News

Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (TEW) 2020 is taking place from 2 - 6 November. The aim of this initiative is to highlight the importance of providing inspiring and exciting opportunities for the next generation of young people to experience what engineering is all about on a digital and social media platform level.

Tomorrow’s Engineers have arranged a week of activities in collaboration with engineering institutions, employers and schools to demonstrate to young people the role and importance of engineering and provide exciting information and opportunities about how they can become an engineer.

Welding Institute Member and TWI Corrosion Technician Catherine Leahy (AWeldI), is an excellent example of a young engineer who has accomplished multiple career milestones at an early stage of her career. One example includes her being named as one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women’s Engineering Society in 2019. Catherine’s involvement in supporting the next generation of engineers has also extended further through her achievements of being awarded the Armourers and Brasiers STEM Ambassador Award 2020 and also recently taking on the role of Chair within The Welding Institute’s Younger Members Committee in October 2020. Each of these achievements demonstrate not only her own commitment to completing her BEng degree in Applied Engineering with the University of Warwick as a higher degree apprentice, but also her support in encouraging a new generation of engineers through using her own experiences.

Click here to find out what activities Tomorrow’s Engineers have planned for Tomorrows Engineers Week 2020 and how you can get involved.

Click here to read more about how TWI and The Welding Institute are involved in supporting the next generation of engineers.

TWI and The Welding Institute’s Offshore Energy Technical Group are hosting a free-to-attend webinar looking at, ‘Offshore Wind – Engineering from Sea to Sky,’ on 26-27 November, 2020.

The Welding Institute’s Offshore Energy Technical Group is Chaired by Fellow of the Institute, Brian Bell (CEng Eur Ing) and TWI Principal Project Leader, Matthew Haslett (MWeldI). The Technical Group provides industry technical talks covering topics including offshore structures, pipelines, risers, process systems and subsea installations.

This online event will offer both engineers and scientists an insight into the scope and array of problems faced within the offshore wind sector including detailed solutions to the current engineering challenges discussed throughout.

The two-day event is an online programme of talks supported by presentations where industry experts will be looking at the material and structural integrity challenges associated with offshore wind turbines that have been designed and manufactured for a lifetime of 27 years. The online webinars will look at topics such as the geographical and locational impacts of where windfarms are situated, including information on the standards governing design with innovative solutions available to meet the demanding conditions of operation. The two-day online event will also cover the role that design plays within other stages of offshore wind turbine life cycles, including maintenance, re-powering and decommissioning.

Find out more about the event including the speakers, full programme, registration details through TWI's website.

Fellow of The Welding Institute, John Kell has been awarded an MBE in recognition of his services to UK Trade and Investment.

John joined The Welding Institute 26 years ago, progressing to Fellow in 2002 and currently sits on the Professional Board as a Board Member. He also worked for TWI from 2001 to 2008 as a Business Development Manager where he managed the international business development automotive and motor sport sector portfolio. His role also involved providing internal guidance to technology departments in industry/sector needs, working on both UK and EU collaborative research projects. Additionally, John chaired the TWI Automotive Sector Team and worked with other TWI Technology groups on renewable energy developments.

The Welding Institute would like to take this opportunity to congratulate John on his incredible achievement of being awarded an MBE and thank him for his continued support within his voluntary role as a Professional Board Member of The Welding Institute!

Welding Institute Member and TWI Senior Project Leader, Josh Barras has been named as one of the next 101 Future Leader Fellowship awardees by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The Future Leaders Fellowship is a cross-UK research and innovation scheme established to support early career researchers and innovators through providing awardee fellows with an investment of between £400,000 and £1.5 million over an initial four years. This grant aims to support the Fellows’ new challenging and novel projects whilst also providing support for the development of their own career.

Josh Barras is a Member of The Welding Institute and also a Senior Project Leader at TWI, where he specialises in the experimental research of laser metal deposition (LMD) coating and 3D printing technology in TWI’s laser additive manufacturing section.

The Welding Institute would like to congratulate Josh on his achievement in being named as a Fellow of the Future Leader Fellowship scheme!

President of The Welding Institute and Director of Operations and Technology for Air at BAE Systems, Dave Holmes has been awarded an OBE for services to the aerospace manufacturing industry.

Dave started his career as an apprentice at BAE Systems over 35 years ago and has since progressed his career to become the Manufacturing Director for the Air Sector. He joined The Welding Institute in 2019 and took the role of President, a role that he has used to support our Members, especially over the previous months. 

The Welding Institute would like to congratulate Dave on being awarded an OBE and also thank him for the work and support he offers to the Institute through his presidency!

