Latest news from the world of engineering

16th December 2024: The UK & Ireland EERN (Engineering Education Research Network) call for abstracts.
The EERN are pleased to announce the Annual Symposium for 2025 hosted by The University of Manchester. Building on the success of previous events, colleagues are invited to submit abstracts for presentation on the Conference theme of: The Authenticity of Engineering Education: Learning, Teaching and Assessment in Developing Engineers for Industry Today and a Global Tomorrow. More info here.

13th December 2024: Government agrees with EPC’s calls to save Engineering BTECs
The Department for Education has published the decisions of its ‘rapid review‘ of the previous government’s intended defunding of a raft of Level 3 qualifications including most Engineering BTECs and has chosen to spare them from the chop. The EPC was one of many voices calling for this step. More…

13th December 2024: EPC enrolment survey highlights overseas recruitment concerns
An EPC survey of enrolments indicates a decline in overseas postgraduate enrolments in 2024, across most Engineering disciplines. Our 2024 survey shows that Russell Group providers are witnessing the largest decline in Overseas students. The pattern of Undergraduate overseas market is similar to previous years and appears to be holding in our sample. Most disciplines report increases in Home enrolments since last year. But with a larger Russell group increase in home students compensating for the starker overseas decline, this is one to watch. More…

10th December 2024: Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD2025) conference
Dr Sarah Hitt (Engineering Professors’ Council & NMITE) and Emma Crichton (Engineers Without Borders UK) will deliver a joint keynote on innovative approaches to sustainability education, highlighting their transformative work in the field at the EESD2025 conference, which will take place from 15–18 June 2025 at King’s College London. Follow the link to register your interest in attending.

21st November 2024: Education and Skills for Climate Adaptation in Engineering
Lydia Amarquaye, IMechE’s Education & Skills Policy Lead, has written a hard-hitting blog on the changes needed to ensure engineering supports a more sustainable world. She makes three policy recommendations for government and commends the EPC’s Sustainability Toolkit.

13th November 2024: Using the Sustainability Toolkit to support your teaching
Toolkits Project Manager, Professor Sarah Jayne Hitt, promoted the Sustainability Toolkit in a webinar that she co-presented for the European Federation of Chemical Engineers on “How to teach sustainability”. This is now available to watch on YouTube.

8th November 2024: EPC Chief Executive on the Wonkhe Show
Johnny Rich, the EPC Chief Executive, is one of the guests on the latest edition of the Wonkhe Show, the podcast from the popular higher education policy website. He discusses the tuition fee and maintenance loan increases announced for England by the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, earlier in the week.

7th November 2024: New report published on ‘Advancing Translational Research’
The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a new report examining the role of translational research in bridging the gap between academic discovery and practical real-world applications. EPC Chief Executive Johnny Rich attended a round table to discuss the findings and represent the perspective of engineering academics.

30th October 2024: Call for committee members from the devolved nations
The EPC has three standing committees, covering: Recruitment & Admissions (RAC); Education, Employability & Skills (EES); and Research, Innovation & Knowledge Transfer (RIKT). New members have recently been selected, but we remain eager to secure better representation from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (particularly in EES). If you’d be interested in being considered, do please drop us a line.

29th October 2024: The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) will be holding an Academic Forum on Wednesday 4th December at RAeS Headquarters in London.
The forum will provide relevant updates and guidance on accreditation and provide an opportunity for discussion on matters relating to AI in learning, teaching and assessment, as well as sharing best practice with your academic peers on these matters.
Register your interest here by 1st November.

