IET EngX® Community Insights

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Professional Development Resources

Career Manager The online professional development planning and recording tool for IET members including IPD, Professional Registration and CPD recording. View more CPD Find out about the IET’s Policy and guidance for CPD View more Mentoring Apply for an IET mentor, or, apply to become a volunteer mentor. View more Training Lifeskills workshops run throughout local networks and a range of professional skills training courses including e-classes, webinars and face to face training. View more

Kathryn Bain
Business Contracts: Alternative Railway Signalling Systems

How do you keep trains moving when existing signal systems fail? £4 million in contract funding is available to help find a solution. The COMPASS competition is looking for innovative solutions to keep trains moving when existing signal systems fail. If your business has an idea that you think could keep rail traffic on the move, you could win a contract to do a feasibility study, develop a prototype and demonstrate it to industry experts. See here for further details on this competition which is being run by Network Rail.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Visit to Baldock radio station

Living just a few miles away and regularly driving past, I have often wondered what went on inside the Baldock Radio Station, so when the IET MMC group were invited to visit the station I was delighted at the chance of satisfying my curiosity. Following welcoming refreshments the visit started with short presentations of some of the work undertaken by members of the Station team. It was explained that on receiving complaints of interference, the station can deploy remote monitoring systems placed around the UK together with measuring vehicles if necessary, to track the interference source. Several techniques are used to indentify the interference location, Time Delay of Arrival (TDOA) and Angle of Arrival (AOA) Remote monitoring capabilities can also be utilised to check frequency occupancy…

Former Community Member
EPSRC Centre for Power Electronics 2015 Funding Calls

Please find attached the details and application forms for three new calls from the EPSRC Centre for Power Electronics: 2 nd call for short term and feasibility projects Funding of up to £90k fEC for short-term projects (max 12 months) in strategically important areas that are not currently part of the Centre’s portfolio. 1 st call for early career researchers Funding of up to £60k fEC for short-term (max 12 months) projects that allow early-career researchers to develop independent research aligned with the Centre’s research. 2 nd call for cross-theme projects Funding of up to £750k fEC for cross-theme projects (max 24 months) that address research challenges in one or more of the Centre’s Cross-Theme Topics. This call is open to researchers at eligible institutions who are in receipt of funding…

Bill Drury
Telescopic lens for superhero sight to help vision loss sufferers

A telescopic contact lens capable of magnifying the image of the surrounding world could give sight back to those affected by age-related vision degeneration. Developed as part of a project funded by the US defence agency Darpa, the telescopic contact lens consists of two separate layers – one for seeing the world as it is, the other allowing the wearer to zoom in up to three times. To switch between the two vision modes is simple – just blinking with one eye while wearing special glasses. "We think these lenses hold a lot of promise for low vision and age-related macular degeneration (AMD),” said Eric Tremblay, from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne in Switzerland, who led the Darpa-funded research. Read the full E&T article online .

Gemma Hadley
Game Theory, Out Of Towners & The Magna Carter.

Green is good, or some perceptions like to replace the ‘n’ with a ‘d’ which can only be regulated as an oversight. You can charge your town car using electrics, drive to collect your kids and the same car tells you to go via the back route and collect your laundry because it’s just been marked as ‘ready for collection’ and calculates the new transit you need to make – or maybe the driverless car will do it all for you while you control it from your hand held and mow the lawn instead. Its how the car handles the content is its attraction to you. You are a busy person, kids, life, work, hobbies - but satisfaction is becoming technology driven. Almost impulsive but followed at face value. So with the craze about consumer technology, are we ready for more satisfaction? Clearly, technology gives…

Rimesh Patel
Sacred Cows – Revisiting Fundamental Safety Principles

The Railway TPN are joining together with the other Transport Networks and the Safety Network to organise an evening seminar with a Safety theme in London on Tuesday, 12 May 2015. The event to be chaired by Peter Sheppard, IET Transport Sector Chairman will consist of a keynote speech from Professor John McDermid, followed by three presentations from Simon Brown, NATS from an Aerospace perspective, Phil Blythe, University of Newcastle covering the Automotive & Road Transport view and finally Daniel Woodland, Lloyds Register Rail Ltd. Further details of this event will be uploaded to the events calendar very soon so please keep a look out on the Community page and future email newsletters.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Great Debate Series

The Great Debates have been held annually since 2005 in the Thames Valley, organised initially by the Institution of Mechanical Enginners in 2005, then jointly by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET), the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), and the British Computer Society (BCS). Topics covered have included: * Metals (2005) * Energy (2006, 2011, 2016) * Transport (2007, 2012, 2014) * Environment (2008, 2015) * Climate Change (2009) * Space Travel (2010) * Homes for the Future (2013) The speakers and their topics are listed below. Great Debate 2016: Can renewables meet our electricity needs? (14 March 2016) The fourth Great Debate to be held as part of Reading Science week at the University…

Julie
Wellington Committee 2015 - 16

Chairman Darren Baxter Treasurer Darren Lowe YP Chair Quinn Ho Secretary Vacant Committee member Peter Mc Cafferty Murray Milner Roger Brady Murray Milner Kyle Nicol David Owen

Former Community Member
Introducing Naomi Mitchison, 2014 IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year

Find out more about the latest winner of the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year award and what she hopes to achieve as an engineering ambassador.

