IET in the news
We’ve been hitting the headlines across a range of media outlets.
Influencing the social media ban debate
The proposed social media ban became a major news story, providing an opportunity for the IET to contribute expert commentary to a fast-moving national debate. Working closely with the Policy team, we developed key messages and identified spokespeople able to respond quickly. Reactive commentary from IET Fellow Dr Junade Ali was picked up across the news wire, significantly extending the reach of our perspective. Junade also represented the IET on GB News, helping position the organisation as a trusted voice on the societal impacts of technology.
Number crunching
The news in numbers (so far)
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had:
- 1175 media mentions across broadcast, national and local outlets.
- 45 % of mentions being in top tier media.
- A 79% conversion rate of relevant media enquiries.
- Over 25 IET spokespeople represented across topical engineering matters.
We spread the word in press and TV
Over recent months, we've seen strong coverage across regional, national and local media. Coverage focused on electrical safety, plug-in solar, the proposed social media ban, heatwave impacts on rail infrastructure and International Women in Engineering Day (INWED).
Coverage appeared across major outlets including ITV, BBC Radio London, GB News, The Independent, The Times, The Telegraph, i news and Utility Week.
Celebrating INWED through a cross-channel campaign
For International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June, we delivered a coordinated cross-channel campaign spanning media relations, social media and owned content. We secured broadcast opportunities for our members, including women recognised in the Women's Engineering Society Awards.
Coverage included an interview with Aaliyah Arnold, a verification and validation senior engineer at the National Physical Laboratory, on BBC Radio London. Kailey Mills, an electrical and ICA design engineer at Stantec, was on BBC’s Barking at the Moon, talking about her career and her hearing dog, Buster. A BBC Radio Bristol segment on apprenticeships featured Alexia Williams MBE, a technical lead at Rolls-Royce. The campaign successfully showcased inspiring engineering role models while highlighting the breadth of talent across our community.
Supporting media coverage during the heatwave
As temperatures rose across the UK, we provided expert commentary on the impact of extreme heat on rail infrastructure. John Lawrence supported media interviews and reactive commentary throughout the heatwave period, helping to explain the engineering challenges posed by high temperatures and the measures used to maintain safe and reliable rail services.
You can see our media coverage in the press release section of our website.