From Birdcage Walk

The latest in our ongoing series of updates about activities at the Institution.

Dear Member,

The expression “God’s Own Country” is first recorded as being used by the writer Edward du Bois in 1807.  He was actually referring to the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland.  That’s not something to mention to the Yorkshire Region however who were holding their annual dinner on Friday evening in the Cutlers Hall in Sheffield. The pride in our profession and the importance of heritage was palpable at the home of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, established in 1624. Attended by no less than five Past-Presidents of our own Institution, it was great that we got to recognise the achievements of the ‘next generation’ too with many new Yorkshire members receiving their membership certificates there.

It marked the end of an important week in our history.  The Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday confirmed that we have 37 candidates who have come forward to stand for 21 posts vacant in this year’s elections. The nearly 70,000 of you eligible to vote will be receiving your ballot papers in the coming weeks to be able to express your views ahead of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 22 May.  Two of our key posts however have just one candidate for each which means that they are both expected to be appointed unopposed. These posts are for our President, where Professor Joe McGeough of Edinburgh University is standing and for our President-Elect where Terry Spall, the Commercial Director of MIRA is in the frame. Both have been Trustees before of course, with Joe having run the International Strategy Board and served on the Qualifications and Membership Board. Terry has been in charge of Automobile Division  as well as Technical Strategy Board and a member of Regional Strategy Board. We wish them both well.

Soon to have a Scotsman and an Englishman in charge however does not fully address our continuing challenge to be inclusive. Our online training in diversity and inclusion (registration is required) is proving popular, but there is still much more to do.  Professional Engineering magazine also hit our doormats this last week with its lead story about young engineers and the welcoming improvements we can see there. Just 15% of our new registrants this year are female, but with a legacy of much lower engagement than that, out overall representation is still only 9%. We would welcome any stories or ideas you have to be submitted to PE Magazine on this and indeed any other issues. Contact them via their usual address, profeng@thinkpublishing.co.uk.

Finally, our Annual Report for 2018 is nearing completion. You will find it to be a ‘curate’s egg’ of achievements and areas for improvement. It will be available for you to see in the second week of April in line with it being proposed for adoption at the AGM. We have produced it in a new format this year to try and address some of the feedback we have had from you. There will be more charts and trends of performance over the last ten years. It will also highlight where we have either achieved or fallen short of our 2018 business plan goals. The report is designed to create discussion and hence continuous improvement in what we do. We look forward to getting your reactions and hopefully seeing you to discuss it at Birdcage Walk in May.

Thank you,

Colin Brown

Chief Executive

• Find out more about the Governance and Finance reviews
• Follow previous posts "From Birdcage Walk"