IMechE Member Guide 2022: Building for the Future

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BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE.

Improving the world through engineering

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A WORLD READY FOR CHANGE. Our 175 anniversary was a historic milestone, the perfect occasion for us to come together and celebrate. Let’s use this significant year to build a strong foundation for the future.

Engineering is thriving, and crucial to finding solutions for our communities; together we can utilise this potential to create change and hope. We are committed to developing our membership services, to ensure that the Institution remains relevant to our membership. We want to provide the best opportunities for developing, upskilling and reskilling our engineers and technicians. We are working to enhance our services to further support our partner organisations – employers, universities, colleges – so that our engineers are benefiting from the best lifelong professional development. imeche.org

2022 saw IMechE celebrate 175 years as an Institution

We are committed to developing our membership services, to ensure that the Institution remains relevant to our membership.


BECOME A MEMBERSHIP PARTNER. Our new IMechE Membership Partner offer provides membership and professional registration solutions for employers and their engineers, ensuring they meet industry-recognised standards of engineering excellence. As an IMechE Membership Partner, employers can access our unique membership services to help their business grow and excel – and their employees and teams thrive. Working in collaboration with you, we can deliver an effective and personalised programme of support to help you.

Can we support your organisation? Get in touch. We would love to come in and discuss how we can collaborate with you. imeche.org/membership-partner


YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Focusing on your professional development can give you a competitive edge in the workplace, and is essential to your career progression and success.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) demonstrates your commitment to lifelong learning. Clients, employers and peers expect to work with the best engineers who are constantly learning, improving their skills, and remain at the cutting edge of engineering.

Our expert Global Membership Development team works with applicants from the UK and across the world – providing in-depth knowledge and advice on membership and professional registration. Our webinars, workshops and 1-2-1 sessions are free to attend and available in a range of formats, dates and times to suit your needs. We also provide specialist advice for the UK Armed Forces, End Point Assessment and our corporate clients. imeche.org/application-help

Our membership benefits are designed to support your CPD with both structured and informal learning. Whether you volunteer, attend training or watch a webinar, it all counts. Our approach to CPD is flexible, individual and reflective. Mandatory recording of CPD All professionally active registered engineers are required by IMechE and the Engineering Council to undertake and record their CPD, demonstrating how they maintain and enhance their competence as a professionally registered engineer. Failure to do so could result in sanctions being applied. imeche.org/cpd


YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOOLS. Our professional development tools are designed to put you in charge, making planning and recording your CPD an easy part of your everyday life.

CPD Tools

Career Developer Your online tools to achieve your professional development goals: • Record your achievements and set future goals • Focus on your career aspirations • Access throughout your career imeche.org/careerdeveloper

MPDS and SRS Tools

For professionally registered members to plan, record and manage your professional activity and competence.

For Associate members registered on MPDS and SRS, our new online tools can support your goal to achieve professional registration.

imeche.org/cpdtools

imeche.org/mpds

Workfriend EngTech members can access Workfriend, our online career support portal – with career tools, resources and e-learning modules. imeche.org/workfriend

Developing Engineers Programme For Associate members seeking to achieve professional registration. imeche.org/developingengineers


YOUR SUPPORT NETWORK. Working across the world, wherever there are members, Support Network provides financial, emotional and practical responses to help meet life’s challenges. Support Network is an independent charity run by IMechE members and volunteers. All our work is focused on supporting the IMechE engineering community and their families. We can help financially with grants for students or newly qualified engineers; support with high household bills; breathing space support; budgeting and debt relief help. We provide employment coaching and CV refresh services for those facing redundancy, unemployment, first job seekers and career break returners. Legal advice is available on a free and confidential basis.

Make a donation imeche.org/sn-donate

Our helplines can support you at home with parenting, grandparenting and family health advice. We can also help with issues related to disability, sleep disturbance and mental health, and we can enable access to counselling. As our world evolves, we have too. We have extended our reach by funding international development, climate change, engineering innovation and STEM-related education projects. We appreciate your engagement with us; please donate, volunteer with us, attend our free webinars and encourage your peers to use our services. imeche.org/supportnetwork


KEEPING YOU INFORMED. The last 175 years have shown us momentous changes in engineering – with many more to come. It has never been more important to stay connected and up to date, our Library and news resources can help you.

