Arduino Club” for computing students. For one hour per week, 20 students are able to build something of their choice using Arduino kits. The club is aimed at delivering an immersive and creative experience for students and offering them the opportunity to use technology in innovative ways. Students have made fantastic use of the arduino kits funded by the IET and demonstrated how the technology can be applied practically. Read all about it here!

    Dooshiant Dyall
    Dooshiant Dyall

  • How IET PSB Academy On Campus Group Become A Strong Group - Tips From Dr Liau, PSB Academy

    Dr Liau, Head, School of Engineering and Technology, PSB Academy shared some tips about how to help PSB On Campus (OC) group become a strong and vibrant team.  Number of committee members almost doubled 6 members to 10 members currently) in just four months after it's being set up. Mentoring – Maintain good relationship with students and mentor them Inspire students – Invited Engineers to share about their Engineering journey  Good events with Networking opportunities – Rolls Royce visit, Cisco visits that provide networking opportunities with industries Social media – Use social media to engage students and promote about OC groups  Volunteering – Invite them to be part of committee or to volunteer at the activities, they will see the benefits of joining the IET/OC group Support from Singapore…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Cyber Trends Seminar - Augmentation Of The CISO

    Attending a breakfast seminar on cyber trends it was reviewed that CISO roles may change from champion roles into coach based roles. No longer are the CISO's of a company expected to be the internal security champion, but instead they will be empowering other security team members with tools to achieve company objectives. The discussion was made that CISO’s perhaps might have less of an executive focus than originally thought and with that, it was reviewed how Cyber & Security are now maturing into 2 separate ontologies. To say, Cyber focuses on assurance elements, whilst Security focuses on build-by design elements.  This might have merit for Security Analysts to focus on malware , mitigation or detection whilst architects focus on security by design. IoT was touched on to mention that if…

    Rimesh Patel
    Rimesh Patel

  • Important information - Changes to the 11th April North West Electrification Programme

    This event is currenlty fully booked, but for anyone who has registered to attend, please see the email that was sent out to you on Tuesday 21st March regarding the changes. North West Electrification Programme 11 April 2017 in Crewe There have been some changes that I need to bring to your attention: Due to unforeseen circumstances the lecture is unable to take place at the Bombardier site and will now be held at Manchester Metropolitan University Cheshire Campus, Campus map attached. For further information please see online. We are unable to provide transport following the Bombardier site visit to the University and for those without their own vehicle,  it will be a 45 minute walk. Parking will be available at the university. If you still wish to attend the tour you will need to:  %uF0A7…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Call For Speakers For The 12th System Safety And Cyber Security Event (30 October – 1 November, 2017) Now Open

    SSCS is the largest conference for system safety specialists held in the UK; and the only conference where both safety and security engineers from around the world can meet and share ideas, new research and network. The 12th edition of the IET System Safety and Cyber Security conference, addressing key cyber challenges for the critical safety systems will take place on in October 2017 at the IET London: Savoy Place. Sessions at this year’s conference will focus on integrating safety and cyber security, implementing and adopting security approaches, system / software safety  and  will cover four over-arching  themes: -  Integrating safety and cyber security -  Vulnerabilities, threats and solutions to cyber security in safety-critical systems -  The human factors of cyber security and safety…

  • Speaker Highlight - The 3rd Annual Future Of Medicine – The Role Of Doctors In 2027

    “ Free at the Point of use – Medtech Meets Moore’s Law ” join us at our popular The 3rd Annual Future of Medicine – The Role of Doctors in 2027 to hear Dr Chris Elliott , speak.   We are used to carrying with us at all times a 20MP zoom camera, a satnav, a calendar and a compass. Oh, and it makes ‘phone calls as well. We didn’t go out to buy those things; they were bundled with the latest Smartphone. The next generation Smartphones will come equipped with medical-grade hardware and software to measure our vital signs and other diagnostics. These won’t be toys that measure (inaccurately) the inputs, like how many steps we’ve taken, or easy targets like pulse rate. They will be regulated medical devices that measure blood pressure, temperature, heart valve functions and blood constituents to…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Ever Wondered About Our Volunteers?

    Have you ever wondered about the volunteers who work behind the scenes putting our programme of activities together?    The current exec team comprises 11 members from diverse backgrounds, both industry and academia, and together with staff they work extremely hard coming up with ideas for our activity programme and answering myriad queries. So, I thought it would be interesting to showcase our volunteers directly  and first up is Simon Hart our Chairman: Dr Simon Hart , Chair of the Control & Automation TPN, is passionate about creating networks where engineers can discuss, learn and drive technology forward.  He is a former IET Trustee and is also currently the Chair and a Trustee of IET Connect, the IET benevolent fund.  Based in  mid-Wales, Oxfordshire and London he enjoys organising events…

  • Cambridge Science Festival

    The IET Cambridge Network manned a stand at the Science Festival in the Guildhall over the weekend of 18 and 19 March.  With a model train system powered by a hand cranked generator, torches to build and displays to examine, children of all ages were able to get hands-on immersed in aspects of engineering.  Judging by the number attending the stand, it was a great success and hopefully sparked some to take up Engineering in the future.  Many thanks to the Cambridge Diamond Scholars and Network Members that attended and fielded the many questions.

