• Six engineering researchers awarded grants to advance national security

New technologies to detect clandestine border crossings, safely identify toxic nerve agents, and develop safer high-energy-density battery packs are among those being developed by engineering researchers through this year’s UK Intelligence Community (IC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships.

Focusing on areas of unclassified basic research, the fellowships support cutting edge developments in topics that can assist the intelligence community while providing mentoring to a new generation of engineers.

The UKIC Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, which are offered by the Government Office for Science and administered by the Royal Academy of Engineering, provide a vital link between academia and the intelligence community. Each awardee receives funding for at least two years of their project and mentorship from a Fellow of the Academy as well as an advisor from the intelligence community.

Professor Anthony Finkelstein CBE FREng, Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security to HM government and a Fellow of the Academy, said: “We were delighted by the number and quality of the applicants for the UK IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowships 2020. The six fellows who were selected cover a range of topics which are of interest to the government national security community, from explainable artificial intelligence to gravity portals and nerve agent detection. Excellent pieces of research come out of this programme that support the work of government departments, and the relationships that are built between government and university research groups form the foundation of future research focused on problems that the national security community faces. We welcome the 2020 cohort to the programme.”

The new postdoctoral researchers are:

Dr Ross Drummond, University of Oxford
High-energy-density battery pack design without compromising on safety

As the electrical energy revolution drives forward, Lithium ion battery packs are becoming more energy dense and there is a growing awareness of the risk of fires spreading through the pack. This research will explore the design of high-energy-density packs that do not compromise on safety.

Dr Saied El Faitori, Durham University
Joint building entry loss and clutter loss wideband measurements in modern buildings

5G radio systems use millimetre wave frequency bands to achieve high data rates. These bands have different transmission properties owing to the additional transmission loss from entering a building and the presence of obstacles between the transmitter and receiver (clutter loss). Dr El Faitori aims to develop a way to measure these losses using a system developed at Durham University.

Dr James Gooch, King’s College London
Optical biosensors for the remote detection of nerve agents

Nerve agents are a highly toxic group of compounds that can cause severe respiratory depression, coma and death by disrupting the normal nervous function. Dr Gooch’s research involves the development of a fluorescent biosensor that can detect different classes of nerve agents from a safe distance.

Dr Despoina Kampouridou, University of Birmingham
Active radio frequency and microwave metamaterials for future wireless systems

Ultra-broadband and reconfigurable metamaterials and antennas will provide a disruptive technology for the next generation of mobile communications. Dr Kampouridou’s research aims to develop a new design approach for such metamaterial-based antennas with non-Foster elements.

Dr Andrew Lamb, University of Birmingham
Gravity portals: enabling quantum sensing for enhanced border screening

Dr Lamb’s work aims to enhance border control with precision quantum gravity gradiometers. These use atoms to measure minute changes in local mass, enabling remote and unshieldable vehicle inspection. This new technology could help to improve detection of hidden voids, dangerous cargo and clandestine entrants.

Marko Tesic, Birkbeck, University of London
The role of explanation in (re)building trust in artificial intelligence (AI) systems

Recent years have seen a groundswell of interest in machine-generated explanation for AI systems. This research aims to explore: (i) what a human user considers to be explanatory in the AI context; and (ii) what types of explanations are most conducive to building trust in an AI system’s outputs.

Notes to editors

1. The Government Office for Science offers UK Intelligence Community (IC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships to outstanding early career researchers. These Fellowships are designed to promote unclassified basic research in areas of interest to the intelligence, security and defence community. Each fellowship is capped at a maximum grant of £200,000 over a two-year period.  For more information on the fellowships, visit: https://www.raeng.org.uk/grants-and-prizes/support-for-research/ic-postdoctoral
   Submissions for the UK Intelligence Community (IC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships 2021 will be open in late January 2021.
2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

Media enquiries to:

Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering

T: 020 7766 0745

E: pippa.cox@raeng.org.uk

The Royal Academy of Engineering has welcomed the government’s spending review, following the Chancellor’s speech in the House of Commons earlier today. Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/spending-review-to-fight-virus-deliver-promises-and-invest-in-uks-recovery

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said:

“Today’s Spending Review sets us on the right path to addressing the huge challenges facing the UK against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic – achieving a recovery that marries economic renewal with the societal goals of spreading opportunity and skilled employment more evenly across the nation and reducing our net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. There is a long way to go, but I am pleased to see substantial alignment with the recommendations laid out by the engineering profession in its joint submission to the spending review: Engineering a resilient and sustainable future.

“Government appears to be thinking about infrastructure in parallel with net zero and I welcome this shift. Careful and considered decisions made about infrastructure now will drive economic recovery, provide skilled jobs and improve collective wellbeing. Success in achieving net zero will depend on us retrofitting and building a resilient infrastructure system. The announcement of a National Infrastructure Bank, combined with changes to the Green Book, present a real opportunity to deliver this, by considering longer-term value for money and wider policy goals such as net zero and levelling up.

“Today’s settlement reflects a welcome prioritisation of education and skills. The UK’s ambitions on net zero, infrastructure and digitalisation cannot be achieved unless we create the right talent base and provide more people from all backgrounds and at all levels with the right engineering and technical skills. However, we need a long-term, strategic approach to workforce planning, plus an increased focus on innovation, computing and science in schools, if we are to deliver.

“With this statement, government has set the UK on the road to becoming a science, engineering and innovation superpower, recognising the importance of long-term planning for research, providing a multi-year settlement for the National Academies and UK Research and Innovation’s core research budgets. Supporting innovation is vital to ensure that the UK translates its world-class research in technological breakthroughs that can enhance the productivity and competitiveness of UK business.

“We note that within the reduced envelope for Official Development Assistance, there is a continuing commitment to support developing countries to ‘build back greener’, including through research and development on clean energy technologies. We hope that in the difficult decisions to be made on ODA priorities, the essential contributions of infrastructure and engineering skills to sustainable development are fully reflected.”

