Institution news
Dear Member,
We have just come to the end of another very positive year for the Institution in distributing Prizes and Awards to recognise outstanding performance by members and young engineers just starting out on their careers. The primary goal of the Trustee Board Awards Committee is to encourage both experienced engineers and those at the first stages of an engineering career through the awarding of prestigious prizes and scholarships.
On 26 September the annual Institution Scholarships and Awards Ceremony was held at Birdcage Walk to present certificates and cheques to the winners of this year’s awards. We were delighted by the standard of the applicants and winners and were able to provide 18 undergraduate and graduate scholarships to the most outstanding students. The prizes included the IMechE “Eaton” Undergraduate and the Jaguar Land Rover “Spen King Sustainability Award” both for £2000 each year of the undergraduate MEng course being undertaken by the two best students. In addition the Institution awarded seven undergraduate scholarships, six first year undergraduate scholarships, two postgraduate Master scholarships and one James Clayton Award for postgraduate study.
We were delighted that 27% of the winners were female this year, well above the Institution average, although still short of our ambition to achieve gender equality at 50%.
In addition to the university graduate awards, we were pleased to announce the apprentice award winners of the Bryan Hildrew Apprentice of the Year with a runner up and two joint third place winners as well as to the overall winner due to the high standard of candidates this year.
We also announced the Foundation Degree Grant Award, Advanced Apprenticeship Provider of the Year Award and the Eng Tech of the Year Award.
Following presentation of the large number of Institution awards, we were delighted to welcome James Potten, President of The Whitworth Society, to make a presentation about his experiences as a Whitworth Scholar. James gave a truly inspirational speech about his career enabled by the legacy left by Sir Joseph Whitworth that has been providing scholarships for the past 150 years, to the most promising apprentices to pursue an engineering career with a university degree .
James presented the thirteen Whitworth Scholarship Award holders for 2019, plus one Whitworth Senior Scholarship Award holder with their cheques and the fifteen Whitworth Scholars who have now completed their studies with their medals. IMechE administers the Whitworth Awards on behalf of the Society.
As always, the whole event was a thoroughly uplifting afternoon to see the outstanding talent that gives us confidence in the future of engineering. The winners of the scholarships and awards must be congratulated on their achievements.
And now we look forward to another great year in 2020 when the Institution can once again look to support our best engineers in furthering their careers. If you would like to apply for an award in 2020, find out more about our awards.
Before closing, we must thank all of the volunteers who give generously of their time supporting the Trustee Board Awards Committee in managing the large number of awards each year, conducting the interviews and selection processes so that we can achieve our aims. We must also thank the Institution staff who make the awards event and its administration throughout the year run so smoothly.
Professor Richard Folkson
Chairman Trustee Board Awards Committee
Past–President 2015-16