RAE Annual review - Cover - Royal Academy of Engineering

New technologies and human health
In partnership with the Royal Society,
and the national engineering and
science academies of the US and China,
the Academy launched a series of three
high-level international symposia in
the frontier field of synthetic biology.
The first symposium, hosted jointly by
the Academy and the Royal Society in
April 2011 in London, brought together
world leaders in academia and industry
to explore the economic and social
impacts of synthetic biology.
The meeting was addressed by the
Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister for
Science and Universities, who has since
set up a synthetic biology leadership
council. The second meeting took place
in Beijing. The third and final event of
the series, to be held in Washington
in June 2012, will look ahead at the
next generation of technologies in this
field and the infrastructure needed to
accommodate them.
The Academy’s Biomedical Engineering
Panel ran a meeting for engineers,
regulators, patient groups and
clinicians on the uptake of innovation
in the NHS. This event focused on how
engineers can work with the NHS to
deliver improved prevention, diagnosis
and treatment of illness and featured
talks from industry, academia and
regulators. The Panel also submitted a
response to the NHS Innovation Review
undertaken by Sir Ian Carruthers in
September.
In collaboration with the other three
national academies, the Academy
held a multidisciplinary workshop
on human enhancement in the
workplace, looking at pharmaceutical
intervention, regenerative therapies and
engineered devices.
Professional leadership
A report on Engineering governance
highlighted the value of engineering
advice for business and government
decision-making. A set of ethical
practice case studies was published
for use by engineering companies
and engineering educational
institutions. A meeting on safety in
engineered systems considered the
recommendations of the Haddon-Cave
review of the Nimrod disaster.
The Academy hosts an alliance of the
engineering professional organisations,
Engineering the Future, which works with
Engineering the future of water
Along with climate change and food security, water security
is one of the biggest challenges of this century. Following on
from the April 2010 report Global Water Security – an engineering
perspective, a series of events was hosted by the Engineering the
Future alliance last autumn. These events addressed challenges
and identified potential solutions for securing the UK’s fresh
water supply, ultimately focusing on local water recycling, water
transfer, behaviour change and demand management. A report
of the key issues covered can be found on the Academy website.
Panellists at the second Engineering the Future Global Water Security debate
(l-r) Professor Roger Falconer FREng; Yvette de Garis, Head of Environment and
Quality Strategy, Thames Water; John Lawson FREng
Engineering education workshop,
Zimbabwe
The Academy plays a leading role in the
Africa-UK Engineering for Development
Partnership, an alliance of engineering
organisations in the UK and Africa that
aims to build engineering capacity
in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the
partnership’s 2011 activities was to
host a workshop in Zimbabwe on the
theme of engineering education.
The workshop brought together 40
academics and policy makers from
11 different Sub-Saharan African
countries to explore how engineering
education in Sub-Saharan Africa
could be improved and better aligned
with international development
goals. The workshop also allowed
the Africa-UK Partnership to develop
government to support development
and delivery of national policy.
Following a request from the
Department of Energy and Climate
Change, the alliance produced a report
on Nuclear Lessons Learned, examining
issues for those engaged in delivering
Engineering
the Future
Nuclear Construction Lessons Learned Lessons Learned
Guidance on best Best practice: Practice: welding Welding
1
informed recommendations on
the future work of the partnership
in the field of tertiary education.
Speakers discussed the need for
improved engineering education
across Sub-Saharan Africa to boost
the economy, build infrastructure
and deliver the Millennium
Development Goals. Delegates were
asked for recommendations on
areas in which the future activities
of the A-UK Partnership could aid
the development of engineering
education. Suggestions put forward
included pairing schemes between
UK and African universities, efforts
to update curricula, development of
better links between industry and
academia and provision of up-to-date
equipment.
the new fleet of nuclear power plants.
Engineering the Future published a series
of best practice guides on concrete,
nuclear safety culture and welding
concrete for the nuclear new build
supply chain and related industries.
The alliance also developed a set
of timelines showing planned and
expected infrastructure development
as well as longer term challenges across
major areas of national infrastructure.
This work was referenced in HM
Treasury’s National Infrastructure Plan,
published at the end of 2011.
The alliance has contributed written
evidence to a number of government
consultations and parliamentary
inquiries, and has provided oral
evidence to Select Committee inquiries
on the role of departmental Chief
Scientific Advisors and the role of
engineering in government.
The Academy hosts a network of people
working in science and engineering
policy roles across over 30 organisations,
Dr Sanzan Diarra, CEO of the Zimbabwean
Institution of Engineers, addressing the Africa-UK
Engineering for Development Partnership in
November 2011
known as PolicyNet. During the year,
PolicyNet held events on the impact
on science and engineering on House
of Lords Reform; the impact of new
media on science and engineering, and
a session on the roles of science and
engineering in social mobility issues.
Left: The Engineering the Future alliance
published three best practice guides
during the year covering nuclear safety
culture, welding and concrete
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