The Institution's South Asia Region hosted the “Engineering Tomorrow Event 2015” at Colombo, Sri Lanka between the 21st and 22nd of November 2015. This event was organised for the young members of the constituting regions and included the Speak out for Engineering (SOFE) finals, The Southern Asia Design Competition and the Global Engineering Debate.
The participating nations in the event were Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The event which was spread across two days also included the Sri Lanka Group Annual Dinner, Learned Society talks and the Young Member Conference.
Speak Out for Engineering Competition
The Speak Out for Engineering Finals (SoFE) were conducted as the first session on the 21st of November 2015. The session was managed and declared open by Mr. Russel De Zilwa who is the SoFE 2015 Co-ordinator. Shortlisted participants from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka delivered presentations on their chosen topics. The judges of the competition included Douglas Wijesinha, Louis Szeto and Nihal Mallikarachchi.
Ms. Shah Rukh from Pakistan delivering a presentation on her chosen topic which was ‘Industrial Exhaust Air – Energy Harvesting’
The second shortlisted candidate for the Speak Out for Engineering Finals was Mr. Kusal Tennekoon from Sri Lanka. He delivered a presentation on his chosen topic which was ‘Into the heart of a HEART’. His presentation was interesting and gave the audience an insight into the concept of installing artificial hearts into humans who have heart ailments.
The first shortlisted candidate for the Speak Out for Engineering Finals was Ms. Shah Rukh from Pakistan. She delivered a presentation on her chosen topic which was ‘Industrial Exhaust Air – Energy Harvesting’. Her presentation was engaging and made the audience ask some challenging and thought provoking questions.
Mr. Kusal Tennekoon from Sri Lanka delivering a presentation on his chosen topic which was ‘Into the heart of a HEART’
The third shortlisted candidate for the Speak Out for Engineering Finals was Mr. Vipul Garg from India. He delivered a presentation on his chosen topic which was ‘Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication (V2V)’. His presentation was based on an interesting concept and gave the audience an insight into the future of communication between vehicles while on the road thus leading to fewer road accident fatalities.
Ms. Shah Rukh from Pakistan was declared the winner of the Speak Out for Engineering Finals. She will represent her country and the region at the Speak Out for Engineering Competition to be held in New Zealand in 2016. Mr. Vipul Garg from India was declared the 1st Runner Up of the Speak Out for Engineering Finals.
You can read more about the Institution's Speak Out for Engineering Competition on our website.
Southern Asia Region Design competition finals
The Southern Asia Design Competition was conducted as the second session of the day on the 21st of November 2015. Shortlisted participants from Pakistan and Sri Lanka delivered presentations on the design that was thought of and implemented by them. They gave the audience an insight into their thought process and how they reached the stage of fabrication of the design.
The judges in this round were Mr. Newton Wickramasuriya, Dr. Manjula Wickramasinghe, Prof. Naveen Kumar and Dr. Anura Rathnayake (SAR Coordinator)
The first team to represent their country at the Southern Asia Design Competition was from Pakistan. This was a team of 2 members comprising of Ms. Sarah Ahmed and Mr. Abdul Hannan Hayee who were representing the NED University of Engineering and Technology. They prepared a software for sign language to be converted into text messages which can help a hearing disabled person to communicate using a normal day to day mode of communication.
Ms. Sarah Ahmed and Mr. Abdul Hannan Hayee who representing NED University of Engineering and Technology at the Southern Asia Design Competition
The second team to represent their country at the Southern Asia Design Competition was from Sri Lanka. This was a team of 3 members comprising of Mr. A.H.T. Eranga De Silva, Mr. W.H.P. Sampath and Mr. P.G.H.S. Rohanawansa who represented the University of Moratuwa. The team designed and fabricated a belt which needs to be worn by a hearing disabled person. This belt gives out vibrations in the direction that a particular sound is being generated from.
Design Demonstration Round
Post the two teams making their respective design presentations, each team was given a chance to demonstrate their idea and design before the judging panel and the audience. This gave the judging panel and the audience a chance to experience the design in real time. This experience gave the judging panel an opportunity to experience first-hand the advantages and flaws in the designs and populate the results of the competition in a fair manner.
The University of Moratuwa was declared the winner of the Southern Asia Region Design Competition Finals
Global Engineering Debate
Mr. Sam Perera welcomed the audience and gave everyone a brief introduction about The Global Engineering Debate and how this idea originated into becoming an event that young members from the region look forward to attending and contributing to. He provided everyone with a brief introduction of the speakers who were to provide the audience with an insight into their personal thoughts on the topic of discussion which was ‘Which type of energy should Sri Lanka invest on to ensure its future?’
- Nuclear
- Fossil
- Renewable
The speakers at the Southern Asia Region Leg of the Global Engineering Debate were Raja Amaratunge, Parakrama Jayasinghe and T.M.R. Tennakoon.
The speakers at the Global Engineering Debate
Annual Dinner
The IMechE Sri Lanka Group Annual Dinner was conducted on the 21st November 2015 at Hotel Grand Oriental hotel, also known as Taprobane hotel. The Dinner was attended by members, their family, sponsors and representatives from different countries.
The Sri Lanka Group Annual Dinner
Learned Society Talks
A series of technical seminars were held with international speakers sharing their insights on engineering, exposing our young members with the realms of possibilities that engineering has to offer.
The first presentation was delivered by Prof. Alan Lau who is a Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University who delivered a presentation and spoke about Product Engineering and Development
Apart from the above, Professor Lau
- Gave the audience a brief overview of the IMechE and International Network
- Spoke to the audience about the need to interview and bring new members on board
- Spoke about the need to ensure that young members take up roles of responsibility
Prof. Alan Lau speaking about Product Engineering and Development
The second presentation was delivered by Mangala Yapa who delivered a presentation and spoke about the Paradigm Shift in Engineering. He touched upon the move from a Mechanistic to a systemic view from a Maritime Industry perspective. He stated that the maritime industry has moved from Independence to Interdependence, Analysis to Synthesis, Isolation to Integration, Simple to Complex, Predictive to Adaptive and Mechanistic to Systemic.
The third presentation was delivered by Siddhartha Khastgir. Siddartha Khastgir is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Warwick, UK on the topic of Going Driverless. He delivered a presentation and spoke about the above concept where there is an
- Increasing focus on Autonomy and Autonomous systems by manufacturers and Government
- New legislations, standards and Code of Practices
The fourth presentation was delivered by Chanaka Wanniarachchi. Chanaka works with GSK as the Head of Operations- Dehiwala Plant, Sri Lanka. He delivered a presentation and spoke about Industrial Safety and the ways in which safety can be implemented in different work environments. Safety is extremely important and should always come first. It needs to come as naturally as breathing.
Young Member Conference
Thinkers from all around the world agree that the need of today is to accept that the future of Engineering lies in the hands of young engineers, thinkers and entrepreneurs. It is very important to engage these young minds and give them a sense of responsibility which can be established with the help and mentorship that will be provided by experienced engineers. It is the duty of these experienced mentors to constantly challenge the young members while giving them an opportunity to explore more thus realising their hidden potential.
The young member conference encouraged young members of IMechE from SAR Region to participate in discussions thus sharing their experiences and expectations that they have from the IMechE. The conference had presentations made by the Young members representing India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. These presentations gave the audience an idea about the kind of activities that each country conducted for the young members during the year 2015.
To read more about the events and activities of the South Asia Region, you can visit the NearYou sites of the Institution's Southern Asia Region page