Notes for editors

1. The National Engineering Policy Centre is a unified voice for 43 professional engineering organisations, representing 450,000 engineers, a partnership led by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

   We give policymakers a single route to advice from across the engineering profession.

   We inform and respond to policy issues of national importance, for the benefit of society.

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

   In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

   Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact: Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. +44 207 766 0636; email: jane.sutton@raeng.org.uk

The Royal Academy of Engineering has welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement of a ten point plan for a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’. A resilient, net-zero recovery will be vital in setting the UK on the right pathway to meet its target of net-zero territorial emissions by 2050, as set out in the National Engineering Policy Centre’s recent paper Beyond COVID-19: laying the foundations for a net zero recovery. While the pandemic is having a damaging impact on the economy and society, it also presents a window of opportunity to accelerate progress towards net-zero through changes to our built environment and our infrastructure systems, including energy, transport and digital communications.

Academy Fellows and researchers commented on the Prime Minister’s announcement:

Professor Nilay Shah OBE FREng, Vice-Chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre Net Zero working group, said:

“This is an ambitious and broad-ranging announcement. It’s good to see a holistic approach which aims to advance our capabilities across a broad range of domains. There is a good balance of supply, demand and infrastructure interventions planned. However, delivering net-zero in a just and economically beneficial way will require a huge engineering effort, a clear understanding of how the different interventions work together as a system, and accompanying societal and behavioural change. It requires a stable commitment by government to net-zero policymaking over the long term that builds on the short-term economic recovery and responds to the scale and pace of change required.”

Dr Shaun Fitzgerald FREng, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge, said:

“The 10-point plan is to be welcomed since we urgently need a green industrial revolution. Much of the discussion is about reducing our emissions, and this is where we need to start. However, is it enough? Once we get to net zero, with carbon capture and storage for example being used to balance the unavoidable emissions, we will still be left with an atmosphere with too much CO2. We therefore need to do more and invest in active greenhouse gas removal solutions. We need to go harder at the climate than simply getting to net zero, although of course this is a necessary first step.”

Dr Dame Sue Ion DBE FREng FRS said:

While the ten point plan is encouraging to much of the energy industry sector, it doesn’t go nearly far enough in recognising the engineering and financial challenges associated with the journey to net zero. It is also missing an essential element which engineers would immediately recognize as important and that is the systems level thinking required to generate a deliverable roadmap. Each of the areas of focus in the  ten point plan is still treated to a greater or lesser extent as a ‘silo’ with objectives and potential benefits articulated for just that element when what should be happening is consideration of the whole package as a system as they are all interlinked. For instance, while recognition is given to traditional renewables as a source of electricity to enable clean hydrogen to be produced, there is little recognition that small modular reactors potentially have a huge role to play here, not just the longer term more advanced high temperature systems.

The role nuclear power has in providing low-carbon electricity is gaining greater awareness and not before time! However, its significant potential in providing a solution to the more challenging aspects of the goal to achieve net zero has yet to receive the attention it deserves. Nuclear power offers so much more than low carbon electricity. It is vital this is acknowledged and built into the required system level thinking for meeting our future energy demands. This greater utility and generally unrecognised benefit from the heat as well as electricity offered by nuclear energy and not just the advanced systems but also SMRs, delivers real advantage compared with other low carbon energy sources provided it is driven forward to deployment.

There are huge expectations for offshore wind built into the 10 point plan but little recognition of the need to plan for times when even in the offshore environment there are days and nights when the wind is very low or isn’t there at all.

Professor Geoffrey Maitland CBE FREng, Professor of Energy Engineering at Imperial College London, said:

“It is good to see a significant focus on hydrogen as this is needed as the complement to wind to decarbonise domestic heating.  Initially most of this will be ‘blue’ hydrogen made from natural gas which will need point eight, CCS, to remove the co-produced CO2. Producing hydrogen will be a key product of the green industrial clusters, being multi-purpose decarbonised transport and power as well as heating.

“Replacing our dwindling nuclear capacity, much of which is due to be decommissioned soon, is a key element of reaching net zero by 2050.  We need to reinvent and reinvest in our nuclear reactor construction industry to provide clean baseload power to complement wind and other renewables and major employment in northern England.

“The carbon capture initiative is welcome news of significant investment in a key technology without which the UK will not achieve net zero by 2050 and where the UK is playing catch-up after two failed initiatives terminated by the government in 2011 and 2015.  So it is good to see the recommendations of the 2018 CCS Cost Challenge Task Force being followed, with CCS being introduced at up to four industrial clusters involving essential but difficult to decarbonise processes, such as chemicals, cement and steel. These will be too late to impact the 4th carbon budget (2022-26) but will be essential to meet the 5th budget (2026-32) and onwards to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.  The design and construction lead time is two to three years so it would have been better to have four or more clusters given the green light now to ensure the full impact of this essential technology by the early 1930s.

“The vision for hydrogen is inextricably linked to CCS as an enabler and the graded targets towards a fully-heated Hydrogen Town by 2030 is exciting, although there is potential with more investment to roll this out in at least six locations in the same timescale.  Hydrogen, with its multiple green applications, is the ideal complement to increased wind investment.  It has the advantage that ‘blue’ hydrogen from gas plus CCS can be enhanced and eventually replaced by ‘green’ hydrogen from excess cheap renewable electricity used to electrolyse and even cheaper feedstock, water.”

Professor Ian Fells CBE FREng FRSE said:

“The affirmation that nuclear power is ‘clean energy’ and the development of a new generation of small advanced nuclear reactors demonstrates the realisation that new nuclear will play a huge part in moving to net zero carbon.”

