Latest Insights from the EngX Community

  • Engineers supporting engineers: How you've made a difference

    Over the past year, your support has helped ensure that no engineer has had to face life's challenges alone. At Foothold, we exist to support IET members and their families for life, including into retirement. Whether someone is facing financial hardship, health challenges, mental ill health, or a sudden change in circumstances, we're there to help them regain stability and hope. We can only do this with the support of IET members like you. Whether you've donated, volunteered, shared our work, joined a webinar, told your story, or encouraged someone to reach out – thank you . Your support has made a real difference to engineers across the world. Our latest impact report shows all the ways you helped in 2024–25. The year at a glance Foothold supported 1,226 people across 47 countries…

  • Tactile Robotics: Why a Sense of Touch Is the Missing Piece in Humanoid Robots

    When we imagine the future of robotics, humanoid machines often take centre stage: robots that can assist in manufacturing, support healthcare workers, or safely collaborate alongside humans. Yet despite dramatic advances in AI, vision and actuation, one fundamental capability still limits what robots can do in the physical world, a genuine sense of touch. This challenge, and the progress being made to address it, is the focus of an upcoming IET Bristol Local Network event, Tactile Robotics: Past and Future , which takes place on 22 April 2026 . The lecture will be delivered by Professor Nathan F. Lepora, Professor of Robotics & AI at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, and one of the leading researchers working on robotic touch and dexterous manipulation. While the event itself promises an…

  • Hillsborough and the Engineering of Crowd Safety

    On 15 April 1989 , a football match in Sheffield became the site of the deadliest sporting disaster in British history. Ninety‑seven people lost their lives in a crowd crush at Hillsborough Stadium , during the FA Cup semi‑final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. While the disaster is often remembered through its social and legal aftermath, it is also a defining moment in the engineering of public safety, crowd dynamics and complex socio‑technical systems. For engineers, Hillsborough represents a painful but essential case study: how infrastructure design, human decision‑making and system assumptions can combine to produce catastrophic failure, even when individual components appear to function as intended. What happened – a system under pressure Hillsborough Stadium was built in…

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Latest IET EngX News

  • March Highlights on EngX: AI Insights, Inclusive Voices and Engineering Impact

    March was a month packed with fresh technical thinking, practical guidance, and human‑centred stories across the EngX community. From deep dives into industrial AI to personal reflections from engineers shaping their workplaces, here’s your roundup of what captured attention and sparked conversation this month. AI in Manufacturing: Why So Many Initiatives Stall One of the most thought‑provoking reads this month came from Dr Paul Johnson , whose article AI in Manufacturing: Why Most Initiatives Fail & How to Deliver Real Engineering Value explores why organisations continue to struggle with turning AI investment into meaningful operational outcomes. Johnson illustrates this through a real‑world predictive maintenance example where an AI model successfully identified early warning signs…

  • February Highlights on EngX: AI shifts, cyber reality checks, and conversations that got us thinking

    February on EngX brought another lively mix of thought‑provoking blogs, practical engineering discussions and broader reflections on how technology is shaping the world we work in. From unravelling sustainability terminology to exploring the foundations of AI, assessing the UK's cyber readiness and reflecting on the potential of hydro sites for pumped‑storage energy, the community continued to share knowledge and support one another. Here’s a round‑up of what caught the eye this month. Blogs worth a read ClimateTech, CleanTech, DeepTech… what’s the difference? Dr. Mohammad Harris tackled an issue that resonates across engineering and sustainability circles, the confusing overlap between terms like climate tech, clean tech and deep tech. Speaking from industry experience, he explained…

  • Innovation, Safety and Systems Thinking: January highlights on EngX

    The start of a new year always brings fresh conversations, new ideas, and thoughtful reflection, and January on IET EngX was no exception. From forward looking technical insights and policy discussions to lively forum debates and career focused questions, our community has been busy sharing knowledge and supporting one another. Here’s a roundup of some of the blogs and discussions that caught our attention during January 2026 and sparked great engagement across the platform. Blogs worth a read From racing cars to electric dreams: the origins of EV innovation One of the standout career‑focused blogs this month explored the career of Sir John Samuel from his early roots of electric vehicle innovation and tracing his journey from motorsport engineering to pioneering EV development. Personal…

