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Wales GB Rally 2015

At the recent, 2015, Wales GB Rally the IET Wales North Local Network had a stand giving away leaflets to students. Around two hundred visited our stand over two days and of particular interest were the IET torches which the students were able to make themselves. The event was also attendede by the IMechE, Bangor University, Glyndwr University, Coleg Cambria and other local busnesses. The event was held next to the Toyota Engine factory in Deeside which was visited by groups of students. The picture shows part of our IET stand.

David S Crawford
Introducing....Present Around The World

The IET's Present Around The World is a global competition for Young Professionals and Students within engineering to develop and showcase their presentation skills. Its the Global Final on 18 November and five contestants from the around the world will be competing to win £1000. But what exactly is Present Around The World? Let this film take you through the entire journey from local heat to Global Final with last year's winner - Sudeshna Saha: And if you still need to know more take a look at the infographic below that summarises the competition.(Click on the image to make it larger): If you want to know whether there is a heat near you then go to the PATW website or email patw@theiet.org

Former Community Member in students
FameLab UK is back - Aberdeen Heats

FameLab is a science communication competition which challenges competitors to explain a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) concept given only 3 minutes. Those chosen to go through from the Aberdeen heats will go on to the Scottish regional final in Edinburgh. The winner of the regional final is awarded a place at FameLab’s sci comm masterclass and also goes through to the UK final. We are looking for people passionate about STEM to come along and compete in the Aberdeen heats for a chance to go forward to the Scottish final*. You’ll have three minutes and only what you can carry with you to explain a STEM concept. Those successful at the Scottish final will go through to the UK final and be given a special Masterclass training trip. We will be providing free training to help…

Lynsay Callaghan
Raspberry Jam!

Earlier this autumn the North Yorkshire Network hosted its inaugural Raspberry Jam- an opportunity to learn more about what can be done with the Raspberry Pi. Attendees were able to see the Pi in action controlling robot arms, creating music, taking images and video and transmitting then receiving radio. Watch out for a recurring Raspberry Jam event starting in the new year- for more details email drozday@theiet.org .

Daniel Rozday
Functional Safety Made Easy

Recently North Wales members and non members attended a lecture delivered by Safety Consulant, Ron Pierce who shared his knowledge and experience of safety issue and how to risk assess activities using the HSE guidelines. This followed by a prctical example of aircraft safety and air traffic control. The lecture proved to be very popular with a number of our delegates making extensive notes. The presentation can be found here . (The buffet provided by Optic Glyndwr was also most acceptable!)

David S Crawford
Recent Advances in Sensor Technologies for Mobile Healthcare

Emeritus Professor Chris Lowe, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology http://www.ceb.cam.ac.uk/directory/chris-lowe will give a talk at CUED on 8 December at 1830 hrs will give a talk on Recent Advances in Sensor Technologies for Mobile Healthcare. To book your seat at the event please go to: http://nearyou.imeche.org/near-you/UK/Eastern/biomedical-engineering-association-cambridge-centre/Event-Detail?id=11279

David Blake
Repairing offshore wind turbine blades

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, Cambridge, CB2 0SZ Monday 23 November Wind turbines blades become damaged in service, due to leading edge erosion, lightning strikes, contamination and fatigue. If left, this may progress to cause aerodynamic losses that reduce power output and can ultimately lead to structural failure. There are proven ways to repair blade damage on onshore turbines, but, until last year, no one had successfully repaired offshore blades in situ using these methods. Rotos 360 Ltd , in a project supported by Innovate UK, demonstrated that a suspended access platform can be deployed from the deck of a service vessel. Combined with rapid UV cure resin systems and other innovations such as 24-hour working, and using a walk-to-work Offshore Support Accommodation vessel, they have been…

David Blake
Who will be the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year for 2015?

Would like a sneak-peak at the finalists for this year's YWE ceremony? Then watch our video to find out who is in the running to win! http://bit.ly/1MGmwXY

Former Community Member
Hot Topic Videos

The Healthcare Technologies TPN is producing a series of hot topic videos. Short videos asking industry experts for their insights on specific areas of healthcare technologies. Our first hot topic video asks 'How is Big Data being used in medicine?'. What are your thoughts? Join the discussion online .

Gemma Hadley
Cisco on Security for the Internet of Things

Join us for a talk by Cisco on Security for the Internet of Things. 24th November in High Wycombe. See below to book your place.

Andrew Dodd
Visit to CCFE Culham

Fascinating visit to CCFE Culham on Saturday 7th November. We hope to arrange another visit in Spring 2016.

Andrew Dodd
IET 2015 President's Address - Naomi Climer

For those of you that did not get an opportunity to attend last night's IET President's Address; here it is! Naomi Climer did a fantastic job at presenting and shared a wealth of information and knowledge.

Former Community Member
Retired Members Section - Continuing With Engineering And Life After Retirement

The retired members section of the Northumbria Local Network meets monthly for technical and social events; partners are welcome and membership is only £5 pa Events are usually held on the mid Wednesday of each month and are preceded with a buffet lunch at noon. Proceedings close about 3pm. All are welcome, retired or not to our wide ranging lectures and visits. For further details please contact the secretary, Robin Brooks ( robin_brooks99@hotmail.com ) Details of forthcoming events: Wednesday 17th February: Talk on the growth of grid systems in the north east in the 30’s at Westerhope. Dr Malcolm Kennedy Wednesday 16th March: Talk on “Sleep” at Westerhope. Jason Ellis Wednesday 20th April: Talk by Whitley Bay Photographic Soc at Westerhope Wednesday 18th May: Talk by Sue Hart on Textiles…

Former Community Member
Event At Cammell Laird 9th December 15

How Green is My Shipping? - Making shipping more efficient and enviromentally friendly We have a great lecture on the evening of Wednesday 9th December when Andy Male BSc (Hons) CEng MIET, Technical Manager at Cammell Laird will describe how ship owners and operators need to increase the efficiency of their ships whilst meeting environmental legislation and the technologies being looked at to achieve it . For more information and on-line registration click the link How green is my shipping?