Dr Greg Alexander, Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at Newcastle University, said:

“The commitment to carbon capture in the UK is very welcome, but as this type of support has been promised before and was removed at the last minute, we must ensure that it is delivered this time. As these carbon capture projects are largely planned for regions with a long and proud industrial heritage, but where there is significant unemployment now, there will need to be further support for training and reskilling so that jobs go to people living in the local community.

“Although the announcement is heading in the right direction, it is disappointing to see no specific mention of negative emissions technologies as ultimately net zero is only a first step towards going net negative; we need to be thinking about how we do that now.”

Notes for editors

1. The ten point plan for a green industrial revolution

Details of the plan outlined in the Prime Minister’s announcement are available in full in the government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

2. About the Royal Academy of Engineering

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact:

Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering

T: 020 7766 0636

E:  Jane Sutton

Innovative technologies to improve transport on land, sea and in the air make up more than half the 19 new Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowships awarded today to mid-career academics and industrialists across the UK. The Industrial Fellowships aim to strengthen links between universities and industry and to encourage new collaborations. Placements range from six months to two years full- or part-time with the scheme covering the salary costs of each awardee up to a maximum of £50,000 per annum.

On the roads, new technologies being funded include novel power semiconductors for electric vehicles; a human-centric platform to help develop self-driving cars; and smart data compression techniques to enable faster sensors for automated vehicles.  

Researchers are helping to make rail travel safer and more resilient through more realistic simulation of how trains interact with railway infrastructure, and improving risk management systems to help reduce flooding. Next generation circuit breakers are being developed to make power supply more resilient, as well as new control and safety management systems suitable for the increasingly complex nature of the industry.

Aerospace projects will see engineering, geology and atmospheric science combined to reduce the impact of dust on jet engines and new flow measurement technologies will help to develop advanced aero-engines for aircraft of the future.

At sea, integrated mission management will enable autonomous vehicles to perform complex tasks at sea for longer, more reliably and at lower cost.

Among other challenges being addressed by the new Industrial Fellows are the reliability of legacy software systems; security threats posed by cyber-attacks; and how to turn waste plastics—including those that cannot be conventionally recycled—into new reusable plastic and clean low-sulphur fuels.

The 2020 awardees, industrial partners and projects are:

Dr Nicholas Bojdo, University of Manchester and Rolls-Royce plc
Mitigating damage to aero engines in dusty environments

Jet engines are optimised to breathe clean air but end up operating from dusty airports. The subsequent damage varies in nature from one region to the next. This project combines the disciplines of engineering, geology and atmospheric science to understand this variability and to inform damage mitigation solutions.

Stephanie Dawson, Hitachi Rail and University of Birmingham
Delivering a revolution in train testing with digital twin technology

This research project will develop a simulation to integrate Hitachi Rail’s train control software with the University of Birmingham’s Infrastructure Digital Twin using Hardware-In-The-Loop technology. This will allow train control software to be tested in a representative environment, realistically interacting the simulated train with the railway infrastructure.

Dr Andrea Diambra, University of Bristol and Gavin & Doherty Geosolution
CYCL-ON: introducing advanced cyclic soil modelling in offshore wind design

Offshore wind turbines are dynamically sensitive structures that must satisfy strict operability criteria under the critical cyclic storm loadings experienced during their design lifetime. Proper design and assessment of the turbine’s foundation properties is a key element in any design assessment. This project aims to improve the design procedures by including recent modelling developments that capture the full extent of the cyclic soil-foundation interaction mechanisms.

Dr Valentina Donzella, WMG, University of Warwick and ON Semiconductor
Smart data compression for automotive environmental perception sensors

Automated vehicles are on the verge of changing our lives. Sensing the environment requires the vehicles to deploy several sensors and each sensor collects a large quantity of data. This project investigates data-reduction and pre-processing techniques that might enable the fast decision-making process needed for safe motion of automated vehicles.

Dr Suzanne Embury, University of Manchester and Arm Holdings
Round-trip engineering of test suites for legacy software

Periodic reconstruction of software systems is necessary to control costs but is also risky. This project will create tools to capture organisational expertise from mission-critical legacy systems and package it in the form of reusable software test suites that can kick-start rapid and reliable reconstruction of those systems.

Dr Basel Halak, University of Southampton and ARM
Artificial Intelligence enhanced design for secure anti-tamper embedded devices

Compromised hardware products pose serious threats if used in critical infrastructure and military applications. The continuously evolving landscape of security threats calls for equally effective and adaptive defence mechanisms. This project will develop such a mechanism, using machine learning algorithms to rapidly detect malicious behaviours in an embedded system and intercede to stop a potential attack.

Dr Mike Jennings, Swansea University and Newport Wafer Fab Limited
Automotive qualified power semiconductor devices

Future automobile pistons will be based on power semiconductors that are ubiquitous within electric vehicle power electronic (PE) systems. This project aims to realise automotive-ready semiconductor components based on new materials such as gallium nitride and silicon carbide.

Dr Hongsin Kim, Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, University of Birmingham and TÜV Rheinland Risktec Solutions Ltd
New paradigm for education in railway control and safety management

The rapid growth of digital technologies has highlighted the complex nature of the rail industry as never before. This project will provide effective teaching materials to support the next generation of industry leaders to fully understand the new requirements for risk/safety management in the digital railway.

Dr Gerald Morgan, Edenvale Young Associates and University of Bath
Modelling the effectiveness of natural flood risk management

This project aims to develop flood simulation model that can directly simulate modern, natural flood mitigation measures such as tree-planting and wetland regeneration. Using global-scale datasets and physically based approaches, the project will aim for broad applicability and robustness to climate change.

Dr Despina Moschou, University of Bath and Caura Ltd
Glucopatch: wearable devices for painless, user-driven glucose management

This fellowship will develop a second generation prototype from an existing device that includes a patch to continuously monitor glucose and lactate levels, currently used by professional athletes to improve their performance and training efficiency. It will explore the capabilities of the device for biomedical applications in healthcare.

