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.

  • How Complex Can A System Be?

    How complex can a system be? "Very" is the answer! Consider the human body and trying to ensure its health. Wednesday 13th May, Professor Nicos Karcanias of City University gave London Central a fascinating lecture that tackled a much higher level of complexity than we are used to! And I believe his assertion that this was a "non-technical" skim over the subject! Of the 100 plus appreciative attendees, there were some who'd wanted more depth - that would have fried my brain... Who would have guessed that the Ancient Greeks were working on the same problems, defining terminology that has stood the test of time? Look up Kallicratides if you really want to confirm that... Systems come in all shapes and sizes: some harmonious and others less so. Think of a family household or of dance in a singing…

    David Tabor
    David Tabor

  • Sacred Cows - Event Review

    The Sacred Cows (or “Scared Cows” as the Royal Society of Medicine had it!) went very well on 12 May. The scene was set by Professor John McDermid who felt that nurturing these beasts was better than killing them although we may have to make some hard ethical decisions in the future. This was followed by two speakers from NATS (Simon Brown and Ignacio Mesa) who showed that the principle of Distance Based Separation for flights approaching Heathrow could be changed to Time Based Separation with an increase in capacity and no loss of safety (so the cows are still safe here!) Professor Phil Blythe then looked at the animal from the Automotive and Road Transport point of view and took the prize for the most bovine references and cow animations. He looked at many areas including Managed Motorways…

    Deborah-Claire McKenzie
    Deborah-Claire McKenzie

  • Nigeria PATW competition 2015

    The second Nigerian PATW took place on the 29th of April at the Plateau State University, Bokkos and was organised by local volunteer Jonathan Obiegba. The event was a huge success with 6 competitors presenting to a large audience of friends, family and colleagues to win a chance to compete in the next stage of the compeition in Abu Dhabi. We are pleased to announce that Adaji Jerry Utene won the day and will be heading to Abu Dhabi in July to compete for a place in the world final in London later in the year. Congratulations Adaji!

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • An Interview with Debbie Sterling of GoldiBlox

    Debbie Sterling; Engineer and Founder of GoldieBlox, an award-winning toy company on a mission to 'disrupt the pink aisle' with interactive construction toys and stories for girls, talks to the IET. Debbie covers a number of topics including her own route into engineering, the people that influenced her and how she went about creating an award-winning product, along with tips on how you can help the cause. Watch the video

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • 'Flying high and motoring on' content is now available to view online.

    PEMD's successful one day seminar brought together speakers with an interest in the underlying motor drive technology, taking inspiration from aerospace and automotive applications. “The result was an outstanding success – A sell out with over 100 attendees. The programme contained many highlights, and no notable lowlights!“ – Prof. Bill Drury, Chair of the PEMD TPN You can read more of Bill’s event review o nline . Our delegates commented that there was a ‘good spread of speakers which gave insight into many different aspects of the broad subject’ and that there 'should have been something of interest to everyone'. IET.tv were in attendance to capture some of the presentations from the day which are now available to watch via the IET.tv website. Fault tolerance of electrical machines - Barrie…

    Gemma Hadley
    Gemma Hadley

  • 'Flying high and motoring on' content is now available to view online.

    PEMD's successful one day seminar brought together speakers with an interest in the underlying motor drive technology, taking inspiration from aerospace and automotive applications. “The result was an outstanding success – A sell out with over 100 attendees. The programme contained many highlights, and no notable lowlights!“ – Prof. Bill Drury, Chair of the PEMD TPN You can read more of Bill’s event review o nline . Our delegates commented that there was a ‘good spread of speakers which gave insight into many different aspects of the broad subject’ and that there 'should have been something of interest to everyone'. IET.tv were in attendance to capture some of the presentations from the day which are now available to watch via the IET.tv website. Fault tolerance of electrical machines - Barrie…

  • The Future Of Medicine - Technology And The Role Of The Doctor In 2025

    [ View the story "The Future of Medicine - Technology and the role of the Doctor in 2025" on Storify ]

    Gemma Hadley
    Gemma Hadley

  • John Logie Baird Lecture: Next Generation Technology Affecting The Media Industry

    This year’s John Logie Baird Lecture focused on how television is evolving and exploring new technologies. There were two great speakers: Stella Medlicott, CMO, Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services and Andy Quested, Head of Technology, HD and UHD, BBC who gave very interesting talks followed by an engaging Q&A session. Please see the videos below: Stella Medlicott, CMO, Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services Andy Quested, Head of Technology, HD and UHD, BBC Q and A

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • New Rail Academy in Gateshead

    Newcastle College have officially opened their new £5m Rail Engineering academy, the first in the North East. This will be a regional hub for railway engineering training and development. The Academy will offer a Level 3 Diploma in rail engineering which will be suitable for all age groups and aims to develop engineering apprenticeships with a rail focus plus higer education qualifications tailored specifically to the needs of the industry. For further details on this article in teh Rail Technology magazine, please click here .

