About Northern Ireland Network
Chairman's welcome
The Network has an active Younger Members (YM) section which makes a vibrant and proactive contribution to the programme overall including excellent support of the Annual Dinner. This year’s formal was held in the Culloden Hotel, Cultra, outside Holywood on the County Down coast. We were delighted to welcome Chris Earnshaw, Deputy President of IET, who addressed the gathering prior to the main speeches. Annual Dinner events are invariably well supported, attracting typically 120-150 with good cross-sections of representation including distinguished guests, age-range, engineering disciplines and other visitors. In recent years, venues have included the Wellington Park Hotel, Belfast and Belfast Castle. It was a pleasure to see the return of our past Chairman, Professor Peter Crossley. Who joined us again this year at the dinner. Our Main speaker was Dr Wilfred Mulrhine, MBE, who gave us a most stimulating, informative and witty address.
The programme for 06/07 commenced with a special event on 19th September, 2006, in Belfast Castle. The Network had a dedicated launch event on this evening, to herald the merger of Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) to form the IET. A number of distinguished guests joined us during this evening and after a short introduction from the Chairman covering IET and UK-SPEC related matters, Alan Strong, outgoing Chairman of the NI branch of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) gave us a lively and thought provoking address entitled ‘Sustainability Matters’. A selection of IET publications were provided for each delegate at the launch, to actively promote the new institution.
Apart from the usual promotion of the institution through talks to first year students at the two local universities (Queen’s Belfast and the University of Ulster), a substantial quantity of literature was distributed both at open-day events at UU and also to students from QUB and UU participating in the Engineering Education Scheme (EES). The NI Network has excellent links with SENTINUS (our local Science and Technology Regional Organisation) and several members have had longstanding commitments to many of the wide ranging schools programmes coordinated and organised by SENTINUS. A number of Network members are signed up to the Ambassador scheme and this includes those contributing via support of the EES, notably in relation to the annual exhibition and presentation event, where members often act as Panel Chairs and assessors.
The AGM and Chairman’s Event was held in early October at the Wellington Park Hotel and where the topic was: ‘Some Current Challenges in Engineering Education’. Northern Ireland shares current concerns, experienced more widely across the UK and Ireland, whereby fewer school leavers are opting to study engineering and science courses at universities and colleges of further and higher education. It is hoped that with the good work of SENTINUS over recent years, supplemented by a new vigorous approach through the revised Faraday programme, that NI can play a vital part in reversing the trends. Clearly, knowledge-based economies can only be built in sustainable ways, where there is strong engineering and science underpinning. The NI Network will continue to be proactive in the coming year and discussions are already ongoing with the incoming chairman, Randal Gilbert who has expressed a strong interest in this general area, with its critical importance for the future of the Northern Ireland economy.
The annual programme includes a good range of specialist topics, technical visits and joint events and the programme for YM and Senior Sections is fully integrated, to encourage good cross-participation and the building of useful synergies. Papers evenings tend to attract a cross-section of ages, with Senior Section members generally supporting the work of adjudication. Meetings are generally held on Tuesday evenings with food from 6.00 pm followed by a meeting from 6.30 pm. Other events e.g. pub quizzes tend to start later and burn the later night oil! Technical visits have proven to be particularly popular in recent years and this year has been a good example, with venues including Andor Technology Ltd, Armagh Observatory, the Waterfront Hall, Belfast and FG Wilson.
A proactive policy group, Engineering Policy Group for Northern Ireland (EPGNI) is serviced from Savoy Place through the excellent services of Mr Graham Barber. The group has been pleased to see the establishment of a NI Assembly in recent months and this will provide an opportunity to lobby Ministers and related advisers and committees in the coming year. The institution has much to offer NI at this critical juncture, with its related opportunities to re-build the NI economy over the next 5-10 years. Engineering will clearly be critical to the generation of a sustainable and vibrant economy, in a competitive and global landscape and the IET has much to offer in helping to go forward on a sound footing. Links have been established with Scotland in the past and EPGNI is providing a useful vehicle to advise the new administration in a highly articulate and well informed manner, with appropriate insight into engineering and scientific matters, through the very broad range of professional expertise represented on the group.
A recent meeting with Chris McLoughlin and Mark Needam of the IET Ireland Network, in the Ballymascanlon Hotel, Drogheda has provided a useful opportunity to build stronger links between the NI and Ireland Networks. It is envisaged that the networks will be able to build social networking opportunities, annual programme exchanges to welcome reciprocal participation in events and areas of common interest e.g. mentoring towards CEng and related matters. Both regions share concerns about declining numbers of students coming into engineering and there may be useful opportunities to combine forces in marketing and promoting IET and engineering in general.
Alan Webb, BSc PhD CEng, FIET
Chairman, IET NI Network, 2006/2007
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