Dr Hussam Muhamedsalih, University of Huddersfield and Paragraf Ltd
Robust measurement sensor for advanced manufacturing

The unique properties of two-dimensional materials such as graphene have many potential applications such as in semiconductors. This research will develop a novel sensor to rapidly measure the surfaces of these materials and the contaminants or impurities present, which can significantly affect the performance and prevent scale-up of the manufacturing process.

Dr Andrew Nichols, University of Sheffield and Network Rail
Whole-life costing and decision tools for rail drainage management

Railways use drainage systems to transport water away. When these become compromised, flooding can cause delays and endanger human life. This Fellowship will explore risk-based management approaches to support performance prediction and strategic financial and maintenance planning that will contribute to a more reliable and safer railway network for everybody.

Dr Daniel Paluszczyszyn, De Montfort University and HORIBA MIRA Ltd
Human centric platform for self-driving cars development, testing and validation

This collaboration aims to integrate De Montfort University’s Immersive Vehicle Virtual Reality Testbed simulator with HORIBA MIRA’s R&D testing ecosystem, including a connected and autonomous vehicle demonstrator. This setup will enable the study of a wide range of self-driving car concepts, helping to model participants’ behaviour in diverse, replicable, and close-to-reality scenarios.

Ben Pritchard, Thales and University of Southampton
Integrated Mission Management for Autonomous Systems

Navies and other maritime users expect autonomous vehicles to be able to perform ever more complex tasks for longer, further away, at lower cost, more reliably and with fewer people. Mr Pritchard’s research aims to understand how human supervisors can best interact with squads of mixed maritime autonomous vehicles to maximise human-system team performance.

Dr Leonid Shpanin, Sheffield Hallam University and BRUSH SWITCHGEAR LIMITED
Next-generation circuit breakers for enhanced performance of UK rail networks

A medium voltage direct current circuit breaker will be developed for DC rail applications. It will use an enhanced electromagnetic technique pioneered by Dr Shpanin to address the technical challenge of extinguishing large current faults or short circuits on UK railways, providing more reliable and resilient electric power delivery.

Dr Pengzhu Wang, Bridon International Ltd and Queen Mary University of London
Smart rope with sensing capability using multifunctional materials

Ropes are widely used in elevators, cranes, suspension bridges and marine vessels and unpredicted rope failures cause accidents. This collaborative project aims to develop high performance fibre ropes with built-in sensing capabilities that can help to eliminate safety concerns and allow wider use of ropes.

Dr Kit Windows-Yule, University of Birmingham and Recycling Technologies Ltd
Novel positron imaging and Euler-Lagrange modelling of plastic recycling systems

Plastic pollution is one of the foremost challenges of our age. Using cutting-edge numerical simulation and positron imaging techniques, this project will develop a novel recycling system to turn waste plastics—including those which cannot be conventionally recycled—into new plastic feedstocks and clean, low-sulphur fuels.

Dr Pavlos Zachos, Cranfield University and Rolls-Royce plc
Non-intrusive flow diagnostics in industrial testing for future aircraft configurations

Propulsion system integration for novel aircraft can benefit from the application of non-intrusive flow measurement technologies to understand complex aerodynamics. Dr Zachos’ research aims to transfer such measurement capability to industrial applications to support the development of advanced aero-engines for future aircraft architectures.

Dr Zhenyu Jason Zhang, University of Birmingham and Proctor and Gamble
SustainAble and Eco-Friendly (SAFE) consumer goods: a nano-formulation engineering approach

Building on expertise in soft matter engineering and tribology, this fellowship aims to help reduce water and energy use and increase the use of natural compounds for laundry, personal hygiene, household cleaning, discharging less waste in the form of surfactants and packaging materials.

Notes for Editors

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowships scheme enables mid-career academics and industrialists to undertake a collaborative research project in either an industrial or academic environment, where one party would host the other. The scheme aims to strengthen the strategic relationship between industry and academia by providing an opportunity to establish or enhance collaborative research between the two parties.

• The scheme is open to engineers from all disciplines
• Awards can be held from six months to two years, full-time or part-time
• The Academy will contribute up to a maximum of £50,000 (per-annum) towards the basic salary costs (excluding overheads) of the applicant, paid pro-rata against the amount of time to be spent at the host organisation. The total award is capped at £100,000 for awards that exceed one year in duration
   

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

Media enquiries to Pippa Cox, Communications Manager (email: Pippa.Cox@raeng.org.uk, ph: 020 7766 0740)

Paralympic gold medallist Jonnie Peacock’s blade to become first exhibit in a new virtual museum, being developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering to help tackle engineer shortage in the UK

• Paralympic gold-medallist Jonnie Peacock’s blade will become the first engineering exhibit in a new virtual museum accessible via QR Codes or ‘QRtefacts’

• Visitors will be able to explore the ground-breaking engineering innovations that are tackling societal issues and shaping the everyday, including an exhibit on developing a Covid-19 vaccine

• The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced plans to create the Museum of Engineering Innovation to celebrate often unsung engineering accomplishments and inspire engineers of the future in response to the worrying engineer shortage in the UK

• The Museum, which will roll out in 2021, aims to challenge the narrow stereotype of engineering and encourage people from more diverse backgrounds to consider a career in the profession 

• A preview collection of exhibits will be published on Google Arts & Culture onThis is Engineering Day which falls in Tomorrow’s Engineers Week

Plans to create a new virtual museum have been announced today by the Royal Academy of Engineering in an effort to address narrow perceptions of engineering that are contributing to a skills and diversity shortfall in the profession in the UK. Research from 2018 estimated that only 12%¹ of the engineering workforce are female and just 9% are from BAME backgrounds.

