IET in the news
We’ve been hitting the headlines across a range of media outlets.
Expert voices
Our head of policy, Stephanie Baxter, was quoted in The Telegraph talking about the need for the next generation to learn to use AI tools at an early age with computer courses being broader and to begin earlier in schools.
IET president Sir Warren East spoke to BBC Radio 4 about the uplift in defence spending from an industry point of view. He discussed what this will mean for jobs, as well as the government’s industrial policy and how this will have a positive effect on the engineering industry as the technology transfers out to other sectors.
Friday 21 March saw an electrical substation fire cause a power outage at Heathrow airport, disrupting more than 1,000 flights.
We worked with six of our members and fellows to gather their insight for written comments, with our technical regulations manager Mark Coles speaking on the London Standard Tech and Science Daily Podcast, Channel 5 News and LBC News Radio.
Professor John Loughhead, IET fellow and past president, appeared on Sky News.
FIRST® LEGO® League
Our FIRST® LEGO® League Regional Finals kicked off in March throughout the UK and Ireland. Seventy-four regional tournaments took place with more than 9,500 students participating in this year’s SUBMERGED season.
The programme allows young people to experience engineering in action. It gives students the opportunity to get hands-on experience with robotics and design innovative solutions to real world problems, all while bringing excitement to STEM subjects.
Programming, teamwork, problem-solving and communications skills have never been so much fun and give students an insight into the creative careers that the wonderful world of engineering offers.
Multiple local and regional media outlets covered the competition in their areas, including Ireland Live, Dublin Gazette, Offaly Independent, ITV West Country and Shields Gazette.
International Women’s Day
This International Women’s Day (8 March) we opened entries for our 2025 Young Woman Engineer (YWE) of the Year Awards. Dr Evona Teh spoke to BBC Radio West Midlands about the important work we’re doing to encourage more women and girls to consider engineering as a career, and how vital women role models are in inspiring the next generation. You can find out more about Evona on page 97.
Our research from last year on how we can make STEM fields more welcoming and diverse featured in more than 40 articles across regional and trade publications.
Could you be an IET media spokesperson?
Our press office is always looking for members who can represent the IET in the media and share expertise that makes sense of engineering and technology news to the public.
Journalists and news outlets regularly contact us in the hope of finding a subject expert to provide background information, a quote, or be interviewed for television or radio on a specific topic that’s being spoken about in the news. This could include explaining technical terms in simple digestible language.
The media is also always on the lookout for those working on new innovations that are making a wider impact to the public, or those who have faced adversity to succeed with a great story to tell.
Topics that come up time and time again include AI, cyber security, nuclear fusion energy, nuclear reactor design, heat pumps, hydrogen for home heating, hydrogen transport, smart and immersive technologies, smart cities, gigafactories, autonomous vehicles, aerospace, satellites, robotics, retrofit, and telecommunications – so we’d love to have more of our global membership be IET spokespeople.
As a press office, we offer support and guidance to all of our spokespeople when a media opportunity arises. From a full briefing to providing key messages you can weave into an interview, we’re on hand every step of the way to support you. We also often get direct requests for specific spokespeople, helping to build your profile.
Chair of our Sustainability and Net Zero Policy Centre Professor Peter Bannister said: “I’ve been asked to represent the IET on a fairly wide array of local and national mainstream media and I’ve had some brilliant experiences, always expertly supported by the IET’s Communications team. Personally, I really enjoy the chance to share the knowledge we have within the IET with broadcasters and their viewers and listeners.”
If you’d like to find out more about being an IET spokesperson, please contact membernews@theiet.org
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