News

The Richard Dolby Rolls-Royce Prize 2020 has been awarded to TWI Project Leader Madie Allen.

The Richard Dolby Rolls-Royce Prize is awarded biennially, by The Welding Institute’s Younger Members Committee, to an individual who has demonstrated success in, and enthusiasm for, welding, joining and/or materials engineering within the first five years of finishing their full time education.

The award is judged based upon a technical report that candidates have submitted, along with a short presentation on the project subject.

Madie Allen is a PhD student, in coordination with NSIRC and Brunel University and received the award for her project, ‘Predicting the microstructure of metal additively manufactured parts.’ This project looked at the wide-scale adoption of additive manufacturing and aimed to help address the associated issues with this technique through developing and validating numerical models that can predict the microstructure of metal additively manufactured parts.

The Welding Institute congratulates Madie Allen for her work and commitment in receiving the Richard Dolby Rolls-Royce Prize 2020.

To find out more about the Richard Dolby Rolls Royce Prize click here.

The Outstanding Personal Contribution Award was established in memory of Harry Brooker, an engineer who, during the 1930s, played an important role in introducing low temperature silver brazing alloys into British industry. The award is sponsored by Johnson Matthey plc where, later in his career, Harry Brooker became a Chief Executive and Managing Director.

During his time at Johnson Matthey plc, Harry Brooker encouraged and promoted research with The Welding Institute on resistance welding of aluminium. Harry Brooker’s work and support of the joining industry is the basis for the Outstanding Personal Contribution Award, with recipients needing to demonstrate their personal contribution to the science, technology and industrial exploitation of materials joining.

The award commends an individual who has demonstrated high industrial research or educational responsibility positively and beneficially to encourage the advancement of materials joining technology.

The winner of the Outstanding Personal Contribution Award 2020 is Professor Jicai Feng, who works for the Chinese Institute for Welding. Professor Feng has been awarded the Outstanding Personal Contribution award due to his commitment towards industry development related to joining processes. Professor Feng has both a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) and a Masters of Engineering (MEng) degree. He achieved a PhD from the University of Osaka and was briefly the president of the China Welding Society. His experience and work underline the significant impact that he has had, including:

• Inventing over 190 Chinese patents
• Managing projects involving producing solutions associated with joining dissimilar materials in industrial applications
• Research focused on the joining of dissimilar materials including joining ceramics with metals and dissimilar metals, using processes including brazing, welding brazing and diffusion bonding
• Publishing over 450 SCI-indexed papers

The Welding Institute would like to congratulate Professor Jicai Feng on winning the Outstanding Personal Contribution Award.

To find out more about the Outstanding Personal Contribution Award please click here.

The Wales Skillweld Competition 2020 was hosted by Neath College on 6 February, 2020. 

This first stage of the competition is called the Passive Heat round and involves candidates completing a list of welding geometry. This round is an excellent opportunity for candidates to gain both practical and competition experience which, in turn, will help them in future rounds of the competition including the National Qualifiers and National Finals.

Candidates of the Wales Skillweld competition were tasked to complete four weld types. The first involved using the welding process of MAG to produce a tee fillet plate in the PF welding position. The second task was to use the MMA welding process to weld pipe to plate in a PB welding position. The third task involved using the TIG welding process to produce a tee fillet plate in the PC welding position. The final task was to use the TIG welding process to weld pipe to pipe in a PC position.

Judges of the competition have commented on the high levels of skill displayed by competitors at this first level and said that it was a promising start for many candidates for when they entered the higher rounds. They commended the overall production of good quality weldments and noted that all competitors should be proud of their accomplishments.

The Skillweld Competition is an excellent way for a new generation of welders to develop their skills and learn from experienced personnel within the welding field.

Click here for more details and to apply.

The Skillweld Competition 2020 is now open for registrations! 

What is The Skillweld Competition? 

This Skillweld Competition has been created to assess the skills of trainee welders in three manual fusion processes. They will be required to complete and produce four weld tests. 

The aim of the Skillweld Competition is to promote the development of a skilled workforce that will be equipped to meet the needs of the UK welding industry. It is an excellent opportunity for students and trainee welders to learn new skills and gain hands-on experience of the practical application of these welding processes.

The main objectives of the Skillweld Competition are:

To help trainee welders develop their welding skills in a competitive and pressurised environment 

• To encourage trainee welders to be inspired about their future careers in welding
• To test trainee welders’ knowledge and skills against a set criteria
• To encourage employers/training providers to reflect on their own apprenticeship schemes and training programmes 

Why should employers/training providers get involved?

Through allowing your employees/learners to compete in the Skillweld Competition, you are enhancing their experience and knowledge within welding and therefore also investing in the future of industry. 

Closing date for competition entries is 27th March, 2020.

To find out more about the Skillweld Competition, click here!

Click here to enter!