Instead of being housed in a building, the exhibits in the virtual Museum of Engineering Innovation, when it rolls out in 2021, will be accessible via QR codes or ‘QRtefacts’.  Placed in accessible locations dotted around the UK, each QRtefact will signpost users to an individual exhibit within the online Museum.  Also accessed via Google Arts & Culture, the Museum will celebrate the often-unseen engineering that is all around us, shining a spotlight on the diverse engineers that are making a difference to our everyday lives and futures in a bid to inspire the next generation.

The first collection of exhibits will include the carbon fibre blade of reigning world champion and gold medallist, Jonnie Peacock. A QR code has been placed on the ‘Ferrari of running legs’, giving everyone (who can keep up with him) access to the virtual museum. Once scanned, or by visiting the Google Arts & Culture platform, visitors will be able to learn about the incredible engineering that went into making Jonnie’s blade, and how far the sporting world has come thanks to engineered high-performance prosthetics.

Jonnie Peacock comments on his blade becoming the virtual museum’s first QR-tefact:

“Whenever I wear my blade I get such a great response, particularly from children, able bodied and disabled, who think it’s really cool. I’d like them to know that I wouldn’t be where I am today and have this super cool prosthetic leg if it wasn’t for engineers and amazing feats of engineering, which is why I am supporting This is Engineering Day, to help demonstrate some of the many different ways engineering makes a difference and to inspire the engineers of the future.” 

The exhibits on ‘display’ at the museum will highlight the engineering that we often take for granted, but that has helped change, improve and in some instances, save lives. Exhibits will include Jonnie’s Blade along with the following²:

• The Factory-in-a-box, developed by Professor Harris Makatsoris and his team of engineers at King’s College London, minimises the space and equipment needed for high volume vaccine manufacturing, making it possible to produce RNA-based vaccines, such as one of the vaccines being developed to tackle Covid-19, in any location and at a much faster rate than a typical vaccine manufacturing plant. 
• The pBone, which is the first 3D printed plastic trombone.  The recyclable ABS plastic³ instrument, which weighs less than a kilogram and uses fewer resources than its brass cousin, is designed to encourage younger players who have difficulties with the weight and balance of a normal trombone  
• Bricks made from recycled and breathable materials, also known as K-Briq, which will be used to create the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion
• Motion capture digital technology, created by actor Andy Serkis’ company Imaginarium, that turned The Tempest’s Ariel into a 17ft high harpie in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2017 production
• How the Singing in the Rain production, relaunching at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in 2021, made it rain on stage, whilst ensuring equipment stayed dry, avoiding technical problems
• The 15-metre Arcadia Spider, which attracts thousands of party goers at Glastonbury Festival – an impressive, if unusual, example of engineering
• A range of artwork shining a light on award winning feats of engineering by conceptual still life photographer Ted Humble-Smith

The announcement falls on This is Engineering Day (4th November), a national awareness day led by the Royal Academy of Engineering to address the narrow stereotype of engineering, celebrate the varied and vital roles that engineers play, and encourage more young people to consider a career in the profession. The day is part of Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, a week of activities designed to provide inspiring and exciting opportunities for young people to experience the world of engineering.

On This is Engineering Day the Academy will also be calling on organisations and brands that rely on engineers and engineering to nominate engineering innovations that are making a difference to exhibit in the Museum in 2021.

Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, comments:

“Engineers play a profoundly important role in shaping the world around us, however research³ reveals that over three quarters (76%) of young people aged 11-19 and 73% of parents do not know a lot about what those working in engineering actually do. This is an issue that affects all of us because without a skilled and diverse engineering workforce we will not be able to power a sustainable economic recovery in the UK, or tackle some of our biggest global challenges. 

That’s why today, on This is Engineering Day, we are announcing plans to create the virtual Museum of Engineering Innovation. This is Engineering Day gives us an opportunity to bring untold stories to life in a way that shows the surprising and inspiring role that engineers play as hidden enablers of progress. Engineering is a fantastic career if you want to make a difference, improve people’s lives and shape the future, and through our Museum of Engineering Innovation we want to inspire many more people from all parts of society to become future engineers.”

Amit Sood, Director of Google Arts & Culture, comments:

“If you were asked what links a West End musical, an Olympic athlete and the Mary Rose ship, what would the answer be? These are just a few examples of the stories that the Royal Academy of Engineering are bringing to life that demonstrate the importance of engineering in our daily lives. We are delighted to share a selection of online exhibits on Google Arts & Culture to help celebrate This Is Engineering Day and we are looking forward to building on this initial launch for audiences around the world to get inspired by engineering.”

This is Engineering Day is part of the This is Engineering campaign, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering to give more young people, from all backgrounds, the opportunity to take up engineering careers. More information on the campaign can be found at www.ThisisEngineering.org.uk, @ThisisEng on Twitter and @ThisisEngineering on Instagram. #BeTheDifference #ThisIsEngineering

Notes to editors

1. Research carried out by EngineeringUK. Data from the 2018 State of Engineering Report
2. Exhibits featured in the first collection can be accessed at https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/museum-of-engineering-innovation
3. Research carried out by EngineeringUK. Data from the 2019 Engineering Brand Monitor captured in Jan – Feb 2019, based on a sample of 2,514 pupils aged 7-19, 1,023 educators, and 1,810 members of the public

About Jonnie Peacock

Jonnie is the Double Paralympic, World & European T44 100m Champion. He sensationally won his first Paralympic title at the London 2012 Games during one of the best summers in British Athletics history. He then successfully defended his title at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Jonnie is already an inspiration to many young people and is passionate about building the profile of disability sport globally. He has vowed to take part in as many Paralympics as he possibly can, with the hope of winning more medals in the process.

