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.

  • Portrait of an Engineer

    Portrait of an Engineer

    The stereotype of an engineer is alive and well amongst school children, according to new research by the Institution of Engineering and Technology. To dispel these engrained ideas of what a typical engineer ‘looks like’, the IET is celebrating the 40th Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards with a campaign to showcase engineering in a completely different light, dramatically highlighting the diverse career opportunities available in the industry through stunning and unexpected imagery. The IET has commissioned Rankin Studios, renowned for photographing everyone from Kate Moss and Madonna to The Queen, to style and shoot this year’s award finalists as well as previous affiliates in a series of dramatic and thought provoking images. Dubbed ‘Portrait of an Engineer’, the series was shot by award…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member
  • Safety in Complex Systems

    Safety in Complex Systems

    Safety in Complex systems was the topic of our talk on the 21st October in Carlsbad, and for the first time via Skype for those who chose to join remotely. After defining Safety as the freedom from unacceptable risk of exposure to hazards, Dr. Graham Sutherland continued to discuss how planning for safety is fundamentally about uncertainty and future events the planners don’t yet know about and making educated guesses to control them. While safety can be occupational, functional or safety, for the purposes of this talk Dr. Sutherland concentrated on Systems Safety which is a specialty within systems engineering. The process of System Safety applies engineering and management principles, criteria and techniques with the goal of optimizing safety by identifying safety-related risks and eliminating…

    Richard Tregaskes
  • IET Singapore Network Main Committee List 2017/18

    IET Singapore Network Main Committee List 2017/18

    Jolyon Caplin, BSc MSc MIET Chair, IET Singapore Network 2017/19   Jolyon Caplin is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Singapore Polytechnic, serving since 1988. Jolyon is returning as Chair of the Institution of Engineering Technology (Singapore Network) having also served as Chair for the 2012/13 session and in several other Committee positions since 2001.  He joined the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) in 1978 as Student Member and has been Member since 1982.  He has started and supported many initiatives in IET(SN) including the Faraday Lecture Asian Tours from 2005 to 2008 with an adjunct engineering exhibition in Singapore.  His main drive is to develop youth interest and commitment to engineering. Bicky Bhangu, BEng Msc PhD MBA CEng FIET…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member
  • LAPC 2017 - Have You Got Your Ticket?

    LAPC 2017 - Have You Got Your Ticket?

    LAPC 17 is nearly upon us. This will be the first time the IET has organised it and it’s fair to say we’re excited about it here in the office!   About the Event: LAPC 2017 is the largest annual UK event dedicated to the fields of Antennas and Propagation. Now its 13th successful year, the event regularly attracts delegates from academia, industry and government. The conference will again take place at the Burleigh Court International Conference Centre, Loughborough and follows a single-track format where invited talks in special sessions are alternated with open poster sessions co-located with an exhibition   If you haven’t booked your ticket, there are still a few places left, so make sure to book soon.   To get ready for the event, you can check out the programme for 2017 or read my blog…

    Former Staff Member
  • International Construction Measurement Standard

    International Construction Measurement Standard

    The Project Controls Network is a founder member of the International Coalition that has developed the ICMS Standard 2017.    The final Standard is in our files section , together with an article from the "Project Controls Professional Journal" by ARUP on how they are implementing the Standard on Infrastructure Projects.   The challenge for the ICMS Coalition Board is how to keep the impetus going, until the international Coalition Board meets in May next year to decide on the next Standard(s) to develop. Nearly 40 Countries will be represented and there appears to be much interest in the Standard within the profession.  The Standard has been welcomed by such organisations as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Please do feel free to share this with your colleagues and…

    Joanne Longton
  • Design Workshop At The ETH (in Cooperation With The ETH MUN).  Open To All.  Entrance Is Free...

    Design Workshop At The ETH (in Cooperation With The ETH MUN). Open To All. Entrance Is Free...

