Description

The 21st Century brings a level of complexity to engineering that is unprecedented – we have big system problems that needs collaboration and understanding like never before. Trust has become the currency of success for engineers as we design our 21st Century products and buildings with their labyrinthine materials flows and state of the art manufacturing - how do we also achieve zero waste and close the loop on sustainability?

In this complex and often chaotic system, people and the planet have become the equal of profit. Our perception and calculations of risks must change, with short-term success costing everything. This lecture will dig into how engineers can navigate from a structured and causal environment and become more exploratory and adaptive, without losing our rigour and professionalism.

Fortunately, the answers are familiar to us engineers – diverse multiskilled teams and the use of effective tools and data. This lecture will explore why and how diversity and inclusion can give us up to 35% better performance in the 21st Century and what tools help us be successful.

We will explore how we can capture knowledge and experience from those with different experiences or technical disciplines, both empirical and applied, and how we can leverage to the benefit of the team. We’ll explain just what we mean by oriented collaboration and how we can understand perspectives of others to achieve even higher performances from teams where people can be themselves, where saving the planet has become part of being an engineer.

Speakers:

As Deputy Director of the £318m million Faraday Battery Challenge, Jacqui Murray leads government investment to develop batteries that are cost-effective, high-quality, durable, safe, low-weight and recyclable. Her background is in the steel industry, environmental regulation and advanced materials innovation. She has recently worked with Formula One companies like Williams and McLaren on Diversity in Engineering. Named as one of Autocar’s Top 100 Women in Automotive in 2020 and appointed to the MOD’s Land Industrial Advisory Group in 2021. She is a Chartered Engineer, Environmentalist, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers.

As Lead Applications Engineer for LB Foster Rail Technologies, Jackie Butterfield supports Rail Operators across the UK, Europe and the Middle East to maximise the performance and life of their infrastructure and rolling stock assets by advising on and implementing Friction Management Technologies. Like Jacqui, she started her industrial career in bulk steel manufacturing and has worked in a variety of metals manufacturing industries in engineering, technical and commercial roles. She is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Please book your space by going to the University’s Live Line Up page and click the ‘Book now’ link for the event: https://le.ac.uk/study/live-line-up(by email when you click the link).