Category : News

If you’re aged 18 or over, and currently work as an engineer in England, Scotland or Wales, we’d love you to take part in our research about how engineers experience authenticity in the workplace. 

As part of a PhD study at Loughborough University, we’re looking to understand more about the link between your gendered experience of being an engineer, your experience of (in)authenticity at work, and your retention in engineering.

Want to know more?

Getting involved couldn’t be easier!  You’ll be asked to take part in:

• 3 online surveys over the next 3 months (3 x 10-15 minutes)

and/or

• an online interview (approx. 60 minutes)

In return, you’ll be contributing to the development of knowledge and future of engineering.

How do I get involved?

For more information, or to take part in the survey and/or interview, click here.

(The full link is: https://lborobusiness.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6ApOIG96AeXmzXg)

We are looking for aspiring entrepreneurs who have an engineering or technology idea that will help address some of today’s most pressing challenges. The programme will help participants refine their idea, make new connections, and learn the skills needed to launch a new startup. The 6 month programme includes the following support:

• Equity-free funding of £20,000 towards living and business support costs 
• Expert mentoring 
• Training, roundtables, and events 
• 1-2-1 coaching 

Who is eligible to apply

• Recent leavers from Further Education colleges (graduated since September 2016) who have a achieved a technical qualification (engineering or related subject) at levels 3-5
• Mid-or later-career engineers or technologists who have been working in skilled jobs and are seeking a career change as an entrepreneur

Deadline for applications: Monday 23 May

Programme starts: September 2022

Website and eligibility: https://enterprisehub.raeng.org.uk/programmes/regional-talent-engines/

Locations: NW, NE, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland

Contact: Lee.Gosling@raeng.org.uk for the North West of England and Northern Ireland or Dale.Woods@raeng.org.uk for the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside

The Amazon Future Engineer bursary is a national bursary programme aimed at supporting women A-level and BTEC/OCR (or Scottish equivalent) students from low-income households who wish to study computer science or related engineering courses at UK universities.

Women are still significantly under represented in engineering and technology in higher education. UCAS data on university application and acceptance figures for the 2020 cycle1 highlighted that women represent just 16% and 18% of accepted applications to computing and engineering degrees respectively. At the current rate of progress, parity of women on engineering degrees will not be achieved until 2085. We cannot wait that long.

These bursaries aim to help address under representation and accelerate the rate of progress. They will provide successful women applicants with a financial support package worth £5,000 per year for up to four years of study to cover expenses related to attending university, including tuition fees or accommodation and living costs.

By removing some of the financial barriers that may impact on university studies and career trajectory, recipients can remain committed to their courses and stand the best possible chance of success.

Awardees will also gain exclusive access to networking groups to meet positive role models, interact with like-minded peers, build long-term relationships, and benefit from collaboration opportunities.

To see if you are eligible and to make an application, please click here

Scheme closing date: Monday 06 June 2022

If you are a UK engineer or technician, the Royal Academy of Engineering wants to hear about your views on ethical engineering practice. As part of our audit, you have the chance to share your opinion and experience of ethics in engineering in an online survey:

▪ Part 1 contains questions about your own behaviours and motivations.

▪ Part 2 contains questions about how your workplace affects your behaviours and motivations.

▪ Part 3 contains questions about the values and behaviours that in practice seem important in your workplace.

Royal Academy of Engineering ethics audit – survey of UK engineers and technicians

By taking part, you will be contributing to an unprecedented benchmark for views on engineering ethics, one which will inform many activities in the coming months and years. This audit is part of the work coming from the new report Engineering Ethics: Maintaining society’s trust in the engineering. You can read more about the Academy’s work on ethics on our website.

Working as an engineer in the UK

In general, there is no restriction on the right to practice as an engineer in the UK. There are some areas of work, usually safety related, that are reserved by statute, regulation or industry standards to licensed or otherwise approved persons. You can find out more about these areas on our website.

Recognition of your qualifications

UK ENIC is able to provide support in the recognition of qualifications and skills of refugees and individuals in refugee-like situations. If you need guidance on recognition of refugee qualifications, or information on support they can offer, email UK ENIC at refugee@ecctis.com

Recognition of your engineering competence

Engineering Council registration is an internationally-recognised benchmark of competence and is recognised as desirable in many fields of engineering, but is not mandatory to work as an engineer.

