Latest Insights from the EngX Community

  • Building More Than Robots: How ShockSoc Rebuilt a Hands-On Engineering Community

    This academic year has been one of rebuilding, growth, and hands-on engineering for ShockSoc, the Leeds Electronics and Electrical Engineering Society. From the beginning of the year, our aim was to make the society more active, accessible, and practically useful for students across the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. We wanted ShockSoc to become more than just a society name, we wanted it to be a place where students could learn new skills, meet others with similar interests, and apply engineering concepts outside the lecture theatre. At the start of the year, a major focus was re-establishing the society’s presence and encouraging new students to get involved. Through Freshers Fair, social media, course group chats, and direct engagement with students, we worked to make…

  • Value Engineering in the Aerospace Industry: Balancing Performance, Cost, and Innovation

    The aerospace industry is defined by extreme demands: uncompromising safety standards, high performance requirements, long operational lifecycles, and massive capital investments. Whether for commercial aircraft, defense systems, or space exploration vehicles, every component and system must deliver maximum reliability while staying within strict budget and schedule constraints. This is where Value Engineering (VE) becomes indispensable. Value Engineering is a systematic, organized approach to improve the "value" of products, systems, or processes by analyzing their functions - defined simply as: Value = Function / Cost In aerospace, value is not just about cutting costs; it means delivering the necessary performance, safety, and quality at the lowest possible total lifecycle cost. It…

    Paul Lino Galutira
  • Sustainable Transport:Mapping Accessibility in UK Cities

    Mapping Accessibility in UK Cities The lecture was presented by Duncan Smith , Associate Professor in GIS and Visualisation at the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), UCL. The lecture, held on Wednesday 13th May 2026, took place at the flagship IET venue at Savoy Place, London, in the Turing Theatre. The lecture primarily covered transportation challenges that we all face on a daily basis. Transportation Challenges: Sustainability, Productivity & Health Transport is a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and is also vital to the economy. The talk presented these issues effectively through the analysis of tabulated data. It provided an interesting perspective on how transport accessibility impacts our daily lives. Transport is something we all rely on every…

Latest IET EngX News

  • AI, Engineering Skills and Real‑World Challenges: May's highlights on EngX

    As we wrap up May, it has been another thoughtful and wide‑ranging month across the IET EngX community. From deep dives into engineering history and emerging technology challenges to open conversations around skills, wellbeing, and global impact, members have continued to share insight, experience and practical knowledge. Here are some of our top highlights from across EngX in May. Top Discussions This Month The forums have been as active as ever, with conversations spanning cutting‑edge technology, career development, and practical engineering challenges. A number of threads explored AI and digital transformation, including discussions such as Beyond hype: uncovering the critical research axes and future trajectories of AI‑driven digital transformation and Zero Trust was not built…

  • From Space Stories to Smart Systems: April on EngX

    April on EngX brought together a thoughtful mix of emerging technologies, industry insight and personal journeys. From a closer look at how 5G networks are evolving behind the scenes to fresh perspectives on the continuing influence of broadcast media, the blogs this month highlighted both the pace of change and the importance of understanding the fundamentals. Alongside these, inspiring career stories and reflections on the history of space exploration added a more human dimension, while discussions across the forums explored automation, energy systems and real‑world engineering trade‑offs. Here’s a look at some of the content that stood out this month: Blogs worth a read Massive MIMO: the brains behind 5G networks This detailed post from Soubhagya Ranjan Mohapatra explores how Massive…

    Lisa Miles
  • 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…

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…

Latest articles from E+T Magazine

  • Waymo to turn retired robotaxi batteries into grid storage

    Waymo has said it will repurpose expired batteries from its electric vehicles (EVs) for grid storage. The driverless car firm, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said that battery storage was “critical” to sustaining the growth of renewables in the US. Standard consumer EV batteries can be expected to last up to 15 years before they are depleted enough to require replacement – but because Waymo operates a commercial fleet, its vehicles are on the road for far longer than typical consumer vehicles, meaning the batteries need to be replaced sooner. EV batteries can be used effectively in stationary settings such as grid storage facilities, even at 70% capacity. Waymo has signed a deal with B2U Storage Solutions to ensure that the batteries in its Jaguar I-PACE fleet will…

  • Prototype supersonic passenger jet under development in Russia

    The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has revealed that Russia is currently building a prototype supersonic passenger jet. According to Russian news agency TASS, majority state-owned Russian aerospace and defence conglomerate the UAC has said that the country will be bringing supersonic passenger travel back to the skies. In an interview with the news agency, Vadim Badekha, CEO of UAC, said: “Yes, such work is underway at the Zhukovsky Research Centre [a Russian national research centre for aviation based in Moscow], and we are actively assisting. “The work is no longer confined to paper – it is already being carried out in hardware. A prototype of such an aircraft is under development, and we believe the Zhukovsky Research Centre will successfully complete this work.” TASS also reported…

  • Offshore wind farms could cover 11% of North Sea by 2050

    Offshore wind developments could cover 58,500km2, or 11%, of the North Sea by 2050, according to a new study. Led by Heriot‑Watt University, the study examined both operational offshore wind farms and projects already in national development pipelines across all seven countries with North Sea waters: the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the UK, Norway and France. Hypothetical wind farms were added to bring each country’s total capacity in line with its stated commitments. Dr Simon Waldman, assistant professor of energy technologies at Heriot-Watt University’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, said: “Our scenario shows the scale that we would be looking at if every country were to build the amount of offshore wind capacity that they have promised.” “It…