    Are you a Design Thinker.... ...or would you like to be one...?   IET Design Thinking Workshop Design Thinking provides Innovators with the ability to discover and shape real customer needs and value, which are the foundations of Innovation. Design Thinkers pose the right questions to the right people, work visually, generate many ideas, prototypes, exploit feedback and iterate fast - they focus on the "right things" to innovate. In this hands-on session, you will learn about the concept of Design Thinking and work in pairs to create a product using these techniques. If you are interested, and would like to participate, then please come along and help us to make this a memorable workshop. Entrance is free.   Venue / Address: ETH Main building: Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich (Room HG F 33.5) Date…

    Jeff Hunter
  • From Unmanned Ground Vehicles to Robo-Taxis: Changes to road transportation

    From Unmanned Ground Vehicles to Robo-Taxis: Changes to road transportation

    We are very pleased to be able to welcome Dr. Javier Ibañez-Guzmán as our speaker at the joint MFI / IET Germany National Meeting in Augsburg on December 2nd. 2017. Here are some details about the presentation and the speaker.   From Unmanned Ground Vehicles to Robo-Taxis: Changes to road transportation Abstract In the late 90s and at the beginning of the 21st century, considerable interest existed in the use of robotics technology for defence applications. The Prometheus and NavLab vehicles showed what can be done with autonomous vehicle in civilian applications.  In October 2010, Google showed the Google car and its potential applications.  Suddenly, autonomous vehicles were no longer an exotic topic and today considerable efforts are going into this area. This presentation will share experiences…

    Howard Gray
  • Are you lost and lonely in Lincolnshire?

    Are you lost and lonely in Lincolnshire?

    The Lincolnshire Engineers Panel are looking for new people to join them.  You can offer as much or as little time as you can - all will be greatly received. if you would like further details please contact Phil Hill for a chat.

    Julie
  • Do You Have Some Spare Time?

    Do You Have Some Spare Time?

    We're currently looking for a couple of volunteers to help us out. Hosting daytime lectures in Bromley Are you available one morning a month to host the retired members lectures at Bromley library? This will involve welcoming the speaker and guests, chairing the event (introducing the speaker, housekeeping, regulating the Q&A) and liaising with the venue on the day. You will also need to gather the delegate metrics and feed them back to the committee for reporting to HQ. It will be entirely up to you to become a full member of our committee - you can dedicate as much or as little time as you have available. Please contact Bob Martin-Royle if you are interested or would like a chat.

    Julie
  • IET Control Theory & Applications - Volume 11, Issue 17, 24 November 2017

    IET Control Theory & Applications - Volume 11, Issue 17, 24 November 2017

    IET Control Theory & Applications is devoted to control systems in the broadest sense, covering new theoretical results and the applications of new and established control methods. Among the topics of interest are system modelling, identification and simulation, the analysis and design of control systems (including computer-aided design), and practical implementation. The scope encompasses technological, economic, physiological (biomedical) and other systems, including man-machine interfaces. Have a look at the latest content and the most downloaded papers online

    Joanne Longton
  • Shielding The Pointy Bits!

    Shielding The Pointy Bits!

    Well what a fantastic day and a half we had at Austin Court last week for the Annual Particle Accelerator Network Annual event – 2017 .   The event started off on Thursday, 26th in the afternoon with the Technician event.   We had a packed room of attentive delegates who heard from Graeme Burt, Dan Faircloth and Nik Templeton covering an Introduction to Accelerators, RF Systems,  Electrical Systems and Mechanical Systems. It was interesting to hear of the different applications – most folks will be aware of the use of particle accelerators in the field of medicine, notably, X-rays,  and radiotherapy and proton therapy for  treatment of cancer.   We also learnt that particle accelerators are used amongst other things,  in the scanning of cargo to ensure that what is in a shipping container is…

    Joanne Longton
  • Bringing Manufacturing Technologies To Life

    Bringing Manufacturing Technologies To Life

    The Manufacturing Technical Professional Network held an event Bringing Manufacturing Technologies to Life on the 12 th October at Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick. The event was sponsored by WMG, The Lloyds Banking Group and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and supported by the All Party Manufacturing Group.   The focus of the event was to provide an insight to take product from concept to production. Allowing businesses managers to identify current methods for a successful product development and commercialisation.   Keynote Speech - The day was opened with a keynote speech from Dr George Dibb, Head of Manufacturing, Design & Innovation, Policy Connect. As Head of Industry, Technology & Innovation at Policy Connect, George oversees and coordinates the work of the All…

