COMMUNICATIONS BRIEFING: 17 March to 23 March 2018

Institution in the News

Dr Jenifer Baxter’s letter to The Times on the amount of gas the UK imports from Russia and the options open to us in the future to secure our energy supplies was published. Her response to news that the first autonomous car crash also appeared in The Telegraph and The Daily Mail. The Institution also appeared again in The Telegraph as part of an interview with a postgraduate engineering apprentice who mentions that he attended events and talks organised by the Institution so he could speak to engineers across the industry.

Each year, BP publish their Energy Outlook that looks at different scenarios and makes some conclusions about changes to the energy system that we could see in the run up to 2040. Dr Jenifer Baxter’s blog responds to this and explores what future energy technologies could look like.

The Press Office’s Throwback Thursday Twitter campaign to celebrate the Institution’s heritage featured an image of The Queen Mary.

• 21/03/2018 Nuclear fusion and our importing of energy – The Times

  Dr Jenifer Baxter’s response to an article by Matt Ridley where he conflates a number of energy issues, implying that the UK is somehow reliant on imported gas from Russia. She highlights that numerous options are open to us in the future to secure our energy supplies, and that new low and zero-emission technologies will incrementally replace fossil fuels. The challenge, as always, will be to balance the energy trifactor of security of supply, a lower carbon footprint and the cost to research and deliver these technologies.

• 20/03/2018 We were beginning to trust autonomous cars: Poll says Britons were growing confident about self-driving safety before US fatality – The Daily Mail

  Article which outlines that Britons had started to accept self-driving cars and were becoming increasingly confident about their safety credentials before one was involved in the death of a pedestrian in the US. Features a comment from Dr Jenifer Baxter, who highlights that in 2016, the Institution published a Case Study on Autonomous and Driverless Cars, which raised the need to address societal questions before highly and fully automated cars are both accepted and legally able to be positioned on our roads. Also featured in The Telegraph, The Irish Daily Mail (print only), Digital Look, Fleet World, The Engineer, Environment Guru. 

• 23/03/2018 It's never too late: meet the apprentice with a master's degree – The Telegraph

  An interview with a postgraduate engineering apprentice who mentions that he attended events and talks organised by the Institution so he could speak to engineers across the industry.

• 22/03/2018 IMechE looking for 'exceptional engineers' – Machinery Market

  News that the Institution is calling for nominations for this year’s Prestige Awards, with prizes on offer worth about £20,000 for engineers who have “improved the world or advanced the discipline of engineering, both through professional and volunteering efforts”.

• 21/03/2018 InHealthcare lends tech to fall prevention initiative in East Midlands – Digital Health

Article about a new NHS initiative to help reduce injuries sustained by older people as a result of falls has been launched in the East Midlands. The article highlights that recent research from the Institution suggests that Britain’s Health Service could save billions of pounds each year by adapting homes to suit the needs older people.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

• Peter Finegold advised Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on submitting a Supplementary Question regarding what plans the Government has to ensure the profile-raising work done during the Year of Engineering has real legacy, translating into a school experience where every pupil has a real sense of what engineering is.
• This is following on from the advice he provided to Chi on submitting a Parliamentary Question to ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps the Government is taking to raise awareness of engineering as a career among secondary school pupils, to which Rt Hon Anne Milton MP, Minister of State for Education, responded:

"To ensure young people have the skills needed for jobs in engineering we are investing in programmes to increase the take-up of mathematics, by incentivising schools using the recently launched advanced mathematics premium. We are also supporting better teaching of mathematics, physics and computing in schools, including a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching.

We are improving careers advice in schools – including ensuring that pupils are exposed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs. These encounters with employers and apprenticeships are now built into school career programmes since we have updated the school and college statutory guidance.

Engineering and all it brings is at the heart of economic success and provides exciting opportunities of fulfilling careers. This year we are running a cross-government, national campaign - the ‘Year of Engineering’ – which aims to raise the profile of engineering among 7 to 16 year olds and widening the pool of young people that consider engineering as a career."