17^th October 2024: Call For Research Participants – Engineering Educators & Quality Professionals Involed In AHEP Accreditation
The accreditation of engineering degrees is often seen as a way to ensure the quality of graduates for both industry and students. However, with many people and factors involved in the process, complications can arise, especially when accreditation requirements change. This study aims to explore the accreditation process, the roles individuals play, and the potential impacts on programme accreditation.
UCL & Swansea University invite you to participate in a 60-minute online interview.
To read the participant information sheet and provide consent, please click the link: https://tinyurl.com/yss8zret

2nd October 2024: OfS announces third wave of degree apprenticeship funding
The Office for Students has today announced £14 million of funding to increase the number of level 6 apprenticeships. Of the successful bids, Nottingham College has received funding for two engineering degree apprenticeship programmes. Read more…

11th September 2024: New Stem Alliance is launched, focused on improving Maths skills, to widen participation in Engineering
The Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (IMA) has announced a new collaboration with the Royal Academy of Engineering and Levelling Up: STEM, a not-for-profit organisation focused on supporting A-level students from underserved groups in Maths, Physics, and Chemistry. This alliance is aimed at enhancing engineering education. Read more…

11th September 2024: The EPC is seeking participants for a Delphi expert panel to populate a neuro-inclusion maturity framework for engineering education
An important element of this work is its commitment to a co-design philosophy, and we’ve been working with students, professional services colleagues, and academics to work through the preliminary scoping of this work including a webinar last October, a co-design event at the Dyson Institute in June, and a consultative webinar in July. The materials for this work to date can be found here.  We now need to move to the Delphi panel phase (a group technique that develops consensus from a panel of knowledgeable individuals through questionnaires and controlled feedback) and find ourselves short of professional services colleagues! This is a crucial perspective given that we are aiming for an institutional framework. The work would involve completing a repeating online questionnaire until consensus is reached, and we aim to do this work between now and December 2024. So, if part of your remit includes engineering students, please consider becoming one of our experts by completing  this form.

23rd August: EPC President becomes Head of UCL Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering
The EPC congratulates its President Prof John Mitchell on his appointment as Head of UCL’s Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, a post previous held by Prof Sarah Spurgeon OBE FREng, who also served as a former EPC President.

19th August: Sustainability Toolkit – Call for testimonials
Have YOU used our Sustainability Toolkit? We’re trying to understand the impact that this educational resource has had since its launch. You can help us by answering a few quick questions here.

8th August: News, opportunities & events for women engineers
Head over to the Women’s Engineering Society website to find out more about their events, networking opportunities and how you can nominate for the upcoming WES Awards.

7th August: EPC welcomes Buckinghamshire New University
We are delighted to announce that Buckinghamshire New University has become the latest new member to join the EPC.

7th August: ARIA issues ‘seed call’ for Smarter Robot Bodies
ARIA has opened up a seed call in the opportunity space, Smarter Robot Bodies. Through seeds, it intends to support ideas that align with or challenge the assumptions listed in the opportunity space document (but that sit outside its Robot Dexterity programme). Applications should be submitted by 27 August.

6th August: EngC report on Compensation & Condonement
The Engineering Council has conveyed its thanks to the EPC and to  academics who responded to its recent survey focused on the impacts of its Compensation and Condonement Policy. A summary report highlights a key message that it is too soon at the time of the survey to assess any impact on students completing bachelors or integrated masters programmes. A further survey will therefore be conducted in a couple of years when the impact will be clearer. Any queries can be directed to individual accrediting professional engineering institutions or the Engineering Council at edskills@engc.org.uk. The EPC will continue to take an interest and represent members’ views.

26th July: EESD2025 Call for abstracts – Engineers as Changemakers
You are cordially invited to participate in the 12^th International Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development. Follow the link to find out more.

1st July: EPC President’s Prize 2024
Mary Curnock Cook CBE honoured by the engineering academic community. Read the full article here.

17th June: The King’s Birthday Honours
The EPC would like to congratulate all the many EPC members and friends who have been recognised in this year’s Birthday Honours list.

17th June 2024: University of Oxford joins the EPC
The EPC is delighted to welcome back the University of Oxford to membership of the EPC after a few years outside the fold. The EPC now represents almost every Engineering department in the UK.

10th May 2024: What can academics do to save the planet?
EPC Chief Executive Johnny Rich has written a blog for Wonkhe about the Sustainability Toolkit.

9th May 2024: Happy birthday to Engineers Without Borders UK
The charity Engineers Without Borders UK is a partner of the EPC and we are proud to have worked closely with their dedicated team on lots of initiatives, especially around ethics and sustainability, as have many EPC member institutions through the Engineering for People Design Challenge and other schemes.
This month EWB-UK is marking 20 years of impact and kicked off with an event celebrating the important role of advocates for change.