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Latest Partner News

  • Josie Harries discusses how Domino is working to increase support for women in the workplace

    Encouraging women to choose careers in STEM subjects has been top of the agenda for many years – but what fresh ideas can you introduce within the workplace to attract and support female employees? At Domino, we are committed to improving the gender ratio in leadership roles within a business to 40% by 2030. This target, endorsed from Board level down, now stands at 25%, from a starting figure of 18%. Support networks Recently we re-launched our Women@Domino global network to promote inclusion within the business and facilitate the sharing of ideas and experiences, as well as networking, mentoring, events and training. Gender was also one of three key areas in our new Inclusion & Diversity strategy. The network is not limited to female employees; male colleagues are encouraged to participate…

  • Road to Engineering event introduces children to the world of engineering

    BAE System's Submarines Academy for Skills and Knowledge (SASK), Barrow-in-Furness successfully hosted the 6th Road to Engineering event which took place over three action-packed days. Over 200 children from the Furness area participated in the event which aims to inspire future careers in Engineering. This year's theme was 'Adapt and Change' following the British Science week theme. Supporting the event were the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, Barrow District of Associate Engineers and the Royal Institute of Naval Architects who contributed valuable insight, merchandise and STEM packs for schools. Stephen Rowe, Project Director of Engineering Transformation said, "It was a privilege to attend the Road to Engineering event and…

  • H&MV Engineering appointed as principal designer and contractor for the Thorpe Marsh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)

    H&MV Engineering has been appointed as principal designer and contractor for the delivery of the 400 kV grid connection and electrical infrastructure for the Thorpe Marsh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) – the largest of its kind in the UK and among the largest in Europe. This landmark project, led by Fidra Energy and backed by major investment from EIG and the UK Government’s National Wealth Fund (NWF), has now reached financial close with construction commencing immediately. Located on the site of the former Thorpe Marsh coal-fired power station in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, the 1,400MW / 3,100MWh facility will be capable of exporting over 2 million MWh annually, supplying clean energy to approximately 785,000 homes. Once operational in mid-2027, it will be three times larger than…

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Latest articles from E+T Magazine

  • £56bn boost to UK economy from expanding onshore wind supply chain

    Expanding the UK’s onshore wind supply chain could add £56bn to the economy, according to a new report by RenewableUK. Projections indicate that the UK’s current operating fleet of onshore wind turbines could potentially triple by 2050 from 16GW now to over 50GW. With a strong pipeline of onshore wind projects due to come online, the report from the UK trade body finds that if the domestic supply chain expands in line with these projections, onshore wind could contribute an additional £56bn to the UK economy, taking its total value to £154bn. It’s not just new wind farms – much of the additional onshore wind generating capacity will come from ‘repowering’ the UK’s older onshore wind farms. This will mean replacing older turbines with newer and more powerful models. Expanding the supply…

  • Fusion power may struggle to compete with renewables on cost

    The cost of fusion technology is likely to fall more slowly than previously predicted, raising doubts about its ability to compete with renewable energy. Researchers at Swiss university ETH Zurich set out to explore whether assumptions about the cost-effectiveness of fusion power were realistic. “Our paper is the first to provide an evidence-backed range of experience rates (ERs) for fusion power plants and has notably shown a large discrepancy between previous ER assumptions and a sensible ER range for the technology," said Lingxi Tang, doctoral researcher in the energy and technology policy group at ETH Zurich and first author of the study. Fusion has been heralded as a potential source of almost limitless clean energy, which is seen as vital for energy security and the climate crisis…

  • Blue Origin achieves rocket reuse milestone but fumbles satellite deployment

    For the first time, Blue Origin has successfully landed its New Glenn booster rocket, which had been flown on a prior mission, but the satellite payload that came with it was shunted into an incorrect orbit. The launch marked a technical milestone for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space firm, with Blue Origin now only the second company, after SpaceX, to land a booster that had been used in another launch. But New Glenn’s upper stage placed a satellite from AST SpaceMobile into a lower-than-planned orbit. While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited. The mixed results show that Blue Origin is still trailing behind its biggest rival SpaceX, even if the mission did…

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