IET in the news

Engineers rank among Britain’s most trusted: 9 in 10 believe they tell the truth  

Back in December, we partnered with Ipsos for the 2025 Veracity Index, which showed engineers remained one of Britain’s most trusted professions, with 90% of people believing they tell the truth. This placed engineers just behind nurses (92%) and ahead of doctors (85%). Despite declines in trust for many other professions, engineers have maintained their exceptional score for the second consecutive year, reinforcing their reputation for integrity and professionalism. Coverage included The Engineer. 

Celebrating role models  

We closed 2025 with our Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards, where Senior Systems Engineer Jennifer Barry was named as our winner for her leadership in space sustainability, contributions to UN COPUOS and ESA’s Zero Debris initiative, and extensive STEM outreach. The WES Prize went to Amy Dillon, an Associate Engineer at Design ID, recognised for leading major infrastructure projects and founding The Big Bridge, which has inspired over 4,000 young people. The Mary George Memorial Prize for Apprentices was awarded to Rachel Donaghey of NATS for her leadership in safely introducing new air traffic control systems and supporting emergency response operations. Vince Pizzoni received the Gender Diversity Ambassador Award for decades of mentoring and championing inclusion.  

The awards aim to tackle the UK’s engineering skills gap by showcasing role models and encouraging more girls into the profession. With winners hitting the airwaves straight after the ceremony, coverage included LBC News (syndicated to LBC, Smooth Radio Chill, Heart London, and Radio X), BBC Radio Berkshire, That’s TV Belfast, BBC Radio Solent, BBC Radio Newcastle/Tees, U105, Belfast B89, BBC News Online, Basingstoke Gazette and Metro UK.  

Kicking off the new year  

We started off January with several positive announcements to socialise. Our prestigious A F Harvey Engineering Research Prize was awarded to Stanford University’s Mark Brongersma, a world-leading physicist and materials engineer pioneering nanoscale optoelectronic devices and methods. We also announced, in partnership with BSI, the long-awaited Amendment 4 (2026) to the standard Requirements for Electrical Installations (BS 7671:2018) (18th Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations). Another standout was a Metro UK exclusive with our YWE winner, Jennifer Barry, who had won their competition 17 years ago to attend Space Camp in Turkey. 

Reacting to breaking news 

On Autumn Budget Day on 26 November 2025, we welcomed investment in EV charging infrastructure and free apprenticeships for under-25s in SMEs, while stressing the need for greater energy efficiency and stronger cyber resilience for small businesses. As well as securing some trade coverage, our Digital Policy Manager, Jayne Black, shared insights on UK Local TV (North).  

In December we featured in the Sunday Times covering women in engineering stats, The Scotsman following the Edinburgh airport IT outage and we secured a prime-time slot on ITV News discussing AI Fraud and demoing a fake website to show how easy it is to get people’s details.   

In January, our experts responded to coverage surrounding AI and the manipulation of images. IET Fellow Dr Junade Ali put forward his thoughts on how regulators and engineers should work together at the earliest stages of AI development to embed safety-by-design principles. Also on the topic of AI, Graham Herries provided commentary on the future of “laptop class” jobs in conjunction with our Digital Futures Policy Centre.