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.

  • 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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Joanne Longton

  • Queen Elizabeth Prize for engineering

    Global £1m prize awarded to medical pioneer. Professor Robert Langer, winner of the 2014 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Professor Robert Langer, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has won the Royal Academy for Engineering’s Queen Elizabeth Prize (QEPrize). The ground-breaking chemical engineer has been awarded the QEPrize for his revolutionary advances and leadership in engineering with chemistry and medicine. Prof Langer was the first person to engineer polymers to control the delivery of large molecular weight drugs for the treatment of diseases such as cancer and mental illness. It is estimated that over 2 billion lives have been improved worldwide by the technologies that Dr Langer’s lab has created. Read more in Member News...

    Gemma Hadley
    Gemma Hadley

  • Help solve a real life engineering problem – enter the Young Professionals Global Challenge!

    The IET supports and organises many initiatives which benefits society. One of these new exciting initiatives is the Young Professionals Global Challenge competition , organised by the Young Professionals Community Committee (YPCC) in association with RedR UK, an international disaster relief charity which trains aid workers in the skills they need to respond to disasters effectively. The challenge is designed to test the diverse academic, commercial and technical skills of young engineers and innovators worldwide, with the aim to encourage young professionals to collaborate as a team in order to develop innovative virtual solutions for real-world engineering problems. Your brief The task is to solve a major engineering problem faced by disaster relief teams working in the field. Humanitarian…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Women of the World Festival

    The globally renowned Women of the World Festival returns to Southbank Centre from 1 - 8 March for its fifth birthday. WOW Friday focuses on women in the workplace . Come and network with some of the leading brains in business, social enterprise and leadership. WOW Saturday offers talks and debates, workshops, seminars and performances designed to feed your mind and nourish your soul . The weekend rounds up on WOW Sunday with a packed day guaranteed to engage, challenge and inspire . Read more...

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Mobile Computing And The E-Trike, Dr Michael Taylor - UCAml &IWAAL 2014

    Sponsored attendance at the UCAmI & IWAAL 2014, 2-5 December 2014, Belfast, Northern Ireland. In early 2014 I started the design of a proof of concept e-Trike that could be used for the rehabilitation of a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy (CP). This was to be a personal project where I could use my engineering knowledge and skills to improve the quality of life for wheelchair users facing rehabilitation. The aim was to create more than an electric bike – it was to create a computer controlled electrically assisted e-Trike that would enable the wheelchair user to benefit from the many physical and mental aspects of assisted mobility. The e-Trike would encourage mobility and independence as well as the development of spatial awareness and muscle strengthening. It would also improve balance…

    Gemma Hadley
    Gemma Hadley

  • The E&T Reference

    Dear Hong Kong Community members, The IET is launching a new product this year, the Engineering and Technology Reference , and we would like you to get involved. Here with it's cybersecurity features .   The E&T Reference will establish itself as an industry leading online multidisciplinary reference source, providing authoritative technical knowledge and technology solutions. Its goal is to help engineers at all levels better understand and solve their day-to-day challenges and improve engineering know-how through its growing collection of practical engineering articles and real life case studies.   The E&T Reference covers the five sectors of the IET: Built Environment, Design and Production; Energy; Information and Communications; and Transport. At present, the following areas are in development…

    Dodi Mak
    Dodi Mak

  • Additional Event - Visit To Elektra Ltd, Crawley

    Click poster to download PDF We are pleased to publish details of an additional event this March that has been organised on behalf of IET Sussex. Places are limited so please book soon if you would like to attend. IET Sussex Technical Visit - Weds 11th March Tour of Elekta Ltd, Crawley, Sussex. Free to attend. Book online here Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated state of the art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. For more details visit http://www.elekta.com/ The visit involves technical presentation explaining principles and working…

    Laurence Tondelier
    Laurence Tondelier

  • Asian manufacturing event a first for TPN

    The IET Manufacturing TPN held its first public event in Asia in October, focusing on the latest technologies and challenges facing Malaysia’s current and future engineers.    The event, proposed by Manufacturing Network Executive Member Lim Yew Kee and approved by the committee, was entitled Product Advancement with Research and Development Technology. Over the course of the day, a variety of speakers took to the stage to discuss topics as varied as additive manufacturing in 3D printing technology, simulation and modelling of circuit breakers for electrical applications and green and sustainable energy for building.   With the sector moving forward so quickly, this event was a chance for people to come together to find out more about the advanced manufacturing techniques being developed. …

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

Community Rules & Guidelines