Former Community Member
Securing Energy Resources

Thanks to @sarahaminB for this photo of John Loughead deliving the Securing Energy Resources lecture in London last night. Did you attend? What did you think? @IETCommunities Great lecture by Professor John Loughhead on innovation in securing energy sources. #IETPower pic.twitter.com/SYeH5WrsjS — sarah (@sarahaminB) February 11, 2015 Prof John Loughhead is about to begin his lecture on innovation in securing energy resou... http://t.co/iY0UoyKRVi pic.twitter.com/k4VUeLoVsh — IET London Network (@IETLondon) February 11, 2015

Former Community Member
Professional Development Case Studies

We asked a number of IET members about their career and professional development to help inform and inspire others. If you would like to share your story to feature as a case study, please email profdev@theiet.org Andrew Dodd Operations Manager I started as an Engineering Technician and moved through Incorporated Engineer and ultimately to Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the IET. Read more. David Parr Electronics Design Team Leader Engineering can be a very fulfilling career choice. You have an opportunity to improve, and make your mark on, society. Read more. Richard Briars Consultant I decided to become self-employed to both maintain or increase my income and do the project work that I enjoy. It's been tough at times, but the benefits have far outweighed the downsides. Read more. Sean…

Kathryn Bain
Manchester Air Show Returns In July 2015

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be doing a full display at the Manchester Airshow. Another reason to attend the return of the show this year. The 2015 show will be held on Sunday 5 July 2015 and there are plans to see a number of flying displays return to the skies above Manchester. The show will comprise of over 10 display acts and will last more than three hours. See here for further information and advanced tickets which will be available from Wednesday 11th February 2015.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Air Show Returns To Manchester In July 2015

Just heard that City Airport & Heliport is reviving the original Manchester Airshow which was last held at Barton Aerodrome in 1994. The 2015 show will be held on Sunday 5 July 2015 and there are plans to see a number of flying displays return to the skies above Manchester. The show will comprise of over 10 display acts and will last more than three hours. See here for further information and advanced tickets which will be available from Wednesday 11th February 2015.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
IET West Yorkshire Network Volunteer Awarded An MBE

Jeffrey Utley MBE GCGI IEng FIET one of the West Yorkshire Network volunteers has recently been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to engineering in Yorkshire. To mark the occasion we thought it might be a good idea to do a blog for the Network’s My Community page and try and find out what makes Jeff tick and what engineering means to him and what advice he’d give to young people coming into engineering. Tell us a little bit about yourself and background I am a Yorkshireman born and bred. I was born into a South Yorkshire mining community, son of a colliery blacksmith (engineering was obviously in the blood), but moved to West Yorkshire when about nine years old. Who or what inspired you to become an engineer/technologist? I progressed to The Salt Grammar School…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
The Professional Development Department

As a department, we offer a range of products and services designed to assist IET members and those supporting them (e.g. employers, line managers, mentors, etc.) with managing professional development for a successful and rewarding career. We are always on hand to help with any queries about professional development. Our products and services Initial Professional Development (IPD) The period of professional development when working towards Professional Registration (CEng, IEng, EngTech or ICTTech) is referred to as IPD. Register for our IPD service to receive support and information and guidance along the way. You can register for the service using IET Career Manager. View IET Initial Professional Development Continuing Professional Development (CPD) CPD is a professional obligation…

Kathryn Bain
Electric Motorcycle Racing and the Mighty Curtis Green Machine

Those of you with an interest in Electric Motorcycle racing, may have come across Matt Bagshawe and Brendan Rice, as in addition to both being members of the IET Railway Network committee, they are also the two principals of the ARC EV Engineering Ltd racing team. ARC EV are an engineering company near Derby, formed in 2009 specialising in electric vehicle design and build. As one of the customers of Curtis Instruments the global industry leader in motor speed control, battery measurement and related electric and hybrid vehicle system technology across all sectors, the team have been utilising an AC motor speed controller on their race winning bike. This was the bike ridden by Richie Welsh, that last year last year competed on the Isle of Man TT circuit and in the new MotoERacing European…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Engineering The Next Generation Of Prosthetic Limbs

