Welcome to the France Local Network
The France Local Network is led by local volunteers who come together to organise lectures and technical visits that provide opportunities to learn and meet new people. All events are open to the public and most are free of charge.
The Local Network aims to raise awareness of science, engineering and technology in the local area, and promote membership of the IET.
Visit the events page filtered by France Local Network to find out about our upcoming events.
You can get in touch with us at: France@ietvolunteer.org
You can also keep up to date with upcoming events and activities on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/iet-france-local-network/
Facebook: IET France Local Network | Facebook
A History of the IET in France
2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the IET France Local Network being registered as an association in France. Its roots however are much deeper. See attached a short history of the IET in France written by Morgan Bonici.
Our Committee for the 2025 session:
Chair: Mr Morgan Bonici
Honorary Secretary: Mr Stuart Burton
Honorary Treasurer: Mr Colin Childes
Committee Member: Mr Richard Bodin
Committee Member: Mr Phil Dunbar
Committee Member: Mr Ian Gillis
Committee Member. Mr Clement Lau
Committee Member: Mr Franck Margrave
Committee Member: Mr Paul Poncelet
Appointed Member: Ms Sophie Cavé-Lopez
Upcoming events
The France Local Network is currently planning some joint webinar and physical events for early 2025 and is looking to repeat the success of last years flagship visit with another high profile event this year. See you soon.
Recent updates
20th Nov 2024: AGM 2024
The IET France Local Network held its AGM online on the 20th Nov. We were proud to welcome Prof Alexis Polycarpou as speaker who presented on the Advanced Lighting Technology Applications in Traffic Light Systems in Cyprus and the power saving applications of using LEDs in these applications.
This was followed by the AGM itself in which we reviewed the past year and laid out our plans for the year to come. We elected a new committee for the 2025 session and came to a decision on the continued use of the France LN social bank account.
The AGM was attended by 16 attendees. Annual Report below.
27th/28th May 2024: ITER and Observatoire de Haute Provence visit
The IET France Network in partnership with our friends at the ICE France center organised a visit to the ITER research fusion reactor construction site and the Obervatoire de Haute Provence.
The ITER visit included a presentation on the engineering challenges faced by the construction of the site by Ms Margaret Graham, IET Honorary Fellow and Project Manager for the Ion Cyclotron Project followed by a tour of the construction site including a glimpse into the tokamak pit..
This was followed up by a visit to the Observatoire de Haute Provence where we were presented to the main 1.93m Telescope dome and detection equipment from which were discovered the first exoplanets in the 1990s. This was hosted by the Observatoires director Dr Marc Ferrari.
6th Feb 2024: Cyber Security Online Seminar - Presented by Colin Childes and Leanne Sperry
The IET France Local Network held its Cybersecurity evening with our very own Colin Childes, Childes Cybersecurity Consultants, and Ms Leanne Sperry, UK Cyber Security Council presented to 15 attendees from France, the UK and Italy.
Colin shared on the history of the internet and the attached technologies and how it was initially designed as a closed network hence with little security in mind from which it snowballed into what it is today. It was interesting to see by just how much it has grown and how complex the interactions are that link almost everything we do today, and just how vulnerable it is to bad actors.
Leanne followed up with an Introduction to the UK Cyber Security Council and its efforts to provide a framework for Cyber Security Professionals similar to the UK-Spec Chartership framework for engineering we know so well.
We had some interesting questions from our attendees and tips on personal cyber security provided by Franck Margrave and in all felt as if we had but scratched the surface of the Cyber Security world so stay tuned for a potential follow up event later this year.
7th Nov 2023: AGM 2023 with special guest speaker Dr. Claes Levinsson
We held our Annual General Meeting online this year where we confirmed our committee for the 2024 session and reviewed changes to our statutes. Our guest Speaker Dr. Claes Levinsson from Aimpoint AB shared on the red dot sights used in hunting, law enforcement and military applications.
The event was attended by 8 attendees. AGM report linked in attached
10th March 2023: CERN visit with ICE
On the 10th March, members of the IET France Local Network joined the ICE organised event at CERN in Geneva.
We were shown around the upcoming Science Gateway construction site to see how it had been designed and is being built to allow CERN to accommodate more visitors and improve is outreach although the highlight of the visit was to have the privilege to go down into the Large Hadron Collider tunnel and see the 14,000 ton anything but compact Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collider.
We topped off the visit the next day with a walking tour of Geneva culminating with a visit to the subterranean archeological site under the St Pierre Cathedral and a climb to its towers to catch a panorama of the city as the bells rang out noon.
A big thank you to the ICE for organising the event and to our members who joined the visit.
13th December 2022: Extraordinary Annual General Meeting with special guest Sir Julian Young
The IET France Local Network held its Hybrid EAGM last December to formalise the new committee. The keynote speaker was non other that the IET Past President Sir Julian Young who delivered a great presentation and Discussion on "Maintaining a Just Culture".
Discussion involved a lot of Sir Julian’s experience within the Royal Air Force. Touched on how things don’t always have to be perfect as the planes are supposed to be operational, but how pressure to keep them airborne could lead to things slipping and safety issues accumulating. He coined the “Can Do Safely” term which is the new philosophy for the RAF engineering and is based on risk analysis.
Thank you, on behalf of the IET France Local Network