About This is Engineering

This is Engineering is a campaign to raise awareness of the breadth of careers in engineering and help address the significant engineering skills and diversity shortfall that is holding back growth and productivity across the UK economy. The campaign aims to give more young people, from the broadest possible backgrounds, the opportunity to take up an exciting, engaging, rewarding and in demand career.

This is Engineering is led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, in collaboration with EngineeringUK. The campaign has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and our corporate partners. More information about the campaign is available at www.thisisengineering.org.uk and @ThisIsEng on Twitter

Strategic partner

EngineeringUK

Founding Principal partners

BAE Systems

National Grid

Principal partners

Amazon

Anglo American

BP

Centrica

Rolls-Royce

Shell UK

Major partners

Facebook

Google Arts & Culture

Sponsors

MBDA

Mott MacDonald

Teledyne e2v

WSP

Principal university partners

University of Oxford

Major university partners

Anglia Ruskin University

Aston University

University partners

Kings College London

Manchester Metropolitan University

University of Southampton

University of Glasgow

About Tomorrow’s Engineers Week

Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (#TEWeek20) takes place from 2-6 November 2020 and highlights to young people that engineering is a creative, problem solving, exciting career that improves the world around us. Tomorrow’s Engineers Week is led by EngineeringUK. To find out how to get involved, visit www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek

About the Royal Academy of Engineering

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

 Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

About EngineeringUK

EngineeringUK is a not-for-profit organisation, which works in partnership with the engineering community to inspire tomorrow’s engineers and increase the number and diversity of young people choosing academic and vocational pathways into engineering. EngineeringUK leads engagement programmes The Big Bang, Robotics Challenge and Energy Quest, helps schools bring STEM to life through real-world engineering via Neon, creates inspiring engineering careers resources and campaigns through Tomorrow’s Engineers and produces a body of research including the flagship State of Engineering report.www.engineeringuk.com

About Google Arts & Culture

Google Arts & Culture puts the collections of more than 2,000 museums at your fingertips. It’s an immersive way to explore art, history and the wonders of the world, from Van Gogh’s bedroom paintings to the women’s rights movement and the Taj Mahal. The Google Arts & Culture app is free and available online for iOS and Android. The team has been an innovation partner for cultural institutions since 2011. Google Arts & Culture develops technologies that help preserve and share culture and allow curators to create engaging exhibitions online and offline.

• New report from the National Engineering Policy Centre calls for greater investment in net-zero capacity and digital transformation, and national workforce planning strategy to increase technical capability

There is a large gap between government funding commitments and the true scale of changes required for a net-zero economic recovery from COVID-19, according to a paper published today by the National Engineering Policy Centre, which represents 43 UK engineering organisations with a combined membership of nearly half a million engineers. With one year until COP 26 the UK has a responsibility to be a global leader for rapid carbon emissions reduction. The paper calls on the government to step up the level of investment it is prepared to make in clean growth to match that of other ambitious nations like Germany and the Republic of Ireland, to maintain international competitiveness, and build on the UK’s strengths and capabilities in clean technologies.

Read ‘Beyond COVID-19: laying the foundations for a net-zero recovery’ here

Urgent action is needed to build net-zero capacity, says the paper, and policy decisions that can rapidly mobilise entire industries must be taken if the UK is to meet its carbon emissions target of net zero by 2050. In tackling the current employment and economic crises caused by the pandemic, the government must not lose sight of broader objectives such as net zero, resilience, international competitiveness and the need to create a more equal society. The paper sets out five foundations for government to deliver a net zero recovery.

Read a summary of the paper here

The UK has a chance to make the best use of its existing assets and to develop more flexible and efficient infrastructure systems for the future, says the paper. It recommends that recovery funds for carbon-intensive industries should require them to commit to ambitious but achievable targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These include engineering industries such as aviation, rail and energy-intensive manufacturing such as steel production and chemical processing. Cumulative, connected change is required across different policy areas and economic sectors to deliver net-zero, and government should consider the technologies that will be needed and how people’s jobs and lives will be impacted as a result.

The five foundations in the paper are:

• Government must ensure that recovery packages work together as a whole to pivot the UK towards a net-zero economy.
• Government spending on new infrastructure and public buildings must avoid the trap of high carbon construction methods and lay the foundations for a future net-zero infrastructure system including minimising the need for future retrofitting, by basing spending choices on outcomes and including whole-life carbon evaluation.
• Government should drive digital transformation as an essential enabler of net-zero and resilience.
• Government must increase the UK’s technical capability to deliver net-zero by creating a national workforce planning strategy and implementing proactive policies on diversity and inclusion in employment and training that will help reverse the impact of COVID-19 on employment opportunities for women and people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
• Government should deploy a cross-sectoral systems approach to policymaking that accounts for the impact that transforming one part of the economy or national infrastructure will have on the others.

Dervilla Mitchell CBE FREng, UKIMEA chair at Arup and a chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre Net Zero Working Group, says:

“We must guard against the possibility that, as economies around the world recover from the impacts of the pandemic, plans for a low-carbon recovery unravel, and we lock the country into high-emissions infrastructure and systems that simply return us to past norms.

“Investing in low-carbon technology and practices now will create jobs and pay dividends for the economy and the UK’s net-zero emissions target.

“Real progress on reducing carbon emissions will need to be built in the short-term, maintained over the long term, be sustainable over successive governments, and able to withstand disruptive events in future.”

Notes for Editors

The National Engineering Policy Centre

We are a unified voice for 43 professional engineering organisations, representing 450,000 engineers, a partnership led by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

We give policymakers a single route to advice from across the engineering profession.

We inform and respond to policy issues of national importance, for the benefit of society.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact: Victoria Runcie at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. 0207 766 0620; email: victoria.runcie@raeng.org.uk

• Schools can register now to ask engineers questions on Wednesday 4 November

• This is Engineering: Entertainment activity pack now available for schools

Students are invited to a live Q&A event to ask engineers about how the technology they develop is changing our lives on This is Engineering Day, Wednesday 4 November 2020.

