IET in the news
We’ve been hitting the headlines across a range of media outlets around the world.
Exam results reveal STEM on the rise
August saw the UK’s school examination results, with promising increases in the uptake of A-levels in crucial engineering gateway subjects, showing that there is a real appetite for STEM learning among young people. However, with the UK’s nationwide skills shortage, we called for greater action to get more young people into the sector, and for engineering to be embedded into the national curriculum to engage the next generation from an early age.
We worked with various IET spokespeople and ambassadors, speaking to the media about this year’s results, the gender gaps that are still present, and how to enhance STEM learning. Our experts took part in 18 broadcast interviews, with pre-recorded regional news bulletins in the North East, North West, South East and London. This led to a total of eight hours and 25 minutes of listening time over the course of the day.
Coverage included BBC Asian Network, BBC Manchester, BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Nottingham, national Radio News Hub and UK local TV.
Our 2024 YWE finalists announced
On Ada Lovelace Day (8 October), we announced our 2024 Young Woman Engineer (YWE) of the Year finalists to the world! From renewable energy systems to manufacturing, this year’s finalists work in a variety of exciting and important areas.
We got in touch with their local and regional broadcast and media outlets to share the news and we received lots of fantastic media coverage. From Greatest Hits Radio, Capital and Heart Radio to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Cumbria and Bristol, our finalists spoke to stations about the importance of our YWE Awards, which celebrate women up and down the country who are engineering a better world for us all.
Global power outage
In July, a worldwide IT outage saw travel chaos across the globe, with banking and healthcare services also badly hit. We sent five statements commenting on the crisis to the media, which featured nationally in The Times, The Sun, The Pembrokeshire Herald and West Wales Chronicle. IET fellow and cyber-security expert, Junade Ali, fronted several broadcast interviews including LBC News and Radio 4’s PM show. His expert commentary was also syndicated via global news agency Agence France- Presse to over 600 international media outlets.
100 days of Labour: thoughts from the engineering and technology sectors
12 October marked 100 days since Sir Keir Starmer formed the first Labour government in 14 years. This was an opportunity to voice the sectors and give advice on all areas of engineering to parliament, calling for more government action to put flesh on the bones of its policy announcements. We were quoted on LBC News talking about the most interesting elements for UK engineering and technology:
- GB Energy and Mission Control – a swift and decisive whole-systems approach is needed to deliver clean power ambitions.
- Skills Pipeline – an overdue review offers a welcome opportunity for fundamental reforms.
- Industrial Strategy – a data and tech revolution throughout the whole workforce will be key to delivering a modern industrial strategy.
Our expert voices
The Financial Times’ recent report on curbing overseas hiring for engineering and technology jobs provided us with a crucial right to respond.
Our Head of Policy, Stephanie Baxter, advised a dual approach of building a resilient domestic pipeline of engineers and technologists – starting in schools, and upskilling and reskilling throughout people’s careers – while continuing to attract the best talent from around the world.
Her letter was published in print and globally online.