Jonny Williamson discusses the design and manufacture of next generation lower limb prosthetics with the recently announced Royal Academy of Engineering research fellow, Dr Alex Dickinson. Events such as the Paralympics and the recent Invictus Games have offered a fantastic opportunity to raise society’s awareness of people living with disabilities, however for amputees, there remain a number of fundamental challenges that need to be solved in regards to the design and manufacture of the prosthetic limbs – human interface. That’s the viewpoint of University of Southampton’s Dr Alex Dickinson, who is working in Southampton’s Bioengineering Science Research Group to apply his past research and analysis of orthopaedic implants to external prosthetics. A prosthetic limb is produced from standard…

Gemma Hadley
Threats To Our Supply Chain - Material Scarcity And Its Implications For Aerospace And Other Sectors

Critical materials are often in the news these days, due to their scarcity, the political and environmental legislation issues that all seem to threaten their availability. The Aerospace Network recently organized an afternoon seminar to address this issue and in view of their use in the manufacture of components and equipment across many sectors, not just Aerospace, a number of expert speakers covered various viewpoints. During the seminar we filmed the speakers and you can click on the links below to view the presentations: We also filmed the following interview with Phil Cutcher, Chairman of the Aerospace Network Together with an engaging panel discussion: Feedback from the event was excellent, with comments about the quality and knowledge of the speakers, the excellent panel discussion…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
IET Trinidad & Tobago LN 2015 PATW Launch

As we have been awarded the honour of being the host country for the IET Present Around The World 2015 Americas Regional Finals, currently scheduled for July 2015, it was appropriate to have a launch event to kick-off this prestigious competition. The newly formed Young Professional Section was instrumental in planning and executing the lauch, with the aid and guidance of members of the LN executive, however, it was clear that our YPS team did an excellent job. The morning started out quiet amidst the preparations of setting up the new IET banners, arranging the IET marketing material and ensuring that there would be no technical issues when the event started. (Ahmad, David and Anarion prepare the presentations for the launch) (Display of IET branded marketing and informative material for…

Jason Robert Rameshwar
Running Out Of Energy?

Richard McMahon of the Cambridge University Engineering Department will talk about the future of the UK's Electricity Supply. What is driving the shift to electricity, how will the extra power be generated and what will be the environmental side effects? With news in the media of power outages on the horizon, this most timely of talks will start at 1830 hours at CUED on Thursday 19 March. Refreshments will be available from 1800 hrs.

David Blake
£500m Great Western to Heathrow rail link goes out to consultation

The new £500m rail link from the Great Western Main Line (GWML) at Slough to Heathrow Airport has moved a step closer to fruition as the plans go out to consultation. The proposed link includes a 5km tunnel from the GWML to Heathrow Terminal 5, enabling passengers throughout the west to travel to the airport from Reading via Slough, without the need to change at Paddington. This will mean faster, more convenient journeys for passengers, saving up to 30 minutes in journey time, as well as easing congestion on the main line. Shorter, more direct journeys to and from Heathrow will also provide a significant opportunity for businesses across the Thames Valley, M4 corridor, south west and South Wales, says Network Rail. With a combined economic output of over £100bn, the new link could enable these…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Satellite Services and Applications: A vital cornerstone of modern society

I've just come across some interesting facts about Sat Coms in an article on the ESA website which I thought I'd share: · Satcoms is the largest sector in the space business; half of all launches are for communication satellites. · Out of a total of 1200 satellites in orbit more than 50% were communications satellites. · Owing to the larger size and complexity of communications satellites their value represents more than 67% of the value of all satellites launched in 2012. To this should be added that 87% of Ariane launches in the last three years were satcoms. · Adding all stages in the satcom value chain an aggregate of around €100 billion/year was the worldwide sitcom value in 2013 and continues to grow. · The top four global satellite operators…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Autonomous Manufacturing - EPSRC invite Expressions of Interest

EPSRC would like to invite Expressions of Interest to bid into the call for research proposals in Autonomous Manufacturing. The aim of the call is to support research that addresses the research challenges that underpin autonomous manufacturing. Closing date for EOIs is 16th April. The expected outcome of this call is a diverse set of research projects that span manufacturing applications, processes, and value sectors, that exploit novel and adventurous research for the advancement of autonomous production technologies and systems in the factory environment. EPSRC are committing up to £10M for this call to support multidisciplinary research projects of up to five years with flexible funding that can be used for a mixture of multidisciplinary research projects, feasibility studies and networking…

Joanne Longton

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