Whether you are starting out in your career or retired, our resources enable you to stay connected and up to date with the latest thinking and developments in mechanical engineering. Our world-class engineering Library and Archive offer you both printed and online resources. You can access over 70,000 ebooks, standards and ejournals, specialist engineering data tools and databases such as ScienceDirect and ASME Standards – all free and accessible from wherever you are in the world. Our Archive and artefacts contain a wealth of historical information recording our history and the development of mechanical engineering.

Our Members Hub, located in the Library, offers you free Wi-Fi, free printing, self-service tea and coffee, and dedicated areas for collaborative working, meetings and private study. Sign up to receive Institution News, Industry and Regional Updates for the latest news and events in your region. You can check and update your mailing preferences in your My Account profile. imeche.org/library

468,536 online library downloads last year


OUR EXPERT TRAINING. Our 200+ industry-relevant courses and qualifications provide a single destination for your training needs. Delivered by expert trainers and fellow engineers, they can help you develop your technical and non-technical skills.

Business, leadership and technical training We offer the widest range of business, leadership and technical training for engineers and engineering technicians. With many years of working at the forefront of engineering practices across multiple industries, our IMechE Learning & Development team has a unique perspective on the issues engineers and their organisations face, enabling us to provide the most up-todate, industry-relevant learning and development services. With options for every stage of your career, our training is ISO9001 certified, mapped to UK-SPEC, and can be delivered in a variety of formats and locations, by trainers with industry know-how and practical experience in getting the best out of individuals and teams.

Non-destructive testing and coatings training Our training schools IMechE Argyll Ruane and IMechE Fife NDT offer training, examinations and Level 3 consultancy services globally for individuals and organisations in key industries, such as oil and gas, nuclear, petrochemical, defence, aerospace and automotive. Our courses meet internationally recognised certification schemes such as PCN (ISO9712), ICorr, EN4179, NAS410 and SNT-TC-1A; and you will benefit from experienced trainers, state-of-the art facilities and equipment, and excellent customer service. argyllruane.imeche.org fifendt.imeche.org

imeche.org/training We trained over 5,000 individuals and worked with 600+ companies in 2021


WORLD-CLASS EVENTS. Our world-class events, programmed through expert technical committees, keep you up to date with leadingedge technical knowledge, engineering ideas, practical methods and innovations, and provide you with unparalleled networking opportunities.

Since the beginning of 2022, we have engaged with more than 8,375 delegates across 50 events, held both physically and virtually, and across all engineering disciplines. As we emerge from the pandemic, we continue to deliver some of our events via online, interactive formats, giving members the opportunity to learn from the best engineers in the industry, wherever you are in the world. Excel in your career • Free webinars and lectures • Virtual and interactive one and two-day conferences and lectures • Professional development opportunities • Latest knowledge for your work projects Search all our events by industry and location. imeche.org/events

One Birdcage Walk Host your events at One Birdcage Walk, our Central London headquarters, at a discounted rate. Regarded as a fine example of traditional architecture, our venue is perfect for many occasions, including meetings, conferences, away days, drinks receptions and fine dining. onebirdcagewalk.com

Engaged with 8,375+ delegates across 50 events in 2022



MEET OUR MEMBERS. Flt Lt Jess Mac Sweeney IEng MIMechE Junior Engineer Officer RAF Lossiemouth

I grew up near an airport and my eyes were often glued skywards, watching aircraft flying over my house or satellites. When I learned that it was aerospace engineers who made this happen, I couldn’t think of a cooler job. I am a Junior Engineer Officer (JEngO) on 6 Sqn Eurofighter Typhoon, the job I aspired to do when I joined the RAF. It’s a very busy and exciting place to be, and the novelty of working with jets never wears off. I’ve had a lot of exciting opportunities with the RAF, working with fast jets, missiles, new technologies, working around the world, and having another Master’s degree paid for. A career highlight was attending the European Space Agency astronaut selection aptitude testing in Hamburg. It was incredible to reach the final 6% of candidates. The big, audacious goals we once set as children, don’t have to be as unreachable as we tell ourselves. Having professional recognition is a good way to measure your career progress in a way that makes sense across the whole industry.

