IET in the news
We’ve been hitting the headlines across a range of media outlets.
Reacting to breaking news
At the end of July, a technical issue at the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) caused a 20-minute outage, leading to significant disruption and delays across airports and airlines as they worked through a backlog of flights.
Two of our Fellows, Dr Junade Ali and Professor Brian Hoyle shared their thoughts. Junade noted the issue was likely IT or software-related, similar to a previous incident in late 2023. He emphasised that NATS prioritises safety over keeping airspace open, which is the correct approach given public expectations.
Brian suggested the fault may have stemmed from hardware failure or data conflict, triggering a switch to NATS’ standby system. During this switchover, manual control may be required, and departures are delayed maintaining safety.
With the UK’s airspace among the busiest globally, even the shortest of disruptions can make an impact. Both Junade and Brian agreed that the brief disruption was a reasonable trade-off to ensure safe operations continued.
Our expert voices
Professor John Patsavellas, a member of our Sustainability and Net Zero Policy Centre, was interviewed live on BBC Radio Stoke following a recommendation from the Environment Agency to delete old emails to help save water. During the interview, John explained the surprising link between digital clutter and environmental impact, highlighting how emails – and broader data usage, including AI – consume energy and water. He shared practical tips on how listeners can be more mindful, such as decluttering their digital lives by deleting duplicate photos and old emails and using AI tools like Large Language Models responsibly and efficiently.
As Beijing hosted the World Robot Conference in August, followed by the World Humanoid Robot Games, we were approached by CGTN Europe to talk about the booming robotics sector. Our expert Dr Shan Luo, who is part of our robotics technical network, was interviewed at IET London: Savoy Place. He discussed the big picture impact of robotics, technological capabilities and future developments, China’s robotics sector, and international learning.
John Lawrence, Chair of our Railway Technical Network was quoted in the Guardian print and online as competition hots up for cross-Channel rail links from London to Berlin. Discussing feasibility, John highlighted that political and operational challenges – like securing train paths and managing logistics – are more difficult than technical ones when running international rail services. These complexities increase with longer routes due to issues like train maintenance, crew accommodation, and coordination among multiple stakeholders.
Dr Maurizio Pilu featured in Times Higher Education to talk about the semiconductor industry and the role of HE institutions in training the future workforce from opportunities to ongoing challenges, particularly following new recommendations around this from the council for science and technology.
Exam results season
As students opened their A Level and GCSE results, we launched proactive media plans around A-Level and GCSE results – pitching some our ambassadors to share their personal education and engineering stories.
Chartered engineer and our current Mary George Memorial Prize apprentice winner, Alexia Williams spoke to BBC Radio Bristol about her own journey via a degree apprenticeship and championing the benefits of this pathway. She was also interviewed by BBC Points West TV.
On each of the results days, we also teamed up with WISE to spotlight STEM stats, gender gaps, and key trends.
You can see our media coverage in the press release section of our website here