About Birmingham Network

Dear members,

Firstly, let me welcome you to the 2011 / 2012 session with the Birmingham local network. As a short retrospective I would like to start by thanking all the active members who have donated their time, in support of events either organised directly by the Birmingham committee and / or those such as ‘Imagineering’ where the local network provided assistance to a larger IET offering. This support is vital to volunteer organisations such as ours and it is one of my roles to ensure that at a local level we are sufficiently provisioned in this regard. However, I understand that committing time and effort, on a regular basis, with the constraints of family and work life is not easy.

The 2010 - 2011 session has been a mix of high and low points. From the committee and a personal perspective we were all very sad to lose a stalwart of the local engineering community and a highly respected colleague to sudden and very tragic circumstances. Furthermore, the committee has accepted two resignations from members who feel they are no longer able to offer the committee the time it requires. However, from these openings we have gained the services of Gary McElroy, who has joined us in the position of Vice Chair.

From a programme point of view we tried to set the balance for the 2010 - 2011 session between the needs of professional development, a key tenant of IET strategy, and both general and specific interest lectures. We think we achieved this. Both our professional development events, ‘Effective Negotiation’ and ‘Dealing with Difficult Situations’ were fully subscribed. Our other events concentrated upon technological advances in the areas of Biometrics, Prosthetics and Sensors whereas the ‘Hydrogen and Rare Earth Magnet’ lecture delivered by Professor Rex Harris was a very specific event aimed at professionals with an interest in developments within this field.

A core aim throughout the year has been to support the engineering community throughout this period of economic uncertainty and although fiscal shocks are still occurring there is a consensus view that a form of stability is returning; although growth is likely to be muted for a year or so yet. It is therefore key for future success that the foundations which have been established in this period of recovery are maintained. Such that when innovation can again move to the front of engineering practice it is this geographical region which leads the field.

Present Around the World played a big part of the calendar for the 2010 - 2011 session and apart from hosting the local heat stages Birmingham was also selected to organise the Great Britain and Ireland finals. The general format of this competition is to allow competitors the opportunity to present material of their choice and each contestant is allowed a period of 10 minutes to discuss a topic with relevance to the IET. This year Mr Graham Lee, a PHD student from Aston University, won the Great Britain and Ireland final in front of judges from Bloodhound SSC, TTXGP and Antanov plc. We wish him every success in the World finals to be held during the 2011 Innovation awards in November of this year.

Looking forward to the 2011 - 2012 programme we again strive to ensure that a balance between professional development, general and specific interest is maintained. Historically the Birmingham committee has not run separate retired or young member sections and as such we benefit by levering the expertise of members from the full spectrum engineering life. This year however, to reflect the importance of the young professionals to the future of engineering, there are three events specifically targeted at this segment. The first event ‘Get a Grip on Your Career’ considers the transition between study and employment or between employers. This specific event, we are very pleased to announce, is being jointly hosted with the University of Birmingham. The other two events are visits to both the Heritage Motor Centre Motor Museum and hopefully the BBC studios in Birmingham, although the latter has yet to be confirmed.

From a professional development point of view the committee has again committed to two events specifically targeting competency extension. The first ‘The Art of Being Assertive’ and the second looking at the art of ‘Professional Presentations’. As with previous events these are organised through the IET and use industry based presenters to deliver the material. Therefore, they are very much interactive and have a tried and tested approach rather than a more prescriptive textbook methodology. As with previous years the remainder of the calendar is a blend of public interest ‘How will you heat your home in the future’ and ‘Making the Olympics happen: An Engineer’s Perspective’ and then the more specific ‘Getting Registered’ and an update on the ‘CaBLED’ project, which looks to assess the practicality of ultra low carbon car technology.

In my address a little under one year ago I stated that I wished to focus on event publicity, by concentrating upon our on-line presence, and reduce the overheads associated with our activities. With regards to the second point I am unable to comment as our accounts for the previous session do not close until September the 30th. However, I will comment upon publicity. While I believe that our website was accurate regarding events I do not feel that members are using this resource. In this regard, this year, Birmingham Local Network has created a business card calendar as a unique and portable reminder of our events going forward. Please detach it, keep it with you, and refer to it as you require. In addition we have acted to reduce the complexity associated with finding our web page and the more intuitive URL ‘www.theiet.org/birmingham’ is now available. The final innovation is that we have made use of modern barcode technology. The QR (Quick Response) code can be read by any smart phone with the appropriate application and upon scanning this item you will be taken directly to our microsite. So there is no excuse about not being able to find the web page to book your attendance at any of our future events! Although if you do book please do attend as this year our no shows on event bookings is hovering at approximately 50%, this impacts our efficiency and wastes membership funds unnecessarily.

I wish every one of you success during 2011 / 2012 session and look forward to meeting you in person over the coming year.

 

Kind Regards

Robert Diprose.
Chairman, Birmingham Local Network.

Introduction

IET Birmingham is located in Austin Court (for directions see link on the right menu), the IET's conference centre in Birmingham.

In the Birmingham area, the IET provides a range of lectures and meetings covering electrical, electronic and manufacturing engineering;

• provides information and assistance on career development, and a Continuing Professional Development programme;
• encourages young people to join the profession through visits to local schools and colleges by the Schools Education and Liaison Service and public lectures;
• provides a programme of events especially for and organised by the Young professionals.

Birmingham Network events can be seen clicking on  the Events link. Do you have an idea for an event? Do you know a good speaker? Let us know what you want.

If you have a clear idea for an event which the IET Birmingham Network could host, please contact us. Give a brief synopsis of what you want, if you know of a relevant speaker mention them, and tell us what size of audience you would expect. One of our Event Coordinators will be in touch if we take you idea forward.

Regional Coverage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following UK postcodes are within the boundaries of the IET's Birmingham Local Network:

Birmingham B1-B38, B40, B42-B48	Bedworth, Warks CV12
Alcester, Warks B49, B50	Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks CV37
Halesowen, West Midlands B62, B63	Dudley, West Midlands DY1-DY3
Cradley Heath, West Midlands B64	Tipton, West Midlands DY4
Rowley Regis, West Midlands B65	Brierley Hill, West Midlands DY5
Smethwick, West Midlands B66, B67	Kingswinford, West Midlands DY6
Oldbury, West Midlands B68, B69	Stourbridge, West Midlands DY7-DY9
West Bromwich, West Midlands B70, B71	Walsall WS1-WS6, WS8, WS9
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B72-B76	Burntwood, Staff WS7
Tamworth, Staffs B77-B79	Wednesbury, West Midlands WS10
Studley, Warks B80	Cannock, Staffs WS11, WS12
Solihull, West Midlands B90-B95	Wolverhampton WV1-WV11
Atherstone, Warks CV9	Willenhall, West Midlands WV12, WV13
Nuneaton, Warks CV10, CV11, CV13	Bilston, West Midlands WV14
	Bridgnorth, Salop WV15, WV16

Members whose principal address is on this list automatically become members of IET Birmingham. However, if this does not suit your circumstances, there are alternatives:

Transfers

You may elect to become a member of any Local Network of your choice. In addition to receiving local programme and other information, full membership of the Network carries with it the right to vote for the Network Committee.

Honorary membership

You may elect to become an "Honorary Member" of any other Network (or Networks) of your choice. In this case, you will retain the right to vote for the Committee of your home Network, additionally you will receive programme and other information from all the Networks. Honorary membership is particularly valuable to those who live within the territory of one Network and work within the territory of another.

Please contact us if you wish to do either of these things