Carolyn Griffiths on the International Strategy Board

In May last year, Carolyn Griffiths CEng FIMechE took over the role of Chair for the International Strategy Board (ISB). We talk with her about how far the Institution has come internationally and what the ISB’s plans are for the coming year.

What were your aims for the ISB when you took over the role of Chair? 
 
A great deal of very good work had been done in establishing the International Strategy Board (ISB) and the Institution’s international activities by the time I joined the ISB. With this work underway it was time to start planning an evidence based long term international strategy. The ISB is already supporting some very significant initiatives and seems has a real appetite for continuous improvement. The strategy should enable the Institution to judge where it should concentrate resources and efforts overseas; where, when and how, whch I hope it will enable some ‘step change’ developments.

What role does the ISB have in the Institution?  
 
The ISB exists to find ways of bringing the benefits of being part of a renowned learned society to engineers across the globe, and to be a conduit for improving lives internationally through engineering.
 
At a more operational level its role is to develop and share good practice across the international network in order to achieve the above and, particularly once the strategy is established, to coordinate the Institution’s international activities to deliver this in the most effective way.

What, for you, were the ISB’s most worthwhile achievements in 2013, and what did you in particular enjoy?
 
The most enjoyable has to be first physical meeting of the ISB, in Hong Kong in September last year. I had not met many of the ISB members until then and their enthusiasm and commitment to the Institution’s work internationally is completely infectious. It opened my eyes to the amazing work that volunteers and the relatively small number of international staff do outside of the UK.

I am very happy to be part of this team. I believe the ISB has really huge and exciting possibilities right now since international presence and engagement is becoming more and more important for the Institution. 

What are your plans for the ISB in 2014 and beyond? 
 
The international network has their own plans designed to bring the benefits of membership of the Institution to engineers where they are, and I want to support these plans. September 2013 saw a big, ambitious and immensely successful engineering leadership event (EngNow) in Hong Kong. Young members from many countries attended and possibilities for another similar event in Europe in 2015 are being evaluated.

In terms of the bigger picture I’m going to wait and see where the strategy takes us. The ISB is in a really exciting place at an exciting time when the Institution is particularly keen to enhance its presence and value to engineers around the world.