The Welding Institute is proud to support apprenticeships and their ability to develop capable individuals into having successful careers within the engineering industry.

What is National Apprenticeship Week?

National Apprenticeship Week is an annual week where apprenticeships and apprentices are celebrated and recognised throughout England. It looks at the successes and inspirational stories of apprentices and enables employers to promote the benefits of employing apprentices.

Our Role:

As one of the members of a number of ‘Trailblazer Employer Groups,’ The Welding Institute is able to encourage the current and future development of trailblazer standards including the:

• Pipe Welder Apprenticeship Standard 
• Plate Welder Apprenticeship Standard
• The Nuclear Welder Inspection Technician Standard

The Importance of Apprenticeships:

Apprenticeships are beneficial to both the apprentice and the employer. They are an excellent opportunity for apprentices to get into a career that they are interested in whilst gaining official qualifications (which will later help them progress once their apprenticeship has been completed). 

At the same time apprenticeships allow employers to gain a dedicated employee who will be gaining industry knowledge and qualifications at the same time, which in turn will be utilised within their work. 

It is vital that we encourage individuals to pursue a career in engineering due to the need and demand to fill future engineering jobs. Engineers play an incredibly important role within society, and The Welding Institute are dedicated to inspiring people to take on this career path. The Welding Institute’s Younger Member Network is dedicated to representing the interests of younger members, and developing the next generation of engineers. Members of the network promote the importance Professional Registration and Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Members who are also STEM Ambassadors participate in STEM outreach activities at primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities. 

AWFTE and The Welding Institute Joint Forum - Technical Challenges and Innovations in Welding Engineering 

The Welding Institute’s Southern Branch and AWFTE will be jointly hosting a forum focusing on the ‘Technical Challenges and Innovations in Welding Engineering.’ The event will be hosted by Portsmouth University on 13 March, 2020. It will cover topics including marine engineering, materials welder training and education in Southern England.

The day will include technical presentations and talks from industry experts, discussing new and existing applications, including current research projects. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to put questions to an expert panel. Attendance of this event is an excellent opportunity for those in the education and employment sectors with an interest in training and developing their career within the welding engineering industry.  

Who Should Attend?

• Lecturers, teachers and trainers engaged in welding engineering
• Employers with an interest in workforce development
• Ambassadors for industry and education

Benefits of Attendance:

• Gaining knowledge and experience from leading industry experts
• Networking with industry experts and personnel within the field
• Learning about new innovations and solutions
• The opportunity to ask industry experts questions that you may have
• Attending the event qualifies you to gain CPD points

Welding and Repair of High Temperature Plant

This Joining Processes Technical Group Meeting (TGM) event will be hosted at the Granta Centre (Great Abington, Cambridge) on March 18, 2020. The focus of the event will be based on the Welding and Repair of High Temperature Steels, looking in detail at the processes involved with this welding technique.

Why is the Welding and Repair of High Temperature Plants important?

Industry led objectives to produce life-extension techniques for structures are becoming increasingly prevalent due to the costs and economic impacts of ageing power generation and process plants. It is important for you as a welding engineer, production manager, designer or a personnel associated with the repair of creep resistant steels to keep your knowledge up to date with industry standards and practices.

The main topics that will be covered in the Technical Group Meeting include:

• Cladding of pressure vessels
• The welding and weld repair of creep resistant steels
• Welding repair of high temperature plants
• Additive manufacture of high alloy components
• Orbital welding for repair and replacement
• Trailblazer welder apprenticeship standards

Why should you attend?

• Technical Group Meetings are one of The Institute’s Membership Benefits therefore allowing Members to attend this event at a discounted price
• Attendance enables you to gain CPD points 
• It is an opportunity to network
• It also allows you to develop and further your knowledge of this joining process

To find out more about Membership of The Welding Institute please view our Membership Page and see how we can support your career and development.

The Welding Institute and Armourers and Brasiers will be jointly presenting the annual Armourers and Brasiers’ Awards on 14 February, 2020. The awards are in recognition of the continued education and research within the materials science and metallurgy sector.

Award Categories:

Final Year PhD Student - £1000 prize: The winning student will be a final year PhD student, with a significant quantity and quality of published papers that show evidence of novelty of work and the communication of science as part of a transition to independence.

MSc Student - 

£750 prize: This prize will be awarded to the student who has performed consistently overall in the module section of courses offered in any one year. The winner will have shown academic and personal promise during their academic studies.

BEng/BSc Student - 

£750 prize: The winner will have demonstrated excellent examination results at undergraduate level, including a high mark and commendation in a prescribed project report.

STEM Ambassador of the Year - 

£500 prize: This award recognises significant voluntary contribution to the STEM Ambassador Programme in the field of materials joining and structural integrity.

NSIRC Travel Awards – 

Travel grants of £500 - £1000 to assist with the travel and subsistence costs associated with attendance at relevant international conferences.

