COMMUNICATIONS BRIEFING: 7 to 13 April 2018

INSTITUTION IN THE NEWS

The contribution of George and Robert Stephenson to the development of the railways in the nineteenth century was discussed on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time and John Wood, Chair of the Heritage Committee and Past President of the Institution, appeared on a local radio show to discuss the fighter-bomber which received an Engineering Heritage Award. The Institution also responded to the gender pay gap in the engineering sector, which was picked up in the trade press.

The Press Office’s Throwback Thursday Twitter campaign to celebrate the Institution’s heritage featured an image of the first Singer Sewing machine, dating back from 1851.

• 09/04/2018 Unique prototype of 'groundbreaking aircraft' recognised with national award – BOB fm

  Continued broadcast coverage of the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito being awarded an Engineering Heritage Award on the radio station’s news bulletins.

• 09/04/2018 Captain’s blog – Bath drone team weighs up its options – The Engineer

  The second instalment of a new blog series, where Bath University’s Ed Handford updates The Student Engineer on the drone team’s progress towards the IMechE Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Challenge.

• 13/04/2018 Institution of Mechanical Engineers responds to the gender pay in the engineering sector – Process and Control Today

  Quote from Peter Finegold, in which he states that greater gender balance and diversity are essential for engineering organisations to become the highest performing companies they can be.

• 09/04/2018 Government remains committed to developing self-driving vehicles on British roads – Fleet News

  News that self-driving vehicle tests will not be halted in the UK after a pedestrian was killed by a fully autonomous car operated by Uber in the US. Includes a comment from Dr Jenifer Baxter, who remarked that engineers will need to create an environment where connected autonomous vehicles can operate safely with or without an operator during a transition period to a fully autonomous vehicle system.

• 13/04/2018 RGU Engineering Students Win IMechE Award – Process Industry Match

News that a group of engineering students at Robert Gordon University have won a project award from the Institution, which allowed them the opportunity to present research at a major industry conference. Also featured in Engineering Specifier.