Professional registration entitles you to the use of legally protected titles:
• Engineering Technician (EngTech)
• Incorporated Engineer (IEng)
• Chartered Engineer (CEng)
• Information and Communications Technology Technician (ICTTech)
which may only be used by individuals who are registered with the Engineering Council.

To become professionally registered, engineers and technicians must be a member of and individually assessed by one of the professional engineering institutions (PEIs) licensed for this purpose by the Engineering Council. You will need to join one of the PEIs in order to become registered and they can offer advice on the requirements for registration, based on your individual circumstances. Many of the PEIs offer reduced fees for members in financial difficulty; ask your institution for more information about this.

Registration is renewable annually and requires continued membership of a PEI and compliance with codes of professional conduct, including a requirement to carry out Continuing Professional Development (CPD). You can find a short profile of each of the PEIs, with a guide to the professional registration process, in our Pocket Guide to Professional Registration.

Visas and work in the UK

General advice on visas and immigration is available on the UK Government website, with specific information for Ukrainian nationals. An overview of the Global Talent visa is available on the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Jobs for Ukrainians

For the benefit of Ukrainians and others who have been displaced or have lost their jobs due to war, the jobsforukraine.net, website has been created to help people who have fled to other countries and need to earn a living in order to support their families.

English language practice

The City of Sanctuary network runs ‘Conversation Cafes’ in most towns and cities where they are represented. These are for any asylum seekers or refugees to use as a drop in, with volunteers who are happy to sit and chat with anyone to improve their English and to signpost other help they might need. City of Sanctuary can also help with food, clothing, housing, legal issues, access to English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes etc and their website has a resources page for Ukraine. 

Academics
The Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) provides urgently-needed help to academics in immediate danger, those forced into exile, and many who choose to work on in their home countries despite serious risks. 

Led by The British Academy in partnership with CARA and other national academies, a new programme of Fellowships for researchers at risk will be supported by The Royal Academy of Engineering and funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Please email any enquiries about the scheme to researchersatrisk@thebritishacademy.ac.uk

The Institution of Engineering Designers is very excited to announce that Mandy Chessell CBE FREng HonFIED has agreed to become President Elect, taking on the position of Honorary President at the AGM in July 2022.

Mandy is a computer scientist, a former Distinguished Engineer at IBM, and the first woman to be awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering. 

Mandy joined IBM in 1987, where her early work focused on distributed transaction processing, moving to work on event management, business process modelling and outside-in design (OID) before developing model-driven tools to simplify the analysis and design of large systems and then to automate their development. This work covers the development of user interfaces, services, information integration technology in the field of Master Data Management.

Her more recent work was focused on data lake architectures, metadata management and information governance.  She is the lead of the Egeria open source project that provides an open platform for metadata management, exchange and governance as well as being a founder of Pragmatic Data Research Ltd.

Mandy has collected many accolades during her career, including:

2001 – winner of the Royal Academy of Engineering Silver Medal for the invention and engineering of Reusable Software Component Architecture.

2002 – elected a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering.

2004 – winner of the British Computer Society nomination for the Women’s Engineering Society “Karen Burt” award. 

2006 – winner of the Female Inventor of the Year Award for building capacity for innovation and awarded a prize for the Best Woman in the Corporate Sector at the Blackberry Women in Technology awards.

2011 – Mandy became an Honorary Fellow of Institution of Engineering Designers

2012 – received ‘Innovator of the Year’ at the Cisco everywoman in Technology Awards.

2013 – received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Plymouth University.

2015 – received an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from University of Brighton and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year honours for services to engineering.

2016 – named in the Top 50 Influential Women in Engineering List 2016 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from University of South Wales.

2017 – received an Honorary Doctor of Science from University of Bath.

Mandy has a career-long interest in design and improving the human interface with information technology and the IED Trustees are delighted that she has accepted their invitation to become Honorary President.

Mandy commented: My association with the IED goes back to my election as an Honorary Fellow in 2011 and I’ve kept track of the developments of the Institution and their promotion of design ever since.  I’m really pleased to be able to work more closely with the Institution and look forward to my tenure as Honorary President.