30th April 2024: Launch of Science Education Tracker
Engineering UK have published the latest Science Education Tracker in partnership with The Royal Society and funded by Wellcome. It surveyed more than 7,000 young people in England last year on their attitudes around STEM education and careers.
There are some sobering findings that raise real concerns for the future workforce and risks of the gender gap widening. Read the full report here.

25th April 2024: Artifical Intelligence and professional registration
The Engineering Council’s Artificial Intelligence Working Group is now keen to understand academics’ experiences of AI in your Department and have partnered with the EPC to conduct a brief survey.

22nd April 2024: SEFI (European Society for Engineering Education) Podcast Season 4: Episode #1 European Engineering Educators
Sarah Jayne Hitt talks to Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint about the EPC’s Engineering Ethics Toolkit and why ethical behaviour is of vital importance within the engineering profession. Listen here.

15th April 2024: ARIA funding call launched | Safeguarded AI
By combining scientific world models and mathematical proofs, ARIA aims to develop quantitative safety guarantees for AI. ARIA will direct £59 million across three technical areas over a period of three to five years towards funding researchers and engineers from across a range of disciplines, sectors and institutions – from universities, to startups, to SMEs, large corporate, and public labs. Find out more & apply click here. Applications close 28th May 2024

3rd April 2024: IET Call for abstracts – DPSP 2025: Development in Power System Protection
IET call for abstracts and special sessions is open until 3 June 2024. They welcome industry specialists, academic researchers, and business leaders to submit their work discussing emerging issues and innovations in power system protection. Authors selected for the conference programme will have their full paper indexed on IEEE Xplore, IET Inspec, Ei Compendex, and Scopus, giving multiple citations and extending their international influence. Follow the link to find out more.

28th March 2024: Invitation to participate
Energising Equity: Co-developing a Framework for the inclusion of neurodivergent energy researchers.
Dr Vanda Papafilippou at UWE invites you to participate in a research project they are currently working on, funded by IGNITEnetwork+. The research focuses on neurodiversity in the energy sector and the possible challenges neurodivergent energy researchers face in their career progression and how to overcome them. Follow the link to find out more.

18th March 2024: Introducing the Sustainability Toolkit
As part of a major initiative to ensure the engineers of tomorrow can rise to the challenges of the climate emergency, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new Sustainability Toolkit to embed new greener approaches into engineering education. Developed in collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries Software and the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Sustainability Toolkit, serves as a valuable resource for educators working in engineering higher education. Click here to access the Sustainability Toolkit.

26th February 2024: Invitation to participate
Glasgow Caledonia University invite you to participate in a research study: Drivers of skills included in engineering degree programmes. The aim of the study is to determine what factors influence content. The study is being conducted by Dr Christopher Smith at Glasgow Caledonian University and Dr Natalie Wint at University College London. Follow the link to find out more.

19th February 2024: New event – AI Ethics, Risk and Safety Conference
Our Ethics Ambassador Karin Rudolph, with her company Collective Intelligence, has organised a one-day conference which will bring together businesses and organisations to discuss, share best practices and learn about the upcoming regulations, standards, case studies, and the resources available for businesses. Follow the link to find out more.

15th February 2024: EPC response to proposed 16-19 qualifications reforms (feedback requested)
The Department for Education (DfE) is seeking to introduce a new Baccalaureate-style qualification framework for 16 to 19 year-olds, the Advanced British Standard (ABS), over the next decade. This is far reaching reform of A levels and T levels as we know them, and a cull of other level 3 qualifications to improve the overall education system to become better suited for the modern landscape of society within the UK. A formal consultation sets out proposals on the way the ABS could work.

We would like to invite your feedback to help the EPC lead an Engineering sector response on Chapter 3 – specifically assessment and grading – as we recognise this has an important impact on engineering HE access and admissions. Please can you review the EPC’s draft work to date before 29th February; it is quite involved so please allow some time to look at this.