  • Expanding our Blogging Community within Professional Development

    Expanding our Blogging Community within Professional Development

    You may have noticed that some of our blogs have recently been authored by Jordan Stuart , Professional Development Training Co-ordinator within the Professional Development Courses team.  We are expanding our blogging team in order to try and get a variety of topics that you may be interested in and to build up a body of knowledge around Professional Development.   With that in mind, I am glad to be able to announce that we will be adding a new team member to the blogging team in the next few weeks - so look out for new blogs from Matylda Socha , CPD Administrator within the team. If you want to get involved, then do let us know in the comments below what topics you would like to see blogs on, or, if you have had an interesting learning experience or moment or would like to contribute as a…

    Kathryn Bain
  • Happy Halloween - IoT Style

    Happy Halloween - IoT Style

    With Halloween coming up, I thought I’d take a look into how people are using IoT in their Halloween celebrations.   There are quite a few articles on this subject to help you make the most out of IoT this October, including one from CB online on creating a haunted house and another from IoT Evolution World on spooking up your home. One of the ideas that both discuss is lighting. One of the well-advertised uses for IoT enabled home helpers is the ability to change light colours with just a few words – why not bathe your room in orange , red or dip the lights low ?   Another idea I liked was creating a ghost drone – I found a photo of one below. I don’t know who created it, but it is pretty creepy!   Why not go a step further, like this person and create a flying witch using a drone?       …

    Former Staff Member
  • The Impact Factor Is A Measure Of Quality For Academic Journals

    The Impact Factor Is A Measure Of Quality For Academic Journals

    The IET journal titles have seen a significant increase in their impact factor rating. The impact factor is a measure of the importance of a journal or its rank. It is calculated by measuring the frequency with which the average article in the journal has been cited in a two-year period compared to the number of articles published in that journal during the same timeframe.The IET journal titles have seen a significant increase in their impact factor rating. The impact factor is a measure of the importance of a journal or its rank. It is calculated by measuring the frequency with which the average article in the journal has been cited in a two-year period compared to the number of articles published in that journal during the same timeframe. The Journal Citation Reports (JCR) are published annually…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member
  • Passing The Torch

    Passing The Torch

    From Leadership Program candidate to Vice Chairperson Words: Tynan Schweitzer Finishing up the 2016 Leadership Programme I felt myself done with the IET. I had gotten what I wanted out of it and was ready to return to my ways of avoiding responsibility. Then the AGM committee position flyer was sent around and I saw that I could become a Leadership Programme mentor for 2017. I thought I could have fun, show up on the day and leave it to the coordinators to do the heavy lifting. After the first meeting of the mentors, I knew I couldn't sit on the bench; I had to make this the best Leadership Programme yet!   The task was daunting. Not only did we plan to grow by 50%, but also up the projects from one to four and include an extra workshop. The mentors had plenty of support from the Young Professionals…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member
  • Tour Of The National Ignition Facility Planned For January 26th! Sign Up Today!

    Tour Of The National Ignition Facility Planned For January 26th! Sign Up Today!

    The National Ignition Facility is the largest and most energetic laser facility ever built. NIF is the size of a sports stadium—three football fields could fit inside. NIF is also the most precise and reproducible laser as well as the world’s largest optical instrument. The giant laser has nearly 40,000 optics that precisely guide, reflect, amplify, and focus 192 laser beams onto a fusion target about the size of a pencil eraser. NIF became operational in March 2009. Tour Details: The tour is limited is 20 people. Foreign nationals who wish to attend must register for the event before 12/1/2017 in order to allow for time to process site access. Visitors will be required to provide valid identification as necessary in order to visit the Lab. Agenda: 13:00: Arrive at the West Gate Badge Office…

    Allan Casey
  • Joint PEI Northern  Powerhouse Debate, Cutlers Hall, Sheffield - 26th October 2017

    Joint PEI Northern Powerhouse Debate, Cutlers Hall, Sheffield - 26th October 2017

    On the 26th October  2017 we finally held the 'Northern Powerhouse' debate at the prestigous venue, Cutlers Hall located in the centre of Sheffield Our joint local PEI committee, comprising IET, IMechE and ICE finally delivered a debate which had been conceived by the author back in November 2015 and worked on by a joint forcussed team over the past two years. The concept was to create a debate on this widely discussed topic where we could embrace attendess into a debate and run the proceedings based on the BBC's Question Time programme. The joint committee set about targetting a chairman and several panellists from varied & knowledgeable backgrounds who we felt could offer different views on a set of questions posed by members of the audience. A list of potential panellists were developed…

