Welcome from the editor

Welcome to the July-August issue of Member News magazine.

In this issue, we celebrate our recent media coverage, with our experts providing explanations and opinions on some of the biggest stories in the media. We’ve helped to explain how steel blast furnaces work following fears over the closure of the Scunthorpe plant; addressed concerns over China downloading huge amounts of UK open-source patient data to help shape AI; celebrated a team of Bradford schoolchildren winning the FIRST® LEGO® League final; spoken about the resilience of offshore wind and renewable energy following the cancellation of Orsted’s Hornsea 4 windfarm; commented on why there were large power outages across Spain and Portugal, and what the lessons are to be learnt from this. 

In this edition we’ll look at the remarkable work some of our members are doing to make microscopy more accessible across the world, especially in developing countries, through the pioneering OpenFlexure programme which allows the equipment to be digitally printed at a fraction of the cost of a usual set up. 

We’ve been marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War this year, a period of tumult that saw a plethora of innovations in engineering delivered amongst the turmoil. Most noticeable among them was the unleashing of the power of the atom, and we’ll look into the history of nuclear and how it has developed in those eight decades. 

Our other member pieces see details shared on a new book about the Internet of Things, along with one member’s journey to use precision data to drive strategy. Finally, one of our volunteers explains how her ADHD hasn’t stopped her from having a successful career.  

We’d love to tell your stories and celebrate your successes, so please do get in touch to share these with us at membernews@theiet.org 

We’ll be exploring subjects featured in the magazine in more depth across our social channels, such as EngX, and feature longer editions of some of our pieces on the website too. We encourage you to join the conversation! 

We hope you enjoy this issue.