14th February 2024: New event – Identifying threshold concepts in undergraduate mathematics teaching
Our Ethics Ambassadors co-chair, Rehan Shah, has organised an LMS teaching and learning workshop in HE to identify and examine the implications of threshold concepts in undergraduate mathematics modules. Follow the link to find out more.

12th February 2024: New SEFI journal launched
The “SEFI Journal of Engineering Education Advancement” has now launched giving an additional publication route for those practice based innovations and smaller projects that don’t meet the requirements of the main EER journals. Follow the link to find out more.

1st February 2024: Ottoline Leyser to step down as UKRI chief executive next year
The chief executive of UK Research and Innovation is not seeking a second term of office and will step down at the end of June 2024. You can read the full article from Research Professional News here.

31st January 2024: Engineering Council invites views on compensation and condonement
The Engineering Council is inviting responses to a survey on ‘compensation’ and ‘condonement’: the guidelines under which flexibility is allowed in the assessment of accredited courses. Engineering Council Deputy CEO, Katy Turff, has written a guest blog for the EPC website to explain their thinking.

19th January 2024: Educating the educators – why the UK’s engineering teachers need reskilling too
In an article recently published in E&T (The IET), Sarah Jayne Hitt, the Project Manager of our Engineering Ethics Toolkit and Sustainability Toolkit, discusses the importance of reskilling educators.

Read the article in full: Educating the educators – why the UK’s engineering teachers need reskilling too

19th December 2023 – Call for the next UK&I EERN symposium – Deadline for papers EXTENDED to 5th Feb
For EERN members, the organising committee are pleased to announce that the 2024 UK and Ireland EERN Annual Symposium will take place at the Ulster University Belfast campus on the 17th and 18th June.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “Beyond Boundaries: Inclusive, Sustainable and Outward Looking Engineering Education” and we would like to invite you to submit abstracts for review.

You can find further details in the attached call document below. As normal we welcome research papers, concept papers and practice papers as well as workshops and panel sessions. We will distribute the call for abstracts through the EPC and other channels, and please encourage colleagues to submit abstracts for review.

EERN2024 Call for abstracts

13th December 2023 – Call For Materials // GlobalEngineer Bulletin
Materials are currently being accepted for the GlobalEngineer: IFEES-GEDC Bulletin. If you are interested in sharing events, updates, insights, or articles with our global network of engineering educators and stakeholders, please submit by December 20, 2023 by following this link.

To read the most recent issue of the GlobalEngineer Bulletin, click here.

7th December 2023 – New review published on STEM clubs increasing aspirations for engineering and tech careers
EngineeringUK has today released a new report which brings together the available evidence on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) clubs and their ability to increase students’ aspirations for engineering and technology careers.

The full report – ‘Rapid Evidence Review – STEM clubs and their ability to increase students’ aspirations for engineering and technology careers’- is available to download here.

29th November 2023 – PGR support request
We have a request for help.
Youn is a PhD student at the University of Warwick conducting research about the evaluation of STEM outreach programmes. His study seeks to gather insight from key stakeholders involved in STEM outreach, including outreach providers and teachers, to better understand evaluation of STEM outreach programmes. In the spirit of support please consider responding. You can access the participants information sheet here. Information leaflet for participants

‘Have you been involved in STEM outreach evaluation?

We’re looking for individuals who have previously been involved in STEM outreach (preferably in evaluation) to participate in a short online study. This study is part of a PhD research project from Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick which seeks to better understand evaluation of STEM outreach programmes, by gathering insight from key stakeholders involved in STEM outreach, including outreach providers and teachers.

If you would be interested in taking part in this study, please fill in this online questionnaire.

If you have any queries or would like to find out more about the study, feel free to get in touch via email: youn.affejee@warwick.ac.uk

21st November 2023 – IET report on neurodiversity in engineering and technology
A 2022 IET survey found that almost one in five people from the IET Volunteer community who responded (19%) identified as definitely or possibly neurodivergent. Later that year the IET commissioned further qualitative research to build greater understanding and awareness of the lived experiences of neurodivergent engineers and technicians, and to identify how a more inclusive environment could be created. The IET’s report presents the findings of that study, drawing largely on insights obtained from a series of focus groups held during the Spring of 2023. To access the report, click here.

