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.

  • Surrey Satro Scores With Schools Once Again

    A student receives the IET award from Martin Butterworth of the Surrey LN The 2013 Surrey Science Fair , organised by Surrey Satro and sponsored by local business and industry partners including the IET, was again a big success with attending students from primary age through to sixth form. This year's fair was held at the Brooklands Motor Museum in Weybridge and presented a wide range of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) based real-world jobs and careers using practical experiments and games to highlight that technology is fund and exciting as well as puzzling. The IET stand saw the return of the make-your-own LED torch kit, which proved popular with all ages. Specific experiments to demonstrate the basic principles of conductors and insulators which although simple also…

    Mike Prewett
    Mike Prewett

  • Confidence - A Sustainable requirement for Women Leaders in Engineering Career

    I volunteered to write up my first blog on the IET Women's Network on the topic of the confidence a women needs to sustain in a male dominated engineering society. I believe confidence in one's abilities to present engineering ideas play a very important role in succeeding as an engineer. It's imperative while we work with majority of males around. It is perceived that majority of females divert to other careers due to lack of confidence in their engineering concepts. I could recall that out of nearly 16 female students in my undergraduates class, hardly 5-6 took engineering as a profession, and only one (myself) went to do a masters and then a Phd. The sustainability of female engineers in engineering careers is under question and it is quite obvious from the fact that we have very few engineering…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Presentation Skills - Who Needs Them?

    Many of us are asked to deliver presentations at work. Some people find this easy to do and enjoy the experience whilst others can feel a bit daunted by the prospect. If you are new to presenting or it has been a while since you last stood up in front of a group to speak, then you might find my top tips for presenting a helpful aid to get you started. Know your subject This will boost your confidence when presenting. Research your topic thoroughly and make sure your facts are accurate. You will be less reliant on your notes and better prepared to answer questions. Know your audience Understanding your audience is vital to writing and delivering a successful presentation. Pitch your presentation at the right level to keep your audience engaged. Structure your content Presentations flow well…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Welcome to the IET Professional Development blog

    Here the IET’s Professional Development staff team capture practical and informative tips to help you make the most of your professional development for a long and successful career in engineering and technology. IET Professional Development on MyCommunity is our online home. A place to share information and resources that we hope will inform and inspire you to invest the time and effort that your professional development deserves. Only you can truly drive your professional development, but there are many people and resources that can help make it really work for you. This blog will feature everything from starting out in your career, finding a suitable mentor and working towards professional registration to continuing your professional development beyond registration and into retirement. And…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Change what you can, accept what you can’t… or influence?

    Following on from our last blog on unconscious bias , many women (not just engineers) have emailed us asking for advice. If we can’t control the unconscious bias that we face in the recruitment process or even in the daily workplace, what do we do? Do we just work harder, change our attitudes and behaviours to ensure that we get noticed, or just accept what we can’t change? A lot of popular self help books focus on the mantra “change what you can, accept what you can’t”. When your career is at stake, I would suggest that is pretty bad advice! Instead: Pre-empt the bias that you face, anticipate it, address it openly without aggression! There are many instances in the recruitment process and beyond in the workplace where people will be making assumptions about you based on your gender.You can…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Bloggers Needed!

    Hello, We would be grateful if we could have some bi-weekly bloggers, here on the Women's Network My Community page. If you are interested then please e-mail me at womensnetwork@theiet.org . The content must be relevent to the subject of women in engineering and technology. This is a great way for My Community members globally, to share what's on their mind and spark some interesting thoughts and ideas. You can e-mail the blog content to me and I will post it on the blog area of the page. There will also be the option for comments to be left, underneath each blog! Thank you, Jo

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET Vision & Imaging Network Best Paper Prize 2013*

    The IET Vision and Imaging Network will make awards to the best PhD and MSc projects nominated by a University Department for the excellence of work in vision and imaging technologies. MSc Prize - £100, PhD Prize - £400 For more information please download the flyer. 2013 V&I Prize flyer * Sponsored by UniEntry.org

    Lisa Miles
    Lisa Miles

  • IET Connect

    IET Connect is dedicated to helping past and present members of the Institution of Engineering and Technology* and their dependants in times of need. With the IET's Worldwide membership standing at over 154,000 individuals in 125 countries the needs of members are diverse. We offer information and advice, help towards the costs of care, carers' needs and disability, redundancy and employment support and financial assistance for a wide range of purposes. All support is tailored to help meet individual needs. *We also help former members of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. This is a great service that can be tailored to the individual! IET Connect are also on My Community. Why not join them to keep updated on the latest activity or visit the website .

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Future events in Switzerland

    We are looking at the following possibe events in the next 12 months or so: Horizon scanning in November Visit to a brewery - probably near Berne, together with an "open" committee meeting - second half of September Gotthard tunnel - probably visit the southern part - Ceneri, with social event in Locarno the next day - early October? Desert solar power generation Fusion Resarch Snow and avalanche research - Davos - June or August 2014 - with social event next day Please give your comments on these and other ideas you might have!

