The Institution of Mechanical Engineers believes that engineers are essential if we are to resolve many of the challenges that society currently faces. The Vision Awards exist to showcase talented people who are inspiring change and driving innovation forward. The winners are part of our Vision to improve the world through engineering, by inspiring, preparing and supporting tomorrow’s engineers to respond to society’s challenges. Here, we meet this year’s winners.
This year’s awards ceremony took place at One Birdcage Walk on 25 September, and were hosted by Institution President, Patrick Kniveton. The guest speaker was Tristam Kaye the Operations Manager for the Coldest Journey and ambassador for engineering for the IMechE. Tristam believes that engineering gives people a great understanding of how to approach difficult problems, a skill which can be applied across many industries. He reflects that: “Many of the world’s leading thinkers, industrialists and entrepreneurs have an engineering background.”
The principal winners recognised at the ceremony were EngTech Visionary Timothy Kyte, Undergraduate Visionary Ross Henrywood; Young Member Visionary Abbie Hutty; Whitworth Visionary Rachael Hoyle; and Apprentice of the Year Lynsey McKee.
Among others recognised were Rhiannon Heard, winner of the Institution Land Rover Spen King Sustainability Award 2013, Peter White, winner of the IMechE ‘AMEC – Clean Energy Europe’ and Samuel Wakerley, winner of the IMechE ‘Eaton’ Undergraduate Scholarship Award Holder 2013. Find out more about them. For the first time ever, the Apprentice of the Year and the two runners up were all women. And, in recognition of outstanding achievements as a professional engineer and volunteer inspiring others, last year’s EngTech Visionary, Gavin Kerby MIMechE, was awarded a Whitworth Award.
Speaking about this year’s winners, Patrick Kniveton said: “They possess talent, leadership skills, motivation and a desire to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them. I believe that as members of the engineering family, we all have a duty to say that we are proud to be a professional engineer. By sharing our stories with wider society, we can celebrate the engineers who are shaping our lives today, raise the profile of this great profession and attract the inspirational young talent who will be the owners of its future.”
Apprentice of the Year: Lynsey McKee
Institution EngTech affiliate member Lynsey McKee did her apprenticeship at Doosan Babcock in Renfrew, and is now draughting the plans for burners for retrofitting into large power plant boilers and working with the manufacturing workshop to ensure that the components are fit for purpose.
Working on the practicalities of incrementally reducing carbon emissions by improving burner designs, Lynsey can see how this will evolve as emissions are reduced further, and burning biomass becomes more widespread. She is about to go into her second year of her degree in mechanical electronic systems engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University, and in the future would like to become more involved in emerging combustion technologies.
Having benefited from Doosan Babcock’s ‘buddy scheme’ herself, she now enjoys mentoring apprentices in the year below her, supporting them as they juggle their studies and busy workload. She also promotes engineering and the company at school career events, and relishes explaining what the job really involves and communicating the passion that she feels for her role.
Lynsey is very grateful to the Institution for the support she has received, finding newsletters and events useful for widening her engineering knowledge. She also appreciates the practical help that Doosan Babcock has given her, and the breadth of experience she has gained.
Lynsey is passionate about engineering and points out that: “many of the improvements to our everyday lives are due to engineering”. As our society struggles to find sustainable energy sources, Lynsey is looking forward to the potential benefits being offered by renewable energy.
EngTech Visionary: Timothy Kyte
Tim Kyte is the Apprentice Training Manager at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, a partnership between some of the UK’s major global manufacturers and the universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Loughborough, and TWI Ltd. As part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and supported by the Technology Strategy Board, it develops cutting edge technologies and innovative solutions for UK industry. A key component is developing the correct skills for the workforce. Tim is responsible for recruitment, engagement and training of the apprentices at the MTC. ”I’m committed to encouraging young people into the engineering profession; the apprentices we recruit today will bridge the skills gap in UK manufacturing, ensuring its future success “.
Tim’s interest in engineering was sparked by his father who was an Engineer at English Electric, but “the main inspiration has been the apprentices I have worked with over the last 10 years and the enthusiasm they exude”. The support he has been given by the MTC has enabled him to encourage technical staff to complete EngTech training. He puts a lot of time into supporting the young people and their families, so that they reach their potential and he wants them to see the apprenticeship as “the start of a career, not just a job”.
He reflects that “the IMechE supports my professional development by highlighting appropriate training courses that are genuinely useful for me and my team. It is an internationally recognised standard in the engineering profession which gives us something to aspire to. It is also important to ensure we maintain our Apprenticeship Scheme IMechE Approved Status, remain up to date with changes in apprentice frameworks and develop higher apprenticeships. We need to recognise the importance of professional registration for apprentices and their employers”.
Looking forward, he would like to see current programme expanded so that MTC apprentices undertake work placements with the MTC partner companies, and in turn host their apprentices. It is important to develop programmes which share best practice in staff training to ensure the future workforce can meet the challenges ahead.
Tim is actively involved as an ambassador with STEMNET, which creates opportunities to inspire young people in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and supports a local primary school in running an Imagineering club. He mentors the apprentices as they complete their apprenticeship frameworks and helps guide them on their career paths. “Engineering has the power to improve everyday life in ways people cannot imagine”, Tim explained, “the work we’re doing at MTC today will help to solve future engineering challenges before they become critical to the economy.”