16th November 2023 – EngineeringUK launches climate schools programme to inspire next generation of engineers
EngineeringUK has announced it’s launching an innovative brand-new pilot programme for schools – designed to help students explore solutions to tackling climate change and discover how engineers and engineering and technology are a key part of this. The Climate Schools Programme will initially run as a pilot from January to July 2024. During this time the programme model will be tested to understand the feasibility of a teacher-led programme that aims to link climate education across the curriculum, and will be iterated to respond to need. Schools can register their interest to take part from January 2024, or September 2024. Also launching this week are a brand-new set of green careers postcards for students. Hosted by Neon, the set of 6 postcards show young people how engineers transform the way we travel, eat, use, power things, build and breathe.

For more information visit: Climate Schools Programme
To download the Neon green careers postcards visit: Neon careers resources

30th October 2023 – Student demand for Engineering FE course outstrips supply 
Troubling research from the Association of Colleges (the representative body of most of the UK’s further education sector) suggests that despite skills gaps, 22% of FE colleges have waiting lists for Engineering courses.

29th September 2023 – Engineering Documentary
Blink Films are producing a series for National Geographic called Disaster Autopsy. The show looks at major events in modern history and using expert interviews and CGI, analyses their causes and chain of events. The stories will need a range of expertise across structural, mechanical, aerospace and nuclear engineering. They are particularly hoping to speak to any engineers with an American accent as it is for a US channel. This is a paid opportunity. If this is of interest and you would like further details, please contact the Story Producer, Fred Jacobsen by email – fred.jacobsen@blinkfilmsuk.com

29th September 2023 – RAEng Invitation to Tender: Calibrating Future Curricula
As part of its policy project Engineer 2030, which is exploring engineering skills needs and whether we’re able to meet them, the Royal Academy of Engineering is seeking proposals for a review of how engineering higher education curricula have served practicing engineers and technicians in the early stages of their career.  To learn more and submit a bid by the deadline of 11/10/23, click here (NB. it is currently the second opportunity showing on the page). There will be a virtual Q&A session for bidders on 4/10/23.

29th September 2023 – Systems Change Lab launched to help Engineering education change the world
On Friday 15 September, 50+ change makers from 20 universities came together to explore how to embed global responsibility in engineering degrees, as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineers Without Borders UK’s first Systems Change Lab. The EPC was well represented. Read more here and get involved.

28th September 2023 – Consultation season is upon us, have your say.
With no less than three OfS consultations currently open (on the regulatory implications of the LLE and for feedback on the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register) see what’s new on our New consultations page.

28th September 2023 – New online event – Neurodiversity: all in for engineering, Wednesday 11th October 2023
This webinar is an opportunity to harness our community for change, to draw from expertise, experience and positive initiatives to address diverse needs and to better understand the contributions that a neurodiverse community makes to engineering. Book here.

1st September 2023 – EPC Annual review
The EPC annual review touches upon all of our activities and achievements during the past year and beyond. Now available here.

29th August 2023 – ICL Conference in Madrid, Spain, 26-29th September
Colleagues may be interested in the forthcoming 26th International Conference of Interactive Collaborative Learning and 52nd IGIP International Conference on Engineering Pedagogy happening together at the NH Hotel Madrid Ventas in Madrid next month. The title is “Towards a Hybrid, Flexible and Socially Engaged Higher Education” and further details are available here.

28th July 2023 – Engineering Ethics Educators’ Pack
The Engineering Ethics Toolkit is a suite of interactive resources, guidance and teaching materials that enables educators to easily introduce ethics into the education of every engineer. We would like to ensure that all universities with Engineering departments are aware of the toolkit and able to make use of it. To this end, we’ve produced a pack of resources that can be distributed to relevant departments and staff members such as Engineering department heads, staff and administrators, as well as Vice-Chancellors, Deans, and anyone else who may find our resource useful in teaching or curriculum development.

We would be very grateful if you could share these resources, and encourage you to explore and use them in your teaching.

Read more here, or download the pack from here.

