Opinion

At the start of my career, when I worked on a construction site. I was once asked, “why do you only use the top two buttons of your jacket? It’s minus 2, aren’t you cold? “

I responded with, “yes, I’m cold. The jacket doesn’t fit round my waist and the buttons pop open when I move.”

“Why don’t you ask for a bigger jacket?”

I just sighed.

What a wonderful members’ visit we had to the Verdant Works in Dundee on 27^th May.

(for those who have never been it is well worth a visit!)

To see a Boulton & Watt engine operate so majestically was quite a thrill and to hear about the efforts required to install such a precious 200 year old machine in a 200 year old building was fascinating.

The lack of transparency in a range of public and private statements is a common grievance in conversations among members of the genuinely independent Institution of Engineers in Scotland.

When it was founded in 1857, one of the objectives of the Institution of Engineers in Scotland was to give intelligent and experienced individuals from a wide range of backgrounds the opportunity to meet regularly and compare notes on the most pressing technical issues of the day. Over 165 years later members still meet and exchange observations on matters scientific and technical.

Delivering the 2023 Rankine Lecture, Mark Wild CEng – the former Chief Executive of CrossRail – recently outlined the “key strategic lessons” from the Project. In an otherwise excellent, and entertaining, talk he failed to make reference until asked to two aspects which clearly had a major bearing on the project finishing many years late and more than 25% above budget. One of these aspects was the form of contract adopted.

Let’s start with how the concept of ‘Waste as a Resource’ came about in the early 2000s. Although engineers involved in the industry initially welcomed the publication of the well-known Waste Hierarchy, it soon became apparent to them that it would be very difficult to implement in practice.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow are among the founding members of a new national consortium to guide the development of responsible and trustworthy artificial intelligence.

Researchers at the University of Strathclyde have been working with an energy storage company to improve the efficiency of an innovative battery that could offer reliable, low-cost, low carbon power to homes and businesses in sub-Saharan Africa.

Footprint Tools – one of the leading manufacturers of traditional hand tools in the UK – is at the heart of a research project that could see Sheffield spark a recycling revolution in industrial forging that unlocks a step change in the manufacture of safety critical components for the aerospace, defence and energy sectors using machining waste and state-of-the art linear hammer technology.

More than $2M has been awarded to marine-based research projects at Heriot-Watt University as part of the race to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Glasgow Science Centre is delighted to announce the installation of floating wetlands in the Canting Basin, part of the old Prince’s Dock, the large, square area of water that flows in from the River Clyde. The addition of floating wetlands further develops the science centre’s bid to enhance the surrounding natural environment, having completed work on the outer area and moat in 2021.

Which governments are tackling overall emissions?