This year’s Vision Awards ceremony took place at One Birdcage Walk on 30 September. Hosted by Institution President, Richard Folkson, and Director of Engineering, Dr Colin Brown, the ceremony showcased talented engineers who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to engineering and its future.
Inspiring the next generation of engineers is essential if we are to resolve many of the challenges that society currently faces. The Vision Awards exist to celebrate those who are driving innovation forward, whether in their work, training or learning, and the winners are part of the Institution’s vision to improve the world through engineering - by inspiring, preparing and supporting tomorrow’s engineers to respond to society’s challenges.
Thanks to support from Eaton, Amec Foster Wheeler and Jaguar Land Rover, we are able to celebrate the engineers of the future with our Undergraduate Awards. The IMechE 'Amec Foster Wheeler - Clean Energy Europe' Scholarship Award was won by Jayne Elizabeth Booth, while the IMechE 'Eaton' Undergraduate Scholarship Award was won by Emily Rose Kerr. The IMechE 'Land Rover Spen King' Sustainability Award was presented to Jessica Jones.
The Institution’s President, Richard Folkson, said: “This annual ceremony is an important way of recognising the young people who are making a great impact on our industry and inspiring the next generation.
“To meet the skills demand, we need to double the number of people coming into the profession each year. The Vision and Prestige Awards are an ideal way to raise the profile of successful engineers and explain the exciting world of engineering, and hopefully attract those who are not yet convinced that it is the career for them.
“As the pace of technological change speeds up, we must recognise that what inspired previous generations of engineers will no longer be relevant for today’s young people. My generation played with Lego and got our information from books; young people these days are playing Minecraft and scouring the internet or YouTube. However identifying and celebrating role models is just as important now as it ever was. The Visionaries we celebrate today are thriving in our dynamic, interconnected, global engineering world and are the perfect people to inspire budding engineers.”
The principal winners recognised at the ceremony were:
Undergraduate Visionary: Stephen Myers
Stephen Myers AMIMechE is a graduate powertrain engineer in Product Development at Aston Martin. He has a broad interest in all types of engineering and shares his enthusiasm by getting involved in STEMNET activities in local schools.
Read more about Stephen.
Young Member Visionary: Nabeel Younis
Nabeel Younis AMIMechE is an Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad, an entrepreneur and a key player in the Institution’s activities in Pakistan; he has set up six student chapters in the country, doubling Pakistan’s number of affiliate members.
Read more about Nabeel.
EngTech Visionary: Natalie Baines
Natalie Baines EngTech MIMechE is a Mechanical Designer at Nuvia in Warrington. She completed her apprenticeship at Training 2000 Blackburn, and is now studying part time for a degree in Mechanical Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University. Natalie is helping to attract more young people to the engineering profession through the STEMNET scheme.
Read more about Natalie.
Whitworth Visionary: Lee Griffiths
Lee Griffiths AMIMechE is a Business Metrologist in the Structures and Transmissions Department at Rolls-Royce. He did his technical apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce in Derby, then became a Manufacturing Engineer in jig, fixture and manufacturing method planning while studying a part time degree in Mechanical Engineering at Nottingham Trent University.
After his degree, he took a six month sabbatical and went travelling and then spent a year at Bentley Motors as a Manufacturing Feasibility Engineer. He then returned to Rolls-Royce as a CAD/CAM specialist. His next move was into metrology, a position that enables him to use all his skills and experience.
Lee has been a member of the Whitworth Society Committee for the last three years and will be the President of the Society next year. The Society promotes apprenticeships, as well as providing financial support.
Read more about Lee.
Apprentice of the Year: Daniel Swain
Daniel Swain completed his Advanced Apprenticeship with Delphi Diesel Systems in Sudbury, Suffolk at the end of August. As chair of the Delphi Apprentice Association, he has spearheaded development of an open-day programme to demonstrate the benefits of an apprenticeship at Delphi to visiting schoolchildren.
Read more about Daniel.
Modern Day Visionary: Jenny Smith
Jenny Smith EngTech MIMechE is a Configuration Manager for MBDA in the UK. Passionate about encouraging young people to study STEM subjects and engineering, she runs competitions, engineering clubs and engineering fairs, and has a long standing relationship with a local school.
Read more about Jenny.
Thomas Hawksley Gold Medal: Luis Alves, Pedro Leitão and Paulo Martins
The group won the Thomas Hawksley Gold Medal for their paper ‘Elastomer-assisted compression beading of tubes’, published in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 2014, Vol. 228(7), pp 744-756.
Read more about Luis, Pedro and Paulo.
George Stephenson Gold Medal: Samuel McDonald and Philip Withers
Samuel and Philip won the George Stephenson Gold Medal for their paper ‘Combining X-ray microtomography and three-dimensional digital volume correlation to track microstructure evolution during sintering of copper powder’, published in the Institution’s journal, The Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, Vol 49(4), pp 257-269.
Read more about Samuel and Phillip.
Verena Winifred Holmes Award: Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Yassmin Abdel-Magied AMIMechE has a first class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Queensland, and now works in the oil and gas industry. She founded Youth Without Borders, which encourages collaboration between young people who face barriers to further education, creating positive change in their communities.
Read more about Yassmin.
Alastair Graham Bryce Award: Dawn Elson and Caroline Alliston
The 2015 Alastair Graham Bryce Award was presented jointly to two members who were considered by the judging committee to be of equal merit: Dawn Elson CEng FIMechE and Caroline Alliston CEng FIMechE.
Dawn Elson is the Business Transformation Leader at Gatwick Airport and was recognised for her significant contributions to campaigning for the promotion of engineering to children, students, young adults and particularly women.
Caroline Alliston worked as an engineer for over 20 years in the UK and abroad for companies including Tata and Renishaw, before swapping roles with her husband who had been at home with their children. She now runs clubs and workshops where children can design and build fun working models using cheap and recycled household objects.
Read more about Dawn and Caroline.
Speaking about this year’s winners, Dr Colin Brown said: “The Vision Awards bring together both inspirational young engineers and Prestige Award recipients who have achieved much throughout their careers, and it was wonderful to see them engaging with each other on the day of the ceremony. The occasion was both a celebration of success and a great networking opportunity for all who are passionate about the value engineering brings to society.”
Richard Folkson concluded: “I feel inspired by the wonderful diversity of this year’s awards recipients. As we try to encourage more people into engineering, the diversity I see encourages me to think that old barriers are being broken. I also feel inspired by the next generation and their ever growing innovative ideas that are changing the future.
“People who become engineers are inspired by people or technology that encourages them to develop creativity and ingenuity. The pace of technological change means that what inspired previous generations of engineers will no longer be relevant for today’s new intake of future engineers.
“Engineers everywhere should be involved in encouraging those who follow in their footsteps, not assuming that it is a role to be delivered by others.
“To quote the Hungarian-American engineer, Theodore von Karman, ‘Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that has never been.’ I hope that this year’s award recipients will continue to keep pushing the boundaries and believe in themselves, and I encourage them all to continue to create ‘the world that has never been.’”