    Deborah-Claire McKenzie
    Deborah-Claire McKenzie

  • TPN Aerospace Conference Poster Competition Winners

    We are pleased to shortlist 12 posters for the competition. All 12 posters are amazing and the judges had a hard time choosing the winners. Ultimately, after a tough battle, the winners are as follows: Champion Title: High Power Density Converter for More Electric Engine Applications Author: Rolls-Royce Electrical Power & Control Systems Team School: Nanyang Technological University / Royce-Rolls Runner-Ups Title: Sky Recorder in Clouds Author: Chua Kok Nam School: Nanyang Technological University Title: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Green Liner Author: A.B.D. Tharupathi, Lee Taehoon & Tang Jia Jun School: Republic Polytechnic Supervisor: Dr Hamid Saeedipour Title: High Speed Autonomous UAV and Off-board Image Processing Author: Cheng Hui Min & Lu Jiale School: Singapore Polytechnic

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET Display At The UWI Alma Jordan Library

    On Friday 10th April, 2015, the University of the West Indies Alma Jordan Library welcomed the IET Trinidad and Tobago Local Network to proudly display a range of IET material, in the Engineering section of the library. This could not have been successfully implemented without the support of Mariella Pilgrim, Faculty Liaison Librarian - Engineering. The display officially ran from the 11th to the 18th April. As a result of the positive feedback from the librarians about the interest shown by members of the engineering faculty as well as students, they suggested that material be provided for other areas within the engineering section. (Anthony and Mariella engage with interested students) (IET material displayed in other areas of the Engineering section of the library) Mariella was also impressed…

    Jason Robert Rameshwar
    Jason Robert Rameshwar

  • Improving your Management Skills: Finance and Accounting

    As your career changes and develops, you will need a wider and more diverse set of skills to ensure you succeed in your chosen field and whether this means deepening your technical knowledge or improving your soft and management skills, it is important to ensure you have the right information in order to progress. Whether you are pursuing IEng or CEng and looking to develop your management skills for your C Competences, or whether you are already professionally registered and looking to maintain your competence for your CPD, the IET offer courses to help you develop and maintain your skills. Management is not just about managing people and resources, but also about planning and budgeting to use these effectively. This is not always easy to do, so if you are thinking about developin in this…

  • The Future of e-aircraft

    One of my volunteers in the Wales South East Network has sent me a link to an interesting article on the future of electric aircraft. Airbus Group is currently involved in a numebr of technological programmes, whose breakthrough could eventually also be applied to an all-electric helicopter and a 90 seat passenger regional aircraft with fully electric or hybrid propulsion. For further details of this article click here . Photo and article from the Airbus Group site. The Call for Papers for our All Electric Aircraft Seminar to be held in January 2016 will be uploaded soon.

    Deborah-Claire McKenzie
    Deborah-Claire McKenzie

  • Optical Fibres in Oil and Gas: Monitoring at the Speed of Light.

    Optical fibres have been available since the 1970s and are well known for their applications in telecommunications. Less well known are their abilities to perform measurements and to sense a wide range of physical parameters . Andrew Strong, CEng, FIET, MInstP from Cambridge Consultants, will describe the fundamentals of optical fibres and their fabrication. He will also review a number of measurement techniques and how they are used in a broad range of applications in the Oil and Gas Industry. Andrew's talk will be on Thursday 21 May 2015 at 1830 hrs in the Cambridge University Engineering Department, Trumpington Street, Cambridge.

    David Blake
    David Blake

  • What is the Point of Maths?

    Local Network volunteer, Derek Newport, has recently written a book about mathematics entitled “ Savour the Fruits of Mathematics…not just HOW mathematics works, but WHY is it important, especially in Engineering ?” Derek has visited schools regularly over the past 15 years, nine years under the Young Enterprise Initiative, followed by 6 years as a STEM ambassador, and during this time has sought the feelings of students on mathematics. Answers generally fell into one of two ‘boxes’, “I don’t like maths” and “I don’t see the point of maths”! Concerned about these responses, Derek decided to write the book, with two aims: Gaining students’ enthusiasm for mathematics; To gain teachers’ awareness of the different educational paths applicable to students opting for a career as a craft technician…