    Paul Hulbert
    Paul Hulbert

  • Resources

    Safety Resources Many areas of the IET have an involvement in safety-related work.  Here is a summary of some of the safety-related resources available online from the IET. IET.tv Video Presentations: SIL Determination Seminar 2014 - London, 11 Dec 2014 9th International System Safety and Cyber Security Conference - Manchester, 14-16 Oct 2014 8th International Confrence on System Safety, incorporating the Cyber Security Conference  - Cardiff, 15-17 Oct 2013 21st Safety-critical Systems Symposium - Bristol, 5-7 Feb 2013 How To Stop Data Causing Harm  - Safety Critical Systems Club seminar, London, 4 Dec 2012 7th International Conference on System Safety, incorporating the Cyber Security Conference  - Edinburgh, 15-18 Oct 2012 SIL Determination Seminar 2008 - 5 Dec 2008 Factfiles: EMC and Functional…

    James Inge
    James Inge

  • Post ARSR / SWICOM thoughts

    The Second Joint International Workshop on Applied Radio Systems Research and Smart Wireless Communications (ARSR/SWICOM 2013) co-organised by University of Bedfordshire and University of Manchester, took place at the University of Bedfordshire, Luton, UK. The objective of the workshop is to bring together early stage researchers and engineers from both academia and industry who contribute to the on-going trends and advances in applied radio systems and smart wireless communications research, such as cognitive radio, software defined radio, smart antennas, wireless sensor networks, etc. I attended the conference on behalf of the IET’s Antennas & Propagation Technical & Professional Network, and was impressed by the standard of the papers and posters presented. From a non-technical perspective…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Women in STEM: it's time to take ownership of being female

    Why do women feel they must abandon their female identity in order to work in science, technology, engineering or maths? Is this staement correct?

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Australia's Future Energy With Nigel Fine

    IET Victoria was delighted to have Nigel Fine (Chief Executive and Secretary of the IET) deliver an opening address to its members at a seminar on the perceived effects of the recently introduced Carbon Tax on the generation of energy in Australia. The seminar consisted of a panel of representatives from various stakeholder organisations in the energy industry, each delivering their interpretation of the likely effects of the Carbon Tax on their respective methods of energy generation. This was followed by an open Question and Answer session with the attendees, with the late Robert Jones acting as the Master of Ceremonies for the event. The seminar took place on October 15, 2012 at the Kaleide Theatre at the City Campus of RMIT University in the Melbourne CBD. The Master of Ceremonies for the…

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • Bristol Present Around the World Results

    The Bristol heat of the IET Present Around the World competition took place on the 15th of May - There were 7 very interesting and very well prepared presentations. There was a great diverstity of topics, ranging from the very technical, such as the use of fuel cells in aerospace, to more social with the role of women in engineering. The winner was Faraz Khan who took us on a journey into Interstellar Flights - his presentation " Propulsion Methods for Interstellar Flight " analysed all the possible methods (Nuclear pulse propulsion, Fusion rockets, Antimatter propulsion, Beamed propulsion) and quantified in detail that Intestellar flights is a possibility of the near fututre! The runner-up was Adam Hill who presented " Thermal Imaging Camera use of next generation maintenace of Aerospace Hydrogen…

    James Inge
    James Inge

  • Vale Dr Robert Jones

    IET Victoria was saddened to learn recently of the passing of one of its committee members - Dr Robert Jones. Robert was an enthusiastic member on the IET Victoria committee and was instrumental in the execution of IET Victoria's seminar on "Australia's Future Energy" when Nigel Fine (IET CES) visited in October 2012. He acted as the Master of Ceremonies on the night, and also assisted in forming the panel of guest speakers. The IET Victoria committee is grateful for his injection of ideas and determination to disseminate engineering truths to the wider public, and offers its condolences to the family and friends of Dr Robert Jones.

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • IET Local Network Prize - 2013 - RMIT University

    Anthony Leigh Lyngcoln, who completed a four year Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) degree with first class honours in 2012, was this year's recipient of the IET Local Network Prize at RMIT. Two representatives from the IET Victoria Young Professionals Section recently attended the RMIT University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Student Awards Ceremony to present the IET Local Network Prize for 2013. Rowan Pattieson (Chairperson) presented the award on behalf of IET Victoria, and Sam Joy (Vice-Chairperson) was also in attendance to network with other industry donors, other award winners and their friends and family present on the night. The ceremony was held on 9 April 2013 in the Storey Hall 'Green Brain' , to recognise the academic and leadership achievements…

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • Robogals Industry Gala 2012

    The inaugural Robogals Industry Gala Night was held at the York Butter Factory from 7pm to 10pm on 23 November 2012. The formal cocktail event, organized by the Melbourne Chapter, was an opportunity to thank their sponsors and volunteers, and recognize their efforts and achievements during the course of the year. Being one of the sponsors, IET Victoria was invited to the event and was ably represented by Laval Yu, Michelle Zhao and Sam Joy on the night. The event started off with an informal session where the attendees were allowed to mingle with each other, followed by a more formal Welcome presentation by the Robogals committee. Nicole Brown (Robogals Melbourne) spoke about the purpose of the organization and how it has grown since its inception. The volunteers in the organization aim to…