16th June 2023 – The Joint Council for Qualifications – AI Use in Assessments: Protecting the Integrity of Qualifications 
The Joint Council for Qualifications has published a guidance document to provide teachers/assessors involved in delivering JCQ qualifications with the information they need to manage the use of AI in assessments. Click here to read the full guidance document.

12th June 2023 – Engineering Academics Network Annual Congress
Are you attending the EPC’s Engineering Academics Network Annual Congress this week? Don’t forget to tag us in your social media posts – @EngProfCouncil on Twitter, with the hashtags #EPCCongress23 #EANCongress23

23rd May 2023 – Siemens Skills for Sustainability Network – Global Online Gathering
Join Siemens at their first global online gathering on Wednesday 7th June to learn about the Sustainability Toolkit, hear news from the network, and connect with sustainability-engaged educators from around the world. Siemens is excited to welcome a guest speaker, Sarah Jayne Hitt, Ph.D. SFHEA and Project Manager for the Engineering Professors Council (EPC) Sustainability Toolkit. More information here.

28th April 2023 – Support research on Academic Career Profiles
Prof Roger Pennington, Vice Chair of EERN,  brings us news of a research project on academic career profiles. The project is looking for academics to share their experience through a short questionnaire.

11th April 2023 – EERN call for papers: final reminder
UK and Ireland Engineering Education Research Network Annual Symposium invites the submission of abstracts for presentation at The Student Experience: From Evolution to Revolution? The contribution of pedagogical research in enhancing engineering education. Following numerous requests, EERN have decided to extend the deadline for submitting a 500 word abstract to 1700 hours on 17^th April.

6th April 2023 – Unsubscribing from mailing lists; ICS/iCal files
Due to a recent website glitch, some members’ mailing list subscribe and unsubscribe requests may not have been saved. Our web development team are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. If you are an EPC member, you can check and change your subscription settings on your My EPC profile. There has also recently been an issue with the ICS/iCal files on our events showing the wrong time, and this has now have been resolved. We apologise for any inconvenience that these glitches may have caused, and thank those members that flagged them up. Please do continue to tell us about any new issues that you find, as we continue to add new features to EPC Online.

31st March 2023: Engineering Ethics – Launching new toolkit content webinar recording
The recording of our Engineering Ethics webinar is now available on the event page, in the ‘Recording’ tab.

16th March 2023: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology Chief Scientific Advisor vacancy
Of a sort. We thought we’d point out that the post is vacant in the spirit of driving Engineering influence on the post. More information here.

16th March 2023: Royal Academy of Engineering Diversity Impact Grants
Congratulations to the eight EPC member universities (Bath, Bristol, Canterbury Christ Church, Dundee, Hertfordshire, Teesside, Ulster and UWE Bristol) who have been awarded grants of between £61,000 and £100,000 to support projects that address the unequal outcomes experienced by their students from diverse and underrepresented groups studying engineering. More details.

13th March 2023: Engineering Ethics – Launching new toolkit content webinar
Join us for an introduction to the new engineering ethics resources available in our Engineering Ethics Toolkit. This event is free and open to both EPC members and non-members. Register now.

22nd February 2023: Sustainability survey
The Institution of Structural Engineers has just launched its Sustainability Skills Survey for 2023. Please take a few moments to fill it out. The findings are likely to be useful to a major project that the EPC will be starting shortly to create a toolkit of resources to support teaching about sustainability within Engineering degrees.

15th February 2023: Research opportunity
We’ve received news that NMiTE is leading a consortium of partners that has been awarded funding for a collaborative enhancement project by the Quality Assurance Agency entitled “When Quality Assurance meets Innovation in Higher Education”. It will explore how higher education institutions are balancing the important need for QA processes with the need to support innovation as part of teaching enhancement in a timely manner. They are seeking a fixed-term, part-time research assistant/associate to support the partners in the project work, with a fixed-fee of £10,000 available.

14th February 2023: Happy Valentine’s Day!
AI bot ChatGPT has written a “Shakespearean” sonnet for Valentine’s Day. But is it any good?
Listen to a reading by Charles Dance and decide for yourself.