Communications Briefing: 13 October to 9 November 2018

INSTITUTION IN THE NEWS

Matt Rooney, Engineering Policy Adviser, made his TV debut for the Institution on the BBC 2’s Victoria Derbyshire show explaining Carbon Capture and Storage. The Institution’s Engineering Out Fashion Waste also featured twice in the Daily Mail and another report, Automation and Autonomy, was launched. The Press Office announced the launch of a series of the Institution’s challenges and also responded to the Autumn Budget.

Our Chief Executive’s most recent blog can be read here.

• 02/11/2018 Victoria Derbyshire – BBC 2 

  A scientific story which highlights that the world has seriously underestimated the amount of heat soaked up by our oceans over the past 25 years. Matt Rooney appeared on the show to discuss Carbon Capture and Storage, a process of capturing waste carbon dioxide.

• 08/11/2018 How does Britain’s addiction to clothes affect the environment? – Daily Mail

  Story which outlines that Britain's addiction to buying more and more cheap clothes has come under the spotlight in Parliament. The article quotes statistics from the Institution’s Engineering Out Fashion Waste in which we highlight that an eye-watering 400,000 tonnes of clothes are estimated to be dumped in landfill sites in the UK every year.

• 02/11/2018 Boohoo extends its student 'meal deal' offer of a dress, bag AND shoes for just £30 to ALL customers... days after being blasted in Parliament for fuelling a 'throwaway' clothes culture – Daily Mail

  Article about a fashion retailer extending a student deal after it was named and shamed in Parliament for fuelling a throwaway clothes culture. The article quotes statistics from the Institution’s research in which we highlight that the global fashion industry produced more CO2 emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined in 2015. Also featured in Environment Times.

• 31/10/2018 Mile Zeller – BBC Radio Cumbria

  Local news story which highlights local events and suggests listeners attend an illustrated lecture run by the Institution on the ports of Cumbria, and their rise and decline.

• 18/10/2018 13% of the public believes that there should be a limit on the use of robots at work #FutureOfEmployment – FE News

  Coverage of the Institution’s Automation and Autonomy paper in which we highlight that almost a quarter of the public believe the UK needs ethical laws to govern the work robots can do, and that employers and employees will need to work alongside robots and machines in everyday life. Also featured in Machinery Market and Machine Building.

• 30/10/2018 Industry issues subdued response to pre-Brexit budget – The Engineer

  Industry’s response to the Budget which quotes Peter Finegold in which he endorses the provision of government funding to halve contributions smaller companies pay towards apprenticeship training from 10 per cent to five per cent.

• 31/11/2018 Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital receives Engineering Heritage Award – Plant & Works

  News that Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital has been presented with an Engineering Heritage Award for the hospital's pioneering ventilation system, which fed clean air through a 400 foot long duct to the wards, thereby allowing temperature and humidity to be controlled for the benefit of patients. Also featured in Process and Control and Cooling Post.

• 18/10/2018 Locomotive works wins Engineering Heritage Award – Machinery Market

  News that Tyseley Locomotive Works, the working-locomotive restoration centre in Birmingham, was recently presented with an Engineering Heritage Award. The depot was built by the Great Western Railway in 1908 and has been in continuous use for the maintenance and repair of steam locomotives ever since.

• 17/10/2018 IPCC Climate Change Report – the joy of BECCS?

Matt Rooney examines a promising technology, where bioenergy is combined with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), in order to mitigate climate change. A similar story on global temperature rises and which quotes Dr Jenifer Baxter is featured in Modern Power Systems.