The Welding Institute’s Teesside and Northumbria Branches will be hosting a webinar for their Branch Members which will look at the sub-surface machining technique, ‘CoreFlowTM,’ on the 19 October, 2020.

The webinar will look at ‘CoreFlowTM,’ a highly disruptive, new sub-surface machining technique invented by TWI Ltd. The talk will explore this revolutionary new technology and its potential uses in heat exchangers, cooling systems and other systems.

The talk will be delivered by TWI Principal Project Leader in Friction and Forge Processes and Welding Institute Member, João Gandra (MWeldI Interim CEng). João’s experience within Friction Welding expands across both academic and industrial environments, with him also having published over 20 peer-reviewed publications and conference papers.

The Eastern Counties Branch will be hosting a Member only webinar on, ‘The Denver Sluice Complex,’ specifically for the Members of their Branch. Guest speaker and Superintendent at Denver Complex, Daniel Pollard, will be delivering this webinar on 14 October, 2020.

The webinar will look at the Denver Sluice Complex and its role in water management and protection of the people of the Fens, their properties and low-lying land from flooding. The complex is located at the confluent of five watercourses and was initially constructed in the mid-1600s. This event will also explore the current systems of sluices and structures that the Environment Agency, who are responsible for the Denver Complex’s management, continues to put in place.

The Welding Institute (Southern Counties Branch) will be hosting a webinar on ‘Inspecting Big Ben and other experiences in NDT,’ where guest speaker and former President of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT), Caroline Bull (HonFInstNDT, CEng and MAPM) will be presenting. The webinar will take place on 17 September, 2020 at 7:00pm.

First starting her career in Non-Destructive Testing at the age of 17, Caroline has extensive experience and knowledge in the testing and analysis technique of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). Throughout her career, she has contributed and worked on multiple research programmes and completed NDT inspections globally including the inspection of ‘Big Ben’ in the Houses of Parliament.

The webinar will include a reflection on Caroline’s previous experiences working within NDT, including her role within a team responsible for carrying out and completing the prestigious inspection of Big Ben. She will also talk about her NDT research and service work and additionally will look at her time as a Past President of BINDT.

To find out more about the webinar and how to register please click here.

Please note: if you previously attempted to register and were unsuccessful, please try again as the IT related issue has now been resolved.

Andrew Halliday is a Technician Member (TechWeldI) of The Welding Institute and is also professionally registered as an Engineering Technician with the Engineering Council. He has been a Member of The Welding Institute for over 20 years and is also a Member of our Northumbrian Branch.

Through his participation in The Welding Institute’s recent continuous professional development (CPD) audit, Andrew has provided us with his personal advice with respect to the completion of his own CPD and the benefits and value he gains through the process of carrying it out.

Andrew explained that, with regard to his approach to maintaining his CPD, he takes the attitude that “you are never too old to learn something new,” adding that, “I’ve held managerial and supervisory positions that have included Civil, E&I, and coating disciplines, which are beyond my own expertise, so I endeavour to learn as much as I can.” He continued by saying that, as a result of this, it has enabled him to be confident in maintaining “the required oversite of the Inspectors that I am responsible for.” Another important aspect of Andrew’s statement regarding his completion of CPD, is the importance of completing both new and refresher training courses. Andrew explained that he is “also a great believer in taking any refresher training for the disciplines that I am certified for,” continuing on that, “this has proved beneficial in achieving successful recertification and gaining updated knowledge related to industry changes and awareness of Industry Code revisions.”

As a Member of The Welding Institute, you are able to benefit from a 5% discount on all TWI Training and Examination courses, with the opportunity to gain 2 CPD points per hour of attendance of a course that you have completed (variations in CPD points available are dependent on course types, please find a copy of our CPD Guidance leaflet which is available to our Members through our Member Portal here where further guidance and illustration of the different points for different activities is available).

Madie Allen (AWedlI) delivered a successful presentation on ‘Predicting the Microstructure of Additively Manufactured Parts,’ as a guest speaker in July.

During the talk, Madie discussed the ability and process of additive manufacturing (AM) to enable complex and highly optimised parts to be produced. Madie also shared an insight into how she became interested in mathematical modelling and its application in predicting the microstructure of additively manufactured parts.

The talk was very well received with those in attendance giving positive feedback, including one attendee saying that, “it was brilliant and definitely something to be repeated.”

Madie, who is a TWI Project Leader and a National Structural Integrity Research Centre (NSIRC) student at Brunel University London sponsored by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, will be presenting this webinar. View Madie’s NSIRC student profile and research here!

The Welding Institute’s Members can view her talk via the Member Portal. We would encourage any non-Members who enjoyed the talk and would like access to this Member benefit to join us!