Rob McDonald
Call To Action - New Schools Liaison Officer Needed!

The Schools Liaison Officer’s Role I was asked to become the Schools Liaison Officer for the IET’s Manchester Network area when I retired from full time work in 2006. I think this was because I had been involved with developing links between my Company United Utilities and local schools to try to encourage more young people to consider careers in Engineering. After 10 years in the SLO role I am now ready to step aside, and let someone new have ago at a role which I have thoroughly enjoyed and which has provided me with great satisfaction. When I asked the two IET Committee members who approached me to take on the role, what it involved? they said that since there had never been an SLO in the Manchester patch it was up to me what I did. Fortunately I received a lot of support when I took up…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
IET First Lego League - Volunteers needed!

Want to help inspire the next generation of Engineers and Technicians? We are looking for some local members to step up and help teams entering this year's First Lego League. The competition is organised in the UK with the support of the IET. It tests the teams in the following areas: 1. Robot Game Teams build a robot using a LEGO kit that they program to autonomously complete a series of missions on a specialised field and to score as many points as possible. 2. Project Through the project, teams learn more about the science and engineering behind the challenge theme. 3. Core Values While competing, the teams have to demonstrate core values including professionalism, cooperation, encouraging high quality work, kindness, respect and learning. More details can be found here . We're looking for…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
IET SIL Workshop And Seminar 2015

The IET SIL Workshop and Seminar 2015 Achievement and maintenance of Safety Integrity Levels. Practical solutions and emerging issues 9-10 December 2015, 15 Hatfields, London, UK www.theiet.org/sil IET SIL Workshop and Seminar event returns for its 10th edition to showcase good practice of IEC 61508, IEC 61511 and other standards covering safety-related systems. The event will bring together functional safety experts and practitioners to give you confidence in improving the performance of safety-related systems in your organization. Chaired by Ron Bell, recognized for his work on functional safety, and IEC 61508 development and revision.

Lynsay Callaghan
IET Tribology Tour 2015-16 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 four 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
Technical Talk on “Internet Of Things (IOT) - 17 October 2015

By: Dr Usman Sarwar (Software Validation Architect, Intel) and Ir Dr Rosdiadee Nordin (Senior Lecturer,UKM) Organised by IET Control & Automation TPN & IET Malaysia Network Venue: Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya. The Internet of Things (IoT) is an environment in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. The two talks for this day addressed some of the more important aspects of this developing new technology. First speaker, Dr Usman Sarwar presented his technical talk focusing on Internet of Things Architecture: Elements of Connectivity Technologies. The talk described the paradigm of Internet of things technology which is only possible by integrating vital…

Joanne Longton
Prestwick Spaceport

Spaceport Prestwick A busy turnout for the IET Scotland ‘Spaceport Prestwick’ talk in Glasgow on 29th October 2015. Around 90 attendees, including the delegates from the Space Robotics Symposium organised by Strathclyde Space Institute and SMeSTech, came along to hear Prestwick Spaceport Director Stuart McIntyre speak on the proposals and why Prestwick was the best option for the UK Spaceport programme. The talk focused on the existing facilities, the meteorology of the surrounding area, the clean air microclimate, NATS Northern Control base already situated in Prestwick, tourism in the surrounding area, transport links and the technology that is already being looked at for any Spaceport. Space travel is opening up on a commercial basis , various companies are developing new designs of spacecraft…

Lynsay Callaghan
Condition Monitoring - 25 November event in Glasgow

We have some top speakers for the Condition Monitoring Event taking place at the Teacher Building on 25 November. Register and come along to hear: Professor Brian Stewart BSc(Hons), PhD, BD, CEng, MIET, MIEEE - Associate Dean of Research, School of Engineering and Built Environment at Glasgow Caledonian University Alan Nesbitt BSc (Hons), MSc, CEng, MIET - Assistant Head of Department, School of Engineering and Built Environment at Glasgow Caledonian Univeristy

Lynsay Callaghan
DeepMind's Demis Hassibis RTS/IET Talk

This was a fascinating talk last night at the British Museum by Demis Hassabis about DeepMind's (now part of Google) research into AI and in particular machine learning, as well as aspects of neuroscience. This included some pretty good evidence that rats dream and imagine the future. More information can be found on the RTS website https://rts.org.uk/article/deepminds-demis-hassabis-future-intelligent-machines and a recording of the event should be available online soon. This was a joint RTS/IET event, the first of these was held last year.

Graham Turner
Coming To A Race Track Near You?

Just spotted this video on the BBC website in relation to a Yamaha robot that can ride high-speed racing motorcycles. The intention is to use it in motorcycle races, but Professor Noel Sharkey is quoted in the video suggesting it has potential as a motorcycle courier as well.

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
Winner - Control PhD Award 2015

Jonathan Carlos Mayo-Maldonado received the B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico de Ciudad Madero, Mexico, in 2008 and 2010 respectively. He received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Southampton in 2015, under the supervision of Dr. Paolo Rapisarda. He is currently an Associate Professor at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico. His research interests include switched systems, behavioural systems theory and power electronics. He has worked on the development of a new framework to study switched systems. This framework is strongly based on the physical observation of real-life systems with switching dynamics. The proposed setting is rich and flexible in the algorithms that can be used, since it permits…

Joanne Longton

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