South Asia Region Speak Out for Engineering Final 2017

Bangladesh hosted their first big event, the South Asia Region Speak out for Engineering Final 2017, a special day with a wide range of valuable networking opportunities for all those who attended.

The Final was held at the Dhaka Club Limited, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 22 September 2017. The event is the conclusion of national heats organised by each country; The SAR winner goes on to represent SAR in the world finals.

The judging panel included Dr. Altab Hossain, CEng, MIMechE, Associate Professor, Dept. of Nuclear Science & Engineering, Military Institute of Science & Technology (MIST), Dhaka; Dr. M.A. Sattar, FIMechE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) PNG University of Technology and Mr. Harish Joshi, Honourable Treasurer, Southern Asia Region, FIMechE, Rtd. General Manager, India Railways.

There were three finalists - Bangladesh (Shamaita Shabnam), India (Abhishek Joshi) and Sri Lanka (Baba Shajee Jurangpathy).  The event was declared open following a speech from Shekhar Chakravarty, SAR chair and David How, country representative, Bangladesh.

With such an intellectual panel and with just the right number of participants, the competition promised to be exciting. 

The finalists battled, demonstrating very good communication skills. Baba Shajee Jurangpathy (Sri Lanka) was adjudged the best speaker and Shamaita Shabnam (Bangladesh) was declared runner up. 

Despite unstinting efforts from David How – for which we are extremely grateful, the Pakistan finalist (Gohar Shoukat) couldn't make it to the event. 

The competition was followed by a networking dinner and some encouraging discussions.

This event was a true demonstration of the fact that we, as mechanical engineers, have to focus not just on the technical aspects but the related factors such as communication skills and how to present ideas to a wider audience. Strongly abiding by our vision, “Improving the world through engineering” .