    Alan Chater
  • PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE CARIBBEAN

    PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE CARIBBEAN

    You are invited to attend the 10th Public Seminar on  " PROJECT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE CARIBBEAN" at 9.00 a.m. on Saturday December 9th, 2017 at  Room 101, Faculty of Engineering Building Block 1, UWI, St. Augustine, Trinidad. RSVP: E-mail to KitFai.Pun@sta.uwi.edu or   Call 662-2002 ext-82068, 82069 You can register at this link:       http://localevents.theiet.org/edc48e

    J. Maraj
  • Join The Radar, Sonar and Navigation Executive Team

    Join The Radar, Sonar and Navigation Executive Team

    Join the Radar, Sonar and Navigation TPN Executive Team Are you working or studying in Radar, Sonar and/or Navigation? Are you passionate about supporting the community? Do you have 3-4 days per year that you can volunteer to attend committee meetings and organise activities? We’d love to hear from you! The  IET RS&N Network  is seeking professional engineers working in this field to join our Executive Team. We’re trying to make the Executive Committee representative of as wide a cross-section of the community as we can, so whatever your role in the industry, we’d love to hear from you. What is the role of the Network?  The role of the Network is to provide a platform that enables the exchange of knowledge and information amongst the community through a variety of networking opportunities.…

  • The Universe And Beyond With Tim Peake ( The Royal Television Society ).

    The Universe And Beyond With Tim Peake ( The Royal Television Society ).

    Focusing on the theme of field based technologies; I took opportunity to attend a discussion on the future challenges of space exploration by The Royal Television Society, IET and Akamai who together hosted the discussion with Tim Peak. The discussion was led by Tim Davie from the BBC.  Tim Peake gave a fascinating account of his time in space. Delivering the cosmic classroom was just one memorable achievement for him, he talked about life in the space station, exercising regime and what might be in store for the future of space travel. This was a thrilling event and a great opportunity to hear him talk about his journey into space. He discussed how the current space stations may be well suited for commercial adaptation and by 2025 commercial travel will be one step closer. When asked, Tim…

  • IET Singapore Network - Columbus Evening

    IET Singapore Network - Columbus Evening

    Columbus Evening, an evening of exploration, and finding new insight was held on 22 Sep 17 to mark the end of 16/17 session and at the same time to celebrate a new beginning from 1 Oct. this evening was a special one as we have our Singapore Network Incoming Chair Mr Jolyon Caplin leading the session to set the direction and the charter for the way ahead. The attendees were a mix of new, old and ex members. On top of the usual core team members, we have Alan Li , our PATW Singapore winner and also our newly appointed Young Professional - Scientific Outreach. We are also honored to have Mike Henry our past YPS chair who just recently came back to Singapore from an overseas stint in Vietnam.  It's was quite a discovery journey where we rediscovered our peers through a round of introduction where…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member
  • New Event! Active And Passive 2018

    New Event! Active And Passive 2018

    We have a new RF and Microwave TPN event confirmed – Active and Passive 2018 Following on from the successful event held in May 2017, this event will represent a taste of the latest breakthroughs and developments in the area of RF and Microwave technology. This is a call for contributions event so if you or anyone you know of are working on research in these areas, please submit! More detail can be found on event page here   The speakers we already have confirmed for the day are:   Wenlong He, University of Strathclyde Jaspal Bharj, ECSAT   Registration is OPEN , so make sure to book your place!     Details: Date: 30 th April 2018 Location: Savoy Place, London, UK

    Former Staff Member
  • Ottawa LN Smart Locks Presentation

    Ottawa LN Smart Locks Presentation

    Further notes on this presentation By 2013, physical security technology  manufacturers brought direct IP connectivity to many edge devices.  Ethernet connectivity is ubiquitous, cost effective and has a broad uptake.  Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the replacement of analog camera systems with digital alternatives over the past decade.   Mr. Lagimodiere has adapted this model to detention grade locks and proposed the idea of eliminating PLC’s by embedding the control electronics into the locks themselves thereby creating a “smart lock”. Mr. Lagimodiere approached the world’s largest producer of detention grade locks - Southern Folger based in San Antonio, Texas with the concept. And so began a 4 year R&D effort to produce the world’s most resilient PoE detention grade smart lock

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member