2016

Read the full report This was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant. Sarah works for Rolls-Royce designing parts for aeroplane engines, Masha is a research student working out how to make jet engines use less fuel and Mark simulates Formula 1 and Formula E racing cars to predict the best design for each race. Leon is working to make the oil used in motors more efficient, Dominique develops software for motor control systems and Andrei works for Jaguar Land Rover making sure cars are being built correctly. This was a busy zone that had a high amount of questions asked by students, with lots of interest in cars, planes and engines. All of the engineers were great at answering questions clearly and informatively with Leon, Mark and Sarah making up a majority of the activity by engineers across the two weeks.

Read the full report The Apprentice Zone was funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant, and included two current apprentices as well as three engineers who all got into engineering through an apprenticeship scheme. Ronnie works for Yorkshire Water building reservoirs and laying pipes for drinking water, Rich (the winner of this zone) is an electrical engineer who works to ensure a building is safe and suitable for the people in it and Krishma is a current apprentice with VINCI Construction working on the Crossrail west station upgrade projects. Daryl is a software engineer who creates websites and Anya is also a current apprentice with VINCI helping to build a waste recovery park which will turn dustbin waste into electricity. This zone had a higher percentage of active students than average across the whole of the event with 93% of all students who logged in engaged with the … Continue reading →

Read the full report The Kilogram zone was a general engineering zone, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant. Yip is the UK Transport Operations Manager for Amazon, Jarrod works for a materials science company researching how to make everyday objects from rocks and crude oil and Iona designs machinery that helps provide safe food worldwide. Eloise is a PhD student researching how to build big systems, like cities, that can survive unexpected challenges in the future, and Adam is a roboticist working on a large military communications project. Eloise took part in the final two days of the event from Glastonbury Festival, and Jarrod took part from Mexico and California, where he was travelling for work. This resulted in lots of conversation about travelling, and more personal questions about the engineers’ hobbies and interests, making the atmosphere within the live chats and ASK section friendly and relatable.

Read the full report This was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Grant. Stephen researches how to build supermarkets from more environmentally friendly materials, Natalie is a PhD student researching the behaviour of the ground when high speed trains pass over it in order to make sure trains can run at a high speed safely and Mark is a Senior Project Manager a company currently working on installing solar panels as the road surface. Jeni is a PhD student researching sustainable hydrogen production and Ashwanth works on a subsea construction boat in the North Sea extracting fuel from below the seabed. The zone was fairly active, and the engineers were all good at engaging with students through ASK and the live chats. The engineers each attended a good number of live chats, and continued to take part even if they had already been evicted which … Continue reading →

Read the full report The Aerospace Zone was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Michael is a Senior Lecturer in aerospace engineering who researches ways to calculate noise in order to design quieter engine systems, Kirstin designs software which is used in military planes and helicopters and John is a Professor of Automotive Engineering who specialises in turbocharging. Chris works on the Exomars project currently working on sending a rover to Mars, and Agata is a research engineer who develops aerospace assembly systems. This zone was one of the busiest in June’s event, with a higher than average number of questions approved and live chats booked. Chris and John, who came first and second respectively, accounted for over half of all answers and live chat by engineers.

READ THE FULL REPORT The Robotics Zone was a themed zone funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering. It involved scientists working with robotics in a variety of areas. Stuart designs tools for underwater robots, Melanie is a PhD student researching machine learning, Abbie works as Lead Engineer for the structure design on the first European Mars Rover, Tom is a PhD student who works for a robotics laboratory and Paul is an Engineering Supervisor for the Village Bakery. Questions from students were often thoughtful and intelligent, with the engineers providing detailed and engaging answers on topics such as the future of robotics and the gender balance in engineering. The zone was quite quiet in ASK with a below average number of questions submitted by the students compared to the rest of the March zones. The live chats also demonstrated that students had a good idea of the work the … Continue reading →