It has been a great way to network with engineers within and outside the MOD. It has been a privilege to promote professional registration and further education to the personnel that I manage. That is the greatest benefit in my opinion: to act as a form of mentor to others who want to develop as engineers. If there are specific roles or opportunities that you want, don’t be shy in making it known you are interested, and highlighting why you would be suitable. You have to be bold and a little loud sometimes. Being ‘pushy’ about your goals can feel uncomfortable, but ultimately no-one else is going to do that pushing on your behalf. Try not to worry about how your sense of ambition is being taken by others; having drive is a good thing! My future career aspiration is to be working as a Flight Test Engineer and complete my second MSc at Cranfield University, in Guided Weapons Systems.


A YEAR OF CELEBRATION. Our 175 anniversary year was a wonderful celebration of our members and their contribution to society.

We hosted lectures, events and award ceremonies; we celebrated our members and staff; we published reports and podcasts, shared videos and stories on our social media channels – the year has surpassed our expectations. Thank you to all involved. At the beginning of the year, we retraced our founders’ steps back to where it all started in Birmingham. Our archivist Lucy Bonner met local members and visited key locations, and discovered more about the rich engineering heritage of the Midlands. We welcomed Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, to One Birdcage Walk, where he gave a special guest lecture, Harnessing the power of engineering to solve global challenges.

Sir Patrick Vallance gave a special guest lecture at One Birdcage Walk

Later in the year, we launched our Elevating Education initiative, and presented Bromsgrove Station in Worcestershire with our 132nd Engineering Heritage Award. Our anniversary gallery opened for members to purchase wall art and photo gifts, including our special commission, One Birdcage Walk – a moment in time, created by staff member Ravi Bhela. Renew your membership and join us for the next part of our journey. We’ve come a long way over the past 175 years, and we are just getting started. imeche.org/175


OUR GLOBAL COMMUNITY. IMechE’s engineering community is a unique, vibrant community that you can reach out to for support through our events, volunteering opportunities and links with industry. Membership of IMechE means you are part of our global community, bonded by common interests; providing you with opportunities to network, expand your horizons, share experiences with and learn from the experience of others, and make connections through our regional, national and global networks. Our member networks are grouped into eight international regions: UK and Ireland; Europe; Americas; Middle East and Africa; North East Asia; Oceania; South Asia; South East Asia.

Member volunteer groups are active in each region, hosting events, sharing expertise and building links with likeminded organisations; giving you the chance to get involved locally and help raise the profile of the profession and the Institution. Become involved, develop your skills and knowledge, and inspire the next generation through STEM engagement; become a volunteer with Support Network; get involved in our educational challenge portfolio and engineering competitions; or represent your fellow members on boards and committees. imeche.org/get-involved


INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION. The learning journey of an engineer begins in early childhood and continues for a lifetime. IMechE is here to provide support at every stage with resources, experienced staff and the expertise of our community.

With our extensive education outreach provision, we are well placed to inform and inspire budding engineers. Our education outreach programme provides members with valuable educational resources and training, education-themed webinars, free toolkits and a 3D printer loan scheme, and access to a dedicated network of representatives from our 16 regions. We have one of the largest cohorts of STEM Ambassadors in the UK – members who volunteer their time through education outreach. Our Ambassadors personally benefit through volunteering by contributing to their CPD, developing work and life skills, building confidence and a sense of personal achievement and satisfaction.

One of the largest cohorts of 10,000 STEM Ambassadors in the UK

Digital educational resources, guidance for online kits using reusable and affordable items, free training can all be accessed by our international members. Provision of lifelong learning expands further – we shape public opinion through our policy work, influence how engineering is taught via accreditation, engage and upskill young engineers who take part in our challenges, and support lifelong CPD through our learning and development programme. imeche.org/education


SKILLING UP THE NEXT GENERATION. Our student challenges and awards equip undergraduates, apprentices and graduates with real-life engineering experience and resources to succeed.