Could you be recognised in 2022 for your outstanding environmental work? 

Do you know a deserving colleague who has recently gone above and beyond to protect or enhance the environment?

The Society for the Environment (SocEnv) is delighted to welcome nominations for the 2022 edition of its annual awards. Nominate here >>

Designed to recognise those outstanding individuals who have innovated, inspired, and have gone beyond what’s expected in their recent work to protect, preserve, or enhance the environment, there are two prestigious awards up for grabs – the Environmental Professional of the Year and Registrant Newcomer of the Year. 

In recent years, the SocEnv Awards have only grown in stature and importance. As noted by Dougal Driver CEnv, Chair of the Awards Judging Panel: “The SocEnv Awards are vital in showcasing all of the outstanding talent from within the environmental profession. Environmental professionals around the world work in a range of sectors and these awards reflect that diversity perfectly. Last year a record number of nominations were received from disciplines as varied as consultancy, training, chemical and operational engineering, water supply, health and social care, resources and waste, energy and environmental management, and the built environment.

The continued outstanding nature of nominations in the last couple of years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, is particularly impressive – demonstrating the resilience and hard work of the environmental professional community. We look forward to receiving another inspiring set of nominations this year.” 

Last year’s Environmental Professional of the Year award winner was Dan Reading CEnv, Head of Sustainability at Right Formula. Reflecting on this achievement a year on, Dan said: “I’ve always viewed the Environmental Professional of the Year Award as the highest accolade for an individual in our profession, so it was a huge honour to win it in 2021.  

In terms of career benefits, you certainly gain additional profile, but I find its greatest value is that it provides additional credibility when operating with clients and industries where assurance is paramount. The award reinforces the fact that I am an experienced Chartered Environmentalist which I’ve also found has opened extremely valuable collaboration opportunities within the environmental sphere. I would encourage all Chartered Environmentalists to apply to showcase what they have been working on in the last year.”

Further reflections come from the 2021 Registrant Newcomer of the Year, Lara Young CEnv, Group Climate Change Director at Costain: “It was a huge honour to be named Registrant Newcomer of the Year in 2021. To be recognised for your expertise and dedication is an amazing feeling – and for this recognition to come from my peers was especially humbling. I am truly grateful for all the help I have received over my career so far.
 
This award came on top of what was an amazing year for me and my team at Costain, including also being named as Energy and Carbon Leader of the Year at the Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards. 
 
As well as recognition for my achievements so far, the award makes me excited for what’s to come in my career. 
 
I would encourage all those who have gained their CEnv, REnvP or REnvTech registration in the last year to enter the 2022 Registrant Newcomer of the Year award. It’s a great way of showcasing your great work as you move through your career journey, as well as providing inspiration to others in our collective efforts to tackle the Climate and Environmental Emergency.”

Submit a Free Nomination
Nominees for both awards must be registered as a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), Registered Environmental Practitioner (REnvP) or Registered Environmental Technician (REnvTech). However, nominations can be submitted by anyone, including self-nominations. 

Please visit socenv.org.uk/socenvawards22 to complete the simple nomination form – where you can also find out further details, including the full entry criteria and conditions and learn more about the previous awards winners. There are no costs to submitting a nomination. 

Nominations for the SocEnv awards are open until 16:00 BST on the 22nd of April 2022 – Earth Day. 

The Results Event
The highly commended finalists and award winners will be announced by means of a free online celebration event on Wednesday 8th June 2022. Please register your free attendance to help celebrate some outstanding professionals, here

We are delighted to announce the launch of the Manufacturing and Engineering Week (M&E Week) Podcast featuring some of the most influential leaders in the sector and members of our esteemed advisory council. 

What a way to kick off the series with the first episode featuring special guest Juergen Maier CBE; the chairman of Made Smarter who joins M&E Week Event Director, Ed Tranter for an incredible chat about how UK manufacturing responded during the pandemic to help save lives and keep the country going, and also how the sector has recovered following the impact of COVID.  

Watch the first episode now and be sure to look out for others in the series in the coming months.

Podcast 1 JuergenMaierCBE – YouTube

Following the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), BSI has considered how they can actively support and contribute towards the collective efforts in mitigating the potential risks caused by this global health issue amongst the UK business community.