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

  • Orange County Vital Link STEAM Event

    If we are going to inspire, Inform, and influence the global engineering community, it's always good to get the imagination of young minds, and so for the second year in a row we supported the http://vitallinkoc.org/ STEM and Arts Career Showcase held over 3 days at the end of April. This event is a collaboration of corporate, education, and non-profit sponsors and exhibitors coming together to create an engaging and interactive career exploration experience emphasizing careers in science, technology, engineering, math (STEM), and the arts. The showcase, to be held in partnership with OC Fair Imaginology, is focused on providing students with opportunities to explore, discover, and connect to their future careers. As we wanted to do something different and give the young minds something to…

    Richard Tregaskes
    Richard Tregaskes

  • 2015 PATW

    At the end of March we had a great local heat for the PATW, with 4 presentations on water filtering, the USC Rocketry club, the second place " Simulating Colliding Black Holes to Predict Gravitational Waves" and the winning "Math, Engineering, and Technology of Non-circular Bicycle Chain Rings" by Adrian Rodriguez. Adrian is a LMU student and the LMU Seaver School of Engineering wrote an article about his success http://seavernews.lmu.edu/2015/04/09/sophomore-wins-engineering-presentation-contest/

    Richard Tregaskes
    Richard Tregaskes

  • Broads Outdoors Festival

    The Outdoors Festival brings you more than two weeks of activities celebrating the Broads National Park. The programme for the fifth birthday edition boasts a record number of events covering a huge range of activities with nearly 200 opportunities to explore the great outdoors. Running from 2 to 17 May, the festival showcases the wealth of things to do in the Broads. With more than a quarter of the rarest wildlife in the UK, 300 kilometres of footpaths and 122 miles of rivers the park provides a wonderful playground for everyone who loves to get out and about, whether on water or dry land. Search through the calendar below or browse the online flipbook programme.

    Alex Barrett
    Alex Barrett

  • Healthcare Network Update - 26 April 2015

    Hello to all IET and Network members. This latest community update arrives at the busiest time of the year for the HTN: several major events have just taken place and more are on the immediate horizon. Before I go into any more detail, I would like to ask for suggestions by email for our programme of events for the twelve months from October 2015. The committee will be meeting in a few weeks to map out the events and activities which we intend to offer for the coming year and as always we want to ensure that these reflect the needs of the healthcare TPN and wider biomedical engineering community. We have prepared a case study of this process on the myCommunity site and I would urge you all to read it to understand how the community can drive the events we put on: https://communities.theiet…

    Peter Bannister
    Peter Bannister

  • Iterations Of Security

    Known to pracitioners as Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability, CIA, is forever-green in its understanding, making it a constant talking point in any technology platform. As the phases of the project expand, so does its needs. Its not a responsive method so a crash course understanding wont give any more depth when compared to reading whitepapers found though search enging results. The business sets the soft tone of security requirements and its the practitioner that enages the known CIA triage model through hands on experiences of People, Technology and Process.   GP knows patient records must be confidential, Hospital knows equipment must be available to treat patients, Drug manufacturer knows scientific reaserch must have its integrity kept intact when creating drugs for patients.…

  • Photo Archives

    24 February 2012 - Networking Nite 15 March 2012 - AGM 12 12 May 2012 - LN PATW 18 Aug 2012 - Regional PATW 12 - Host Singapore 7 December 2011 - Evening Talks

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • TPN Aerospace Conference

    Event Photos: LINK Event Videos: Dr Bicky Bhangu -  Welcome & Opening Speech Prof Peter Malkin - From More Electric to Hybrid Electric Aircraft Dr Hamid Saeedipour -  Thrust Vectoring Effects on Jet Transport Aircraft Design Professor Geoff Gibson -  The Challenge of Developing Non-Invasive Repairs for Modern Composite Passenger Aircraft

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • ICalendar Link For Yorkshire & The Humber IET Events

    Yorks & Humber Events are available for your Outlook, Google, Smartphone or other calendar via iCalendar - simply link your calendar to http://www.iet-members.org/apps/php/icalendar.php and the events and visits we organise will appear within your calendar.

    Paul Smith, RPS
    Paul Smith, RPS

  • Events List

    Upcoming Events 2 Oct 2015 1st Annual Debate: We don't need any more Engineers Past Events 19 Sep 2015 Technical Visit: DreamWorks Animation 1 Sep 2015 IET Energy Section Presents: Data Center Power Systems Design Philosophy 25 Aug 2015 Networking Nite with Two Presentations on <Data Protection Act> and <Space, The Final Frontier> 26 Jun 2015 IET Young Professional Section (YPS) Presents: Benefits Of Professional Registration And A Visit To A Compact Fermentation Plant 16 May 2015 PATW 2015 7 May 2015 IET Rail Section Presents: Communication Backbone Networks for MRT Applications

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

Community Rules & Guidelines