With a theme of #BeTheDifference, This is Engineering Day will celebrate the engineering that shapes our world for the better, whether that’s by making our day to day lives easier or tackling some of our biggest global challenges.

The Royal Academy of Engineering will host online Q&A sessions, where two engineers will answer students’ questions live.

Schools are invited to register for one of the five sessions here

• 9.15am – How technology is changing the way we communicate
• 10.15am – How to respond to a global health crisis
• 11.15am – How to get into engineering
• 1.45pm – Engineering sport
• 2.45pm- How to engineer a sustainable world

This is Engineering Day is part of the This is Engineering campaign, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, which aims to give more young people from all backgrounds an opportunity to consider engineering careers.

Students can also explore the essential role that engineers play in the entertainment industry with a new STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) activity pack. This is Engineering: Entertainment contains intriguing activities and challenges inspired by engineers featured in the This is Engineering campaign. Students can get involved by tracking sporting data, exploring the ‘4th dimension’, creating light displays, investigating synthetic beats and producing a scene from a horror film. 

Most activities can be done in the classroom or at home without extra equipment.

Download the activity pack here

Some 17,500 individual student packs will be distributed via almost 1,000 schools across the UK, each containing the materials needed to complete all the different challenges. Teachers can register to join the Academy’s Connecting STEM Teachers programme to receive training and the complete education resources.

Find out more about the Connecting STEM Teachers programme here

Notes for Editors

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

What we do

TALENT & DIVERSITY

We’re growing talent by training, supporting, mentoring and funding the most talented and creative researchers, innovators and leaders from across the engineering profession.

We’re developing skills for the future by identifying the challenges of an ever-changing world and developing the skills and approaches we need to build a resilient and diverse engineering profession.

INNOVATION

We’re driving innovation by investing in some of the country’s most creative and exciting engineering ideas and businesses.

We’re building global partnerships that bring the world’s best engineers from industry, entrepreneurship and academia together to collaborate on creative innovations that address the greatest global challenges of our age.

POLICY & ENGAGEMENT

We’re influencing policy through the National Engineering Policy Centre – providing independent expert support to policymakers on issues of importance.

We’re engaging the public by opening their eyes to the wonders of engineering and inspiring young people to become the next generation of engineers.

For more information please contact: Victoria Runcie at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. 0207 766 0620; email: victoria.runcie@raeng.org.uk

Congratulations to all our Fellows and friends who have been recognised in The Queen’s Birthday Honours list:

Order of the British Empire – Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE)

Professor Dame Muffy Calder DBE OBE FREng FRSE, Vice Principal and head, College of Science and Engineering, University of Glasgow. For services to Research and Education

Order of the British Empire – Commanders of the Order of the British Empire – CBE

Jane Atkinson CBE FREng. Executive director, Engineering and Automation, Bilfinger UK. For services to Chemical Engineering

Order of the British Empire – Officer of the Order of the British Empire – OBE

Professor Simon Pollard OBE FREng. Pro Vice-Chancellor, Cranfield University. For services to Environmental Risk Management (Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire)

Professor Nilay Shah OBE FREng. Professor of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. For services to the Decarbonisation of the UK Economy

Honours for service to the fight against COVID-19

The Academy welcomes the recognition of all those who have worked to tackle the pandemic, from the engineers who have kept vital infrastructure and services running to medical engineers and innovators who have developed new technologies to assist medical teams, as acknowledged in our President’s Special Awards for Pandemic Service, announced in August.

We welcome in particular honours to the following:

Professor Catherine Noakes OBE, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings, University of Leeds. For services to the Covid-19 response

The PerSo team in Southampton who developed personal respirators for healthcare workers:

Professor Paul Elkington MBE, Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Southampton University. For services to Medicine particularly during Covid-19 (Winchester, Hampshire)

Professor Hywel Morgan MBE, Professor of Bioelectronics, University of Southampton. For services to Biomedical Engineering particularly during Covid-19 (Salisbury, Wiltshire)

Also:

Professor Tim Baker MBE, Engineer, University College London. For services to Healthcare in the UK and Abroad during Covid-19. One of the UCL team who developed a CPAP breathing aid

Christopher Spicer BEM, Project Leader, Zephyr Plus Ventilator Design and Build, Babcock International.  For services to the Covid-19 response.

Ends

Notes for Editors

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact: Pippa Cox at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. 020 7766 0745; email: Pippa.Cox@raeng.org.uk

The Royal Academy of Engineering has today established the first regional base for its Enterprise Hub – in Belfast. The Enterprise Hub: Northern Ireland, supported by Invest Northern Ireland, is based at Ormeau Baths co-working space in Belfast.

Senior Regional Business Development Manager Gillian Gregg will be based at the Belfast hub to champion ambitious engineering entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland, supporting the region’s brightest technology and engineering entrepreneurs to realise their potential. She will be growing a local network of engineering entrepreneurs, mentors, institutions, accelerators and investors.

The Academy established its Enterprise Hub in 2013 to run programmes for entrepreneurial engineers at different career stages. Each one offers equity-free funding, an extended programme of mentorship and coaching and a lifetime of support through connection to an exceptional community of engineers and innovators from among the Academy’s Fellows, many of whom have set up highly successful companies.

The Enterprise Hub currently supports more than 200 engineering and technology entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth SMEs who have attracted over £200 million in external funding. Only seven of these entrepreneurs are based in Northern Ireland, and the Belfast hub is looking to significantly grow this number by providing financial support, training and coaching to early stage and scale up entrepreneurs as well as exceptional connections to the nation’s best engineering minds. According to a report[1] by Beauhurst there are 612 active, ambitious companies in Northern Ireland, and 35% of these are at seed stage. Only 32% of high-growth companies in Northern Ireland have raised equity investment, which is far lower than the UK average of 52%.

