Engineering For Life

I spoke to University and Faculty Executive Boards this week about our aspirations for Engineering at the interface with Life Sciences and Health.  We want to build on success we have had with INSIGNEO (who by the way submitted >€10M research proposals to the EU this month led variously from our faculty, that of Medicine, Dentistry and Health, and the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust), ChELSI, SCENTRO, SITRAN, KRI and many more activities.

As part of the University's 2022 Futures programme we have created a project "Engineering for Life", and I'm delighted that Visakan will take a pause as HoD of ACSE (with Rob Harrison acting for him) to lead that project over the next 9 months or so.

So expect to see "Engineering for Life" used as short hand for "engineers working with biologists, medics and others across the university and NHS" over the next few months.

Pride

Last week I had the great pleasure of co-hosting a special event in London for our engineering alumni. More than 50 of our graduates (from recent to slightly less recent!) gathered at the stunning new offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to enjoy the spectacular view of Tower Bridge and network and socialise with each other and faculty staff. However I have a feeling that the main draw was the fascinating presentation and Q&A session conducted by Jonathan Neale, Managing Director of McLaren Racing.

Jonathan gave a wonderful insight into the world of F1, from the personalities involved to the incredible engineering challenges faced by his team. Each year only 5% of the previous year’s car remains the same, as the team works on increasingly innovative designs to try to beat the constraints set by FISA. And this all has to happen in less than three months to be ready for the next season.

The venue for the event was generously provided by PwC through Dean Gilmore, who graduated with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield in 1984 and is a Partner with PwC.

Chatting to our alumni reinforced to me how proud I am of our students and the things they go on to do when they leave us. The companies represented on the night included Arup, QinetiQ, BP and Network Rail amongst many other prestigious firms. The event also highlighted how proud our alumni are of where they came from.

This event will be the first of many such events and I very much look forward to the next one.