Undergraduate Visionary: Ross Henrywood
Ross Henrywood AMIMechE was excited by steam engines before he even went to pre-school, and that interest and desire to be involved with railways and engineering has stayed with him. He has a first class engineering degree from Magdalene College, Cambridge, specialising in mechanical engineering. During his degree he spent time in a heritage engineering workshop repairing and maintaining steam engines, and, in stark contrast, then worked in a modern CNC machine shop, where jobs could be completed in a fraction of the time. Leading on from his fourth year project, he is now in the second year of his PhD studying rectangular jet noise, in collaboration with Dyson Ltd, to make machines and engines quieter.
Ross is passionate about the vital role that engineers play in modern society, and believes that: “more needs to be done through outreach, education and publicity to raise the profile of engineers and encourage the next generation to consider engineering as a career.” Ross has been involved in setting up the Cambridge Science Centre where young people can learn about engineering through practical, hands-on activities. As a volunteer he has designed and set up science and engineering exhibits, and in some cases redesigned them in the light of how the public actually uses them. All useful experience as he designs and builds rigs for the experiments for his PhD. He has also been involved in the Engineering Department Outreach activities visiting schools and hosting groups in Cambridge for practical engineering workshops, which are designed to foster interest and enthusiasm for engineering.
The Institution has supported Ross through his undergraduate and graduate studies, which has given very public recognition to his achievements, for which he is very grateful. Whilst his PhD is building his technical competences Ross is keen to widen his skills and work towards his Chartered Engineer status. The peer recognition of his skill as an engineer is very important.
Looking forward, Ross reflects on the future of transport, where internal combustion engines will be increasingly replaced by more efficient electric engines. He predicts that the next major step will be automated, driverless cars, which will allow car sharing. No longer will vehicles be sitting idle for most of the time while people are at home or work, they will be shared and fully utilised at all times. The engineering challenges to achieve this are already being considered and pondered by our visionary engineers.
Young Member Visionary: Abbie Hutty
Inspired by the Beagle 2 and ExoMars Rover bid while she was at school, Abbie Hutty AMIMechE decided that engineering was the career for her. Having studied mechanical engineering at the University of Surrey, she went to work for Astrium, where she is now a Spacecraft Structures Engineer, responsible for ensuring that the ExoMars Rover structure is sufficient for launch, landing and locomotion and ready for launch in 2018.
Highly involved in the outreach work that Astrium does to inspire young people and tell them about the UK space industry, Abbie enjoys talking to students: “as it reminds you how exciting the projects we work on really are”, and her enthusiasm is infectious.
She visits school children of all ages: the youngest pupils pose the hardest questions while the older students are interested in her role in more detail. She hopes to influence their subject and career choices, spark their interest in engineering and change the public perception of engineering.
Abbie is an active member of the Institution’s Eastern Region Young Members panel. She is also on Facebook and twitter as ExoMars Rover Mascot ‘Brenda the Mars Rover’, keeping her followers up to date with exciting space developments.
Space is the ‘final frontier’ and Abbie gets a buzz from achieving solutions to the unique challenges posed by designing for it. The benefits of space exploration are already being seen today, and Abbie is confident that developing technology to combat the demands of space, will further benefit society.
To read an extended interview with Abbie, INSERT LINK
Whitworth Visionary: Rachael Hoyle
Rachael Hoyle began her career in the Defence and Aerospace Industry. After completing her Advanced Apprenticeship in Aerospace Engineering at BAE Systems in 2007, she subsequently graduated with a first class honours degree in mechanical engineering from Manchester Metropolitan University. She is grateful to BAE Systems and the Whitworth Scholarship for supporting her through her part-time studies and helping her achieve this qualification. She is keen to progress the recognition of her engineering skills and would like to work towards becoming a professionally registered engineer.
Still at BAE Systems, Rachael is currently Fleet Operations & Integration Manager for Salam, supporting both the customer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to operate and enhance their Typhoon aircraft in-service, and the development of other BAE Systems lead export campaigns. While at BAE Systems Head Office she also experienced how engineering contributes to the business.
An Ambassador for skills and apprenticeships, Rachael has promoted engineering, STEM and apprenticeships via schools, interactive workshops, and the media: she has even broadcast live on BBC Breakfast. Keen to show that engineering is a great career choice for both men and women, she feels that there is more interest from girls now, and the apprentice route is becoming more attractive to many, offering a more independent route to a career. She highlights the importance of having a range of career routes, since they bring different skills and experience to the workplace. In a problem solving environment, this range of practical and academic perspectives is invaluable.
She has promoted engineering to universities and schools abroad, notably in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, where the cultural barriers to women working in engineering are more significant than at home. She has particularly relished the challenges of the international elements of her career path, showing her that many nations are trying to develop their economies through skills and engineering, and she is proud to be a fundamental part of that process.
Rachael finds it very exciting to be part of the complex web of engineering development: “Engineering is putting scientific theories into practice and offers a huge field of opportunity. The future global challenges we face, such as healthcare, energy, cyber security and even improvements to the joys and virtues of our lives, will all fall to engineering solutions, generating a need for creative, innovative engineers of all disciplines. Our quality of life, be it through our iPad or good health will progress from engineering.”