David Cleevely CBE FREng, Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Committee and serial entrepreneur and investor, said:

“There is a great entrepreneurial culture in Northern Ireland with strong focus on engineering and technology, building on its rich innovation heritage. The Enterprise Hub can add value here by providing specialist support to entrepreneurs and giving them access to the Royal Academy of Engineering’s network of world-leading engineers. We want to help this vibrant start-up community to grow.”

Stephen Wightman, Director for Technology Solutions at Invest NI, said:

“We are pleased to welcome the establishment of the Royal Academy’s first regional hub to Northern Ireland. Our team has helped to bring the investment here, and we have offered support towards the Senior Regional Business Development Manager role. Northern Ireland has a vibrant and diverse engineering and technology sector, exporting to all corners of the globe. The addition of the Royal Academy’s facilities, connections and mentoring will support and enhance the development of new and existing Northern Ireland entrepreneurial talent in the field of engineering and technology.”

Notes for Editors

The Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Hub supports the UK’s brightest technology and engineering entrepreneurs to realise their potential.

Our goal is to encourage creativity and innovation in engineering for the benefit of all. By fostering lasting, exceptional connections between talent and expertise, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of innovation that can deliver on this ambition.

The Enterprise Hub was formally launched in April 2013. Since then, we have supported over 130 researchers, recent graduates and SME leaders to start up and scale up businesses that can give practical application to their inventions. We’ve awarded over £4 million in grant funding, and our Hub Members have gone on to raise over £100 million in additional funding.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact: Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering Tel. 0207 766 0636; email: jane.sutton@raeng.org.uk

[1] https://www.beauhurst.com/research/high-growth-northern-ireland/

• Advice published on critical issues for reprocessing of single-use PPE for critical shortages as second wave of Covid-19 infection looms and government publishes its PPE strategy
• Government encouraged to pursue more sustainable use of PPE as pandemic continues

Serious consideration should be given to decontaminating and reusing some types of PPE in order to maintain supplies and reduce waste, provided it can be safely reprocessed and suitable quality assurance procedures established, according to a paper published today by the National Engineering Policy Centre. The paper, following the government’s publication of its PPE Strategy for England, was drawn up following international consultation with engineers and manufacturers in other countries where various methods of reprocessing have been tested and evaluated.

With a winter surge in Covid-19 cases looming across the UK, the NHS should consider developing appropriate reprocessing facilities, the paper says. This would need to be done in consultation with experts across the delivery pipeline to ensure all the component parts including validated reprocessing facilities, logistics, and the provision of skilled personnel can scale simultaneously to meet potential demand.

Over 2 billion items of PPE were delivered to the health and social care system in England alone between March and July 2020, including over 400 million masks, 300 million aprons, 4 million gowns and half a billion pairs of gloves. The UK has rapidly scaled domestic PPE manufacturing capability, with UK-based supply anticipated to meet 70% of forecasted demand in December for all categories of PPE, excluding gloves – by far the biggest component of PPE by number. However, this may be tested by the challenges of winter if there are sustained periods of high transmission rates and increased hospital admissions or supply disruptions due to adverse weather events and the end of the EU transition period. The paper outlines how reprocessing could help to reduce pressure on supplies.

The potential decontamination methods detailed in the paper have been studied and trialled in the US, China, Finland, Japan and Germany, including treatment with hydrogen peroxide vapour, ultraviolet light, moist heat, dry heat and irradiation. The method of decontamination chosen would determine which items of PPE were applicable, necessary validations, potential risks and how many times the PPE could be reprocessed. Adopting a standardised approach across the UK would be beneficial.

Quality management records for any decontamination methods adopted would be critical to ensure good practice, traceability, and auditability alongside robust health and safety protocols to assess and manage risk assessments. Rigorous validation and verification would be required of any approach to the reprocessing of single use PPE to ensure that the PPE decontamination process was effective and did not introduce other risks. This would include assessments to ensure the elimination of Sars-CoV-2 and other micro-organisms, quantitative fit tests and performance tests.  Any soiled or damaged PPE has to be disposed of appropriately and reprocessed PPE must be tracked to ensure that that reuse does not exceed the recommended number of cycles.

Healthcare professionals would need to be consulted to ensure that the risks of reprocessing PPE are fully understood and any process deployed should be validated locally but remain under review as scientific evidence continues to emerge.

Professor David Delpy CBE FREng FRS FMedSci, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, says:

“We welcome the government’s PPE strategy, which outlines how it aims to move away from disposable by default and assess new types of PPE that are designed for reuse from the outset. Some UK pilot studies are now in progress.

“However, as the pandemic continues, we think there should be more emphasis on decontamination methods, which if properly used could enable more sustainable use of PPE that is specifically designed for reuse and reprocessing. We need to be conscious of the environmental impact of using and disposing of so much plastic waste, particularly when much of it has to be incinerated after use.

“It is vital to ensure that critical care workers have access to PPE if there is another sustained period of high Covid-19 transmission and emergency reprocessing of single-use PPE should not be seen as an alternative to increasing the supply of vital protective clothing and equipment for our frontline staff.”

Notes for Editors

1.    The National Engineering Policy Centre commentary on considerations for PPE reprocessing based on international practices was developed in consultation with Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering, experts in the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management, the Institution of Engineering Designers, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering UK Affiliate and through the Academy’s international networks with other engineering Academies.

2.    National Engineering Policy Centre

We are a unified voice for 43 professional engineering organisations, representing 450,000 engineers, a partnership led by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

We give policymakers a single route to advice from across the engineering profession.

We inform and respond to policy issues of national importance, for the benefit of society.

3.    The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

For more information please contact:

Jane Sutton at the Royal Academy of Engineering

T: 0207 766 0636

E:  Jane Sutton