Student challenges Our challenges portfolio consists of the Railway Challenge, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Challenge, Design Challenge and Apprentice Automation Challenge. Engineers of the future can innovate, develop their real-life engineering experience, and practise their practical skills and business acumen. imeche.org/challenges Scholarships and awards Developing, inspiring and encouraging engineers at every stage of their career, our scholarships and awards support the educational and development needs of students, graduates, members, engineers and related specialists. With practical financial help, our scholarships and awards can help you to develop your skills and expertise, achieve your ambitions, and be recognised for your achievements. imeche.org/awards

Formula Student Europe’s most established educational engineering event and IMechE’s flagship event – Formula Student – returned to full strength this year with over 130 teams. Student teams are challenged to design, build and race single-seater cars, developing the practical and project management skills needed to make them wellrounded graduate engineers. The FS-AI autonomous vehicle event also set a new record, with over a dozen teams from the UK and abroad taking part. Teams are challenged to test their autonomous driving systems across a number of real-world driving simulations, and showcase their skills via presentations and on-track activities. imeche.org/formula-student 130+ teams competed at this year’s Formula Student event


LEADERSHIP IN ENGINEERING. With our impactful and global leadership we are uniquely placed to advise governments, media, industry, academia and policymakers on key engineering issues.

In the last year our focus has been on our four policy priorities: climate and sustainability, the future of transport, education and skills, and healthcare and infection control. With energy at the forefront of everyone’s mind, our Fusion Energy: A Global Effort – A UK Opportunity report explored the current status and future potential of fusion energy. Our Decarbonising Building Operations: Data as a driving force in reducing greenhouse gas emissions report coincided with our presence at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). The report makes the case for greater standardisation and reporting of building data to enable decarbonisation. We responded to the Government’s consultation on a Whole Industry Strategic Plan for the Rail Industry, while in healthcare and infection control our Pandemic Infection Control Solutions (PICS) Task Force continues to be influential.

Our Emerging from a pandemic: engineering solutions to enable us to live with COVID-19 event was sponsored by Amanda Solloway MP and held at Portcullis House. It brought together political leaders and innovators, including our PICS Task Force. Amanda Solloway MP also gave the keynote address at our Elevating Education launch event. Our Elevating Education project focuses on how engineers can get involved in our education programme as STEM Ambassadors. imeche.org/policy-and-press

With energy at the forefront of everyone’s mind, our Fusion Energy: A Global Effort – A UK Opportunity report explored the current status and future potential of fusion energy.




OUR VALUES. Our values focused on inclusion, impact, innovation and integrity are at the heart of who we are, how we work and how we interact with others.

We are committed to making IMechE a great place to work, and an Institution we can all be proud of. We achieved the Investors in People Gold Accreditation, a testament to the hard work of managers and staff. The rollout of our diversity and inclusion learning programme has enabled staff and members to come together to talk openly, share experiences and co-create an environment for closer working. Code of Conduct The revised version of the Institution’s Code of Conduct was launched in 2021. The aim was to ensure our Code of Conduct and disciplinary regulations were fit for purpose, emphasised the importance of professional conduct, and reflected the requirements of the Charity Commission and other relevant legislation. Further guidance was developed to help members interpret and enact the values featured in the Code.

Why is the Code of Conduct important? As a professional body, we promote high standards of ethical conduct among our members to: • Protect members of the public • Protect IMechE members • Uphold the reputation of the Institution and the wider engineering profession Our By-laws and Code of Conduct are our ethical standards, which apply to all IMechE members. Members are important ambassadors for the profession and the Institution, and are expected to refer to the Code on a regular basis – it can be found on our website. imeche.org/code-of-conduct

We are committed to making IMechE a great place to work, and an Institution we can all be proud of.


Your 2023 subscription fee is due on 1 January 2023; please make payment on or before this date. If you have a UK bank account, direct debit is a convenient and easy way to manage your payment – set up regular instalments today. If you already pay by direct debit, you do not need to take any action. imeche.org/renew

Select images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/ MSSS, ITER Organization, This is Engineering, Ravi Bhela, Karoshi, Tom Luddington, Ryan Murray, RAF. Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1 Birdcage Walk Westminster London SW1H 9JJ +44 (0)20 7222 7899 imeche.org


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