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • Draft Guidance on EMC and Functional Safety

    The IET working group on EMC for Functional Safety has drafted some practical guidance to complement the EMC for Functional Safety Book and IEC 61000-1-2. The approach taken is to suggest techniques and measures that will improve the operational resilience of a safety system to EMI, similar to the approach taken in IEC 61508 to deal with other systematic faults and failures. In fact, many of the techniques and measures are drawn from those in IEC 61508, but presented in terms of their usefulness in mitigating the effects of EMI. The first draft intended for public comment is available in the IET Safety Community files area at https://communities.theiet.org/communities/files/47/2613 (you need to be logged in as a member of the community to access this URL - registration is free). The working…

    James Inge
    James Inge

  • IgnIET : Kick-start 2013 With The IET!

    The IET Victoria YPS organised its 2013 launch and volunteer recruitment event for university students on the 21st March 2013 at RMIT. The evening started with a presentation by Rowan, the YPS chairperson, about the IET and the benefits of joining. He answered the 6 W's questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How about the organisation. It was followed by other volunteers from the committee about their own experience and gains through volunteering and involvement with the IET such as the PATW competition, the Toyota Site Visit and Network 2011. The final part of the schedule included a list of potential events that can be run this year and in the future that the attendees can be involved with and start volunteering. After the presentation, the participants were given the opportunity to interact…

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • A mighty maze of mystic magic rays…

    “I’m such a geek…” I hear myself saying it quite a lot but I really am.. I was lucky enough to be invited to a special behind the scenes tour (or a ‘behind the, behind the scenes tour ) of the new BBC Broadcasting House last week, and while some of my fellow attendees were in awe of the various celebrity newscasters and weathergirls that could be seen around the building, the highlight of the visit for me was being shown the rack of hard disks containing the music collection for the BBC’s radio stations… GkF (Geek Factor) of 3 methinks? Sooo… the conversation when I got back went a little like this: “So did you see Huw Edwards?” “Umm… nope. But I saw inside some of the sound studios! Went down to the basement to look at all the communications equipment sending audio and tv signals all over…

    Lisa Miles
    Lisa Miles

  • Victorian PATW winner creating 'sound bubbles'

    Kyle Slater, past PATW winner and IET Victoria volunteer, was recently featured in The Melbourne Magazine in an article titled "City of Ideas" , to discuss a current side project of his, involving the formation of "sound bubbles" . You can read the full article on The Age's website . Kyle won the 2010 IET Victoria Present Around The World competition with his "soundBeam" invention (a device that transmits highly-directional sound waves on ultrasonic carriers) and went on to win the Australian and overall international competition at the IET's home in London. He is currently studying for a PhD in epilepsy research, as well as working on the Bionic Eye project with the Bionics Institute .

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • Photos From Asia-Pacific Community Volunteers Conference

    Michael Russell and Sam Joy recently attended the first annual Asia-Pacific Community Volunteers Conference in Hong Kong on November 10 and 11, 2012. Their contributions as active volunteers in the IET Victoria and YPS committees in 2012 were rewarded with nominations to represent Victoria at the event, including an all-expenses paid flight and accommodation package to Hong Kong. The conference is an opportunity for volunteers all over the Asia-Pacific region to get together, meet each other and share experiences, as well as to get the latest updates about the new initiatives being introduced in the IET for the benefit of its members. Check out the photostreams on Flickr below... looks like a great time was had by all (including a lot of hands in the air and holding hands ) Asia Pacific Volunteers…

    Rowan P
    Rowan P

  • Volunteers Required for @Bristol Live Labs

    The IET are currently helping to fund a project with @Bristol to develop engineering challenge activities for schools. These will take place in 'Live Lab', @Bristol's practical science space. Volunteers are now needed to piloting these challenges over National Science and Engineering Week, 18-22nd March.@Bristol are looking for engineer 'experts' to support the activities, working alongside the At-Bristol team. Activities will run on each day of the week, from 10:00-14:30ish. They aim to run sessions on the hour and half hour, from 10:00-14:30, with a max of 20 students in each, c200 students a day The activities will be aimed at KS2 (Junior School) students, poss some for KS3. They are based around the theme of flight and there are three different sessions that will look at plane design, the…

    James Inge
    James Inge

  • How to Stop Data Causing Harm

    This Safety Critical Systems Club seminar, held on 4 Dec 2012 in London, aimed to address the safety issues concerned with data-driven systems. Presentations from the day are now available for viewing on iet.tv . The seminar has led to a follow-on series of workshops. For more information, see the SCSC website . Read on to see the list of video presentations available. Speaker Title Alastair Faulkner, Abbeymeade Limited Introduction – Standards and Industrial Practice Paul Ensor, UK Hydrographic Office The Safety of Data and Information Systems Alan Simpson, Ebeni Aeronautical Information – How confident are we it’s correct? Ian Bingham, Logica (now part of CGI) Safety Data in National Infrastructure Projects Mark Nicholson, University of York Topics in Dataware Safety Mike Ainsworth, Altran…

    James Inge
    James Inge

Community Rules & Guidelines