The purpose of the workshop was to help to identify in what ways the engineering profession, engineering practices and engineered systems are likely to change in the future.
We followed the “Transition Engineering” process, designed as a framework for changing complex engineered systems to realise the capacity for continuity – to enable a sustainable future.
Thanks to the generosity of our invited delegates, who gave two days of their time, and their considerable combined intellect, we now have the raw material to develop into a really useful and consensus-based vision of how engineering will change.
The detail has to go through a process of review, so I can only say now that the response was: “A really interesting and inspiring couple of days. I really enjoyed the process and think that we had some positive outcomes by the end”.
We are now in the process of assessing the raw detailed outputs of the workshop, which will inform the next stage of the programme (see explanation of three stages below). A webinar is planned for autumn 2014 (date TBD), which will disseminate the first findings from the expert meeting.
This wasn’t a normal seminar, and participants didn’t listen passively to presentations. It was rather a series of very participative, and informal, exercises about engineering, the context of the world in which we provide engineering solutions, and how engineering responds to change.
The meeting was convened because we know that significant changes can be foreseen in the future that will impact on engineered systems and on the engineering profession, and that engineers need to respond to all of these in order to ‘improve the world through engineering’ – some changes have already been considered by IMechE; for example institution endeavours on food sustainability, transport, and energy storage. We also know that despite significant engineering successes in the fields of Energy Environment and Sustainability, the trajectories of key indicators (CO2, availability of energy and other resources, etc) are still going the wrong way; we are becoming less able to ensure that our complex engineered system will work in the long term future.
We know it is difficult to find consensus about holistic impacts of external changes, and it is difficult to identify appropriate responses for diverse industry sectors that are dependent on the engineering profession. We therefore decided to bring together a wide range of senior level engineers and other professionals from a diverse background to spend some time on:
Finding consensus about the changes that we can foresee, to which we as professional engineers should respond – to identify what a changed world might look like and what engineering might look like in that world.
To identify what we don’t know about ‘engineering in a changed world’ but that we need to know, so that we can commission research, find answers, and enable the engineering profession to respond better to the changes identified.
This Expert Meeting is the first stage of the three-stage ‘Engineering in a Changed World’ programme being run by EESG. You’ll have heard me talking about this programme in recent TSB meetings, and it is the programme that’s being funded by the TSB Learned Society funding scheme at the IMechE.
EESG 3 stage learning process - Stage 1 – Expert Meeting / Workshop
The first stage essentially identifies ‘what do we need to know that we don’t know?’ The output from the Expert Meeting will include key agreements and questions identified by the experts:
• What external changes are likely to affect engineering in the future?
• What responses and changes are likely in the engineering profession?
• What changes are likely to be required in engineered systems?
• What are the things that we need to know which we do not yet know.
These outputs will form the basis of commissioned research.
EESG 3 stage learning process - Stage 2 – Exploration and New Learning
The planned second stage will comprise a small number of projects which will aim to answer the key questions raised in the Expert Meeting. These exploration / investigation projects will take place from 2014-2015. Participants in the Expert Meeting will be able to put themselves forward to undertake this research, although all of stage 2 is subject to confirmation of funding from IMechE.
This second stage will generate new learning that, as we will have identified already, will be of importance to the future direction of the practice and profession of engineering, and will increase the ability of IMechE members to deliver sustainability – the capacity for long term continuity.
EESG 3 stage learning process - Stage 3 – Dissemination
The third stage comprises dissemination by IMechE of this new learning; a seminar, a report, shared activities with universities, and dissemination through other routes will be planned as appropriate during 2015, and details have yet to be confirmed.
We would like to thank the participants for their generosity of spirit, enthusiasm, openness to the use of our Transition Engineering process, and for their great ideas.
George Aggidis Lancaster University, Fluid Machinery (FMG), IMechE
Ian Morris Mechatronics, Informatics and Control Group, IMechE
Mark Norris Safety and Reliability
Alice Hooker Stroud CAT - Zero Carbon Britain project
David Evans Chair of IET
Anne Miller the Creativity Partnership
Adam Poole Buro Happold, UK Industry Taskforce (ITPOES)
Walt Patterson Chatham House
Peter Head Executive Chair, Ecological Sequestration Trust
Emily Ho The Fluid Engineering Centre, Cranfield, Process Division, IMechE
Christopher Simpson Management Group, IMechE
Elias Dencker Renewable Strategy Ltd, Process Division, IMecHE
Brian Cox Construction and Building Services Division, IMechE
Mark Shannon Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Power Industries Division, IMechE
Martin Charter Director, Centre for Sustainable Design
Julie Winnard Ford Motor Company
Anthony Pearce Apply Innovation
Liz Varga Cranfield School of Management
Charles Lee Future Engineering
Thanks are also due to the many people who said they would have liked to participate but could not – we will, where we can, draw on their expertise for the rest of the programme.
The event could not have run so smoothly without the expert facilitation of Brian Marcer, from Chris Bull Associates, and the event management expertise of Janice Donnachie from the National Energy Foundation, our Event Manager.
I would also like to thank my colleagues who helped organise the event, and who are helping to refine the meeting outputs for publication:
Ian Arbon Engineered Solutions, EESG
Nick Bristow EESG
Brian Robinson, BJR Solutions, EESG
Kerry Mashford National Energy Foundation, EESG
Daniel Kenning
Splendid Engineering
Chair of EESG