Award nominations close on the 14 February, 2020.

Click here to make your nominations.

The Welding Institute’s, Northumbria Branch is hosting an Awards ceremony for the Welding Student of the Year Award at their Annual Dinner on the 31st January, 2020, at Civic Centre, Newcastle. 

Be sure to make your nominations for an outstanding candidate who fills The Welding Institute Northumbria Branch’s following criteria:

• Has attended a recent course of training and/or education in the past academic year (2018/19) involving welding technology
• Has achieved consistently good results throughout the course (please ensure that you provide evidence of a recent college report, training review or performance review)
• Is a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual
• Must be aware of their potential career pathways in the welding industry
• Could be a role model for younger people entering the profession

Please provide your nomination by January 9 2020 along with a written statement explaining why your nomination deserves this award. 

Please email your nomination to keith.temperley@btinternet.com 

Becoming a Member of The Welding Institute

John Wintle became a Member of The Welding Institute as a Fellow in 2012. At TWI John is a Technology Fellow and Consultant Engineer, specialising in Integrity Management of welded structures. He is also a Visiting Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde since 2013. 

Despite not being a qualified welder, John chose to apply to become a Member of The Welding Institute because he wanted his peers and colleagues to recognise his experience and competences relating to welding technologies and professional standards. John’s decision to become a Member of the Institute was also in support of the work of professional engineering institutions, through CPD and mentoring, as natural progression for a senior TWI engineer.

Benefits of being a Member

With regards to the benefits of becoming a Member of The Welding Institute, John highlighted that being a Member provides you with a personal professional identity that is separate from any employment. It becomes a permanent form of recognition for you as an individual. Being a Member of a professional body encourages you to view your potential and growth beyond just the company for which you work, and he put his own successful career down, in part, to this.

John believes that this form of recognition has aided his career through it setting professional standards for competence, ethics and integrity within his work and personal behaviour. Membership of a professional Institute has allowed him to have a wider perspective on the world and an appreciation of related disciplines. It has enabled him to network with other professionals at Meetings of different Welding Institute Technical Groups (TGMs), and make contacts with people who he would possibly not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.

John mentioned his CPD record and how, through attending TGMs and other membership events, he gained a platform to develop and increase his profile and reputation in the engineering community, which have then led to new career opportunities and new projects. He said that he uses his professional membership and CPD record both personally to calibrate his work and achievements, and also professionally to show others (clients included) his level of experience and competence.

Involvement with The Welding Institute

John’s involvement as a Member of the Welding Institute also includes his support through the volunteer work that he does. He has given presentations at Technical Group Meetings discussing the topics that are most relevant to industry. He also chairs student seminars for the Young Members’ Committee. His main motivation for the volunteer work he does is the satisfaction that he gains through helping influence a younger generation of engineers to aspire towards professional standards by mentoring individuals at the early stages of their careers. This is furthered by his role as a Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde, where John goes once a month delivering lectures to students, supervising PhDs and assisting the academics in developing new courses. 

Becoming and practising as an Engineer

John studied physics at the University of Oxford and had no intention of becoming an engineer. He later discovered that his interest in functionality, simplicity and fixing things would steer his career development into becoming an engineer. He originally worked as a developer of engineering modelling software in a manufacturing company and became involved in a project investigating the reasons for the cracking of disc brake-pads. After helping to solve the problem, John did research at Loughborough University on flexural effects in drum brakes for which he was awarded an MSc.

Following this John pursued a career in engineering, first within the nuclear industry and then at TWI, for the direct impact that his technical knowledge and professional skills could have on people’s lives and business affairs. Among John’s engineering achievements were contributions to ageing and life extension of Magnox nuclear reactors, and the delivery within an international network of a large scale spinning cylinder test demonstrating the integrity of nuclear reactor pressure vessels.

He then worked at TWI on risk based inspection and ageing of pressure equipment in the nuclear and oil and gas sectors, and life extension of offshore installations. He was a long standing member of the Pressure Systems Group of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and his committed contribution to the pressure equipment community was recognised by being awarded the 2018 Donald Julius Groen Prize in 2018 by the Institution. 

When asked about the project that has made him most proud during his career, John referenced the ‘Health and Safety Executive’s Research Report 509 – Plant Ageing: Management of Equipment Containing Hazardous Fluids and Pressure (2006).’ The report can be said to have changed industry’s attitude towards degrading equipment, and encouraging a shift from the culture of finding a problem and fixing it to predicting problems and thereby preventing them from happening. He described his satisfaction when he finds that his report is still being referenced and used today.

Advice to the next generation

John finished by offering some advice to the next generation of engineers, by saying they should try to remain true to themselves throughout their career. He said to see yourself as a professional so that you can gain the confidence to take on problems and speak when others may feel unable to do. Being a Member of a professional engineering body such as The Welding Institute is a vital element.