PECM Issue 27 2017 | Page 5

Industry News Academy Fellows recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours Congratulations to the following Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering who have been recognised in The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2017 for a range of accomplishments in the engineering industry and their services to wider society. Order of the Companions of Honour Knights Bachelor Knighthoods • Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) • Dame Vera Stephanie Shirley DBE FREng Entrepreneur and Philanthropist. For services to the IT Industry and Philanthropy. Professor Mir Saeed Zahedi OBE FREng Technical Director, Chas A Blatchford & Sons. For services to Engineering and Innovation. www.raeng.org.uk Engineering CEOs commit to tackling gender crisis To mark International Women in Engineering Day, CEOs and senior leaders from some of the UK’s top engineering companies are joining the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in calling for urgent action from the top to address the shortage of women in UK engineering. Women currently account for only 9% of the UK’s engineering workforce, yet 63% of UK engineering employers do not have gender diversity initiatives in place*. The call comes from engineering leaders during a panel discussion at the start of the IET’s #9percentisnotenough conference, which takes place today in Birmingham and is named after the IET’s multi-award winning social media campaign to highlight the gender diversity issue in UK engineering. Engineering industry leaders will be joined at the event by senior HR professionals, as well as other representatives from industry, academia and the professional engineering institutions. www.theiet.org SSE Hydro Arena recognised with Major Project Award The engineers behind Scotland’s largest entertainment venue are to receive the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Major Project Award in recognition of nearly a decade of work turning a vision into iconic reality. Since being selected for the project in 2004, the team from Arup combined their structural, civil, mechanical, electrical, lighting and fire engineering expertise to help deliver the 12,500-seater SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow. During that period, the engineers had to overcome a number of significant challenges to create the building situated on the bank of the River Clyde, including difficult ground conditions in the city’s old docks and a design to withstand a one in 200-year flood event, including allowing for climate change. The team, based in Arup Scotland’s offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, consists of Project Manager Ian Lumsden, Project Director Martin Surridge, Lead Mechanical Engineer David Brodie, and Senior Structural Engineer Graeme Moncur. Warwick students to compete to build best locomotive at Railway Challenge A team of seven student engineers from WMG at the University of Warwick, is gearing up to compete in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Railway Challenge, taking place on 29 June-2 July 2017 at the Stapleford Miniature Railway near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. The competition will see 12 teams compete against each other to design and manufacture the best, most innovative, efficient and quietest small-scale locomotive. The competition comprises a series of track based and presentation challenges, including a design report and an ‘Innovation Challenge’ which involves the production of an academic paper on the innovations in the loco. The track based challenges include: energy storage, traction, ride comfort, noise, maintainability and energy efficiency. Louise Jackson, Team Leader for WMG’s team said: “Taking part in the Railway Challenge gives us the opportunity to put our imagination and resourcefulness to the test. The locomotives that will be competing are designed to work on 10¼” gauge railway line and must be powerful enough to transport a 600 kg load – including one of the Railway Challenge judges. www.imeche.org www.raeng.org.uk Issue 27 PECM 5