    David Blake
    David Blake

  • Speaker Highlight - The 3rd Annual Future Of Medicine – The Role Of Doctors In 2027

    We are pleased to announce Professor David Newby, will be speaking in the first half of the day at The 3rd Annual Future of Medicine – The Role of Doctors in 2027 . Professor David Newby graduated from the University of Southampton with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Medicine degree in 1991. He has worked in Edinburgh for over 20 years and obtained Doctorates in Medicine, Philosophy and Science. Professor Newby is British Heart Foundation John Wheatley Chair of Cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, Director of Research and Development for NHS Lothian, Director of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, Director of the Clinical Research Imaging Centre, and a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He is the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Senior…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET Present Around The World (PATW) Competition

    Competition at Essex University on 16th May, UEA on 17th May

    Alex Barrett
    Alex Barrett

  • Speaker Highlight - The 3rd Annual Future Of Medicine – The Role Of Doctors In 2027

    Wearable technology is increasingly positioning itself in the role of a 24/7 health monitor, with AI in the cloud taking over the role of the traditional GP.  Nick Hunn, WiFore Consulting , will be at The 3rd Annual Future Of Medicine – The Role Of Doctors In 2027 speaking on “Wear me – I’m a Doctor” This talk looks at whether this desire to help our health is well founded and considers whether technology for technology’s sake may have positive or negative implication on the way we live our lives. Nick Hunn is the founder and CTO of WiFore Consulting. For the past twenty years he has been closely involved with short range wireless and communications, designing technology that helps to bring mobility to products, particularly in the areas of telematics, M2M, smart energy, wearables and mobile…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS: Systems Engineering

    Our systems engineering courses provide both practical and tangible skills that can be used day-to-day in the design of engineering systems. We offer two different courses focusing around Systems Engineering; ‘Mastering Requirements using MBSE’ and ‘A Model Based Approach to Systems Engineering’. These courses are both based around the IET book ‘ SysML for Systems Engineering: A model-based approach ’, with a copy of the book being given to delegates who attend the courses. In addition to this, the authors of the book, Jon Holt and Simon Perry, are also the trainers for this course, meaning you will receive high quality training from the experts in the field. Below gives a brief outline of the two different courses that we offer at the IET in terms of Systems Engineering:   Mastering Requirements…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Vulcan Bomber Update

    Now that the Vulcan Bomber is in storage along with the Canberra and Swift aircraft at Doncaster Sheffield airport until such time as a new hangar is built to house the aircraft, I thought I'd share this video with community members.  Hopefully if developments go to plan it could be the end of the year when the new hangar is ready.   See here for more details on the current status.  If you've not yet had a chance to catch up with the presentations from our 'Addressing Ageing Aircraft Sustainment Issues' seminar, then click here.

    Deborah-Claire McKenzie
    Deborah-Claire McKenzie

  • Present Around The World Manchester Heat 2017

    Present Around the World Manchester Heat 2017 took place in Manchester Metropolitan University on the 15th March. Six presenters presented a range of engineering disciplines, and all were of very high standard. All scores were very close and unfortunately we could only have one winner! Congratulations to our winner, Paul Gavin, who will represent the Manchester Network to compete in the next heat, the Northern Area Final, at UCLan Preston in June, he will also receive his certificate and prize at our North West Excellence Awards 2017 dinner on the 31st March. Also congratulations to our runner up, Christian Bridge. Final thanks to all presenters and audience, and judges in no particular order Eddie Welch, Andrew Tickle and Lisa Simmons, without you all the event wouldn't have been so successful…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Speaker Highlight - The 3rd Annual Future Of Medicine – The Role Of Doctors In 2027

    Dr Ali Parsa will be kicking off the second half of the day at the next 3rd Annual Future of Medicine – The Role of Doctors in 2027  event.  Ali is an engineer and healthcare entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of babylon.  Babylon is the UK’s leading digital healthcare service. Its purpose is to democratise healthcare by putting an accessible and affordable health service into the hands of every person on earth. In order to achieve this the company is bringing together one of the largest teams of scientists, clinicians, mathematicians and engineers to focus on combining the ever-growing computing power of machines with the best medical expertise of humans to create a comprehensive, immediate and personalised health service and make it universally available.   Founded in January 2013 and…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Mmwave and Thz - 2 weeks to go

    In two weeks we’ll be heading to Glasgow University for the IET Colloquium on Millimetre-wave and Terahertz Engineering & Technology 2017 event. This is a joint event between the Antennas & Propagation, RF and Microwave and Electromagnetics TPN’s. The event is a chance to hear from researchers presenting the latest research on the areas of millimetre-wave and terahertz engineering and technology.   We have a full programme and poster session planned for the day including presentations from our invited speakers, Dr Sherif Sayed Ahmed and Dr. Khaled Elgaid , University of Glasgow, UK.   Are you registered? If not, go to the registration page and book your FREE place. There aren’t many places left, so book quickly!   See you in Glasgow!

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

Community Rules & Guidelines