Driving innovation nationally and globally

Engineers Ireland is active not just throughout Ireland but far beyond its shores. The organisation has 12 regions across Ireland, in addition to ones in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. In all it has around 28,000 members.

“Around 15 per cent of them are overseas, based all over the place, from Poland to the Middle East, but with quite a gathering of them in Australia and New Zealand,” explains Damien Owens, director general of Engineers Ireland.

The organisation also has divisions, based on disciplines such as civil, mechanical, process, chemical and electrical engineering, for example. But what sets Engineers Ireland apart from many of its international counterparts is how many of its events are run on a cross-discipline basis, bringing practitioners of all kinds together.

“It’s a really good melting pot for ideas and for people to get exposure to other disciplines,” says Owens.

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Regions hold evening lectures, half-day conferences and site visits to such places as advanced factories and water treatment plants, to look at the various challenges there are around those projects.

“It’s a great way of gaining knowledge,” he adds.

While there is a strong social dimension to regional events, including dinners and golf outings, at heart members join because of the opportunity to gain knowledge that it provides. Engineering is, after all, about solving problems. A solution used in one discipline might well work elsewhere.

For Owens, the phrase ‘it’s not rocket science’, sums up the quest its members are on.

“Many years ago one of our past presidents said that, actually, rocket science is very well understood. We know what gravity is and how the planets affect motion. It’s the engineering bit that is the challenge,” he explains.

“That means making sure the rocket doesn’t explode; getting it off the ground with enough force to escape gravity but not so fast that you’ll kill the astronaut; then you have to keep them alive and bring them back in to land in a place where you can pick them up. The science is actually fairly straightforward; it’s engineering that solves the rest. Science is understanding a problem, engineering is solving it.”

It’s that thirst for knowledge that ensures Engineers Ireland’s regional events are so well attended.

Simply being a member gives consultant engineer Frank Given, EI’s Northern region chair, a chance to get together with people from other engineering disciplines that he would not otherwise have the chance to meet.

It also provides members continuing professional development opportunities, including opportunities to see “exemplary performance” in action, says Given.

“I love it when you are looking at a particular aspect of engineering and seeing something you wouldn’t get anywhere else,” he adds. “Things that are new to the marketplace or new ideas and fresh thinking that makes you think, ‘actually, this is something I really need to know about because, if I don’t know about it, I’m going to fall behind very quickly’.”

For him the value of Engineers Ireland’s regional activities is that they are always based around what’s next.

“There’s best practice and then there is next practice,” says Given. “Best practice is standard. It’s what you do all day, every day. Next practice is what you look at that is coming down the pipeline quickly. It’s how you get to be ahead of the game. Within Engineers Ireland and particularly within my own committee, we are constantly talking about things that accelerate your career, that put you ahead of your competition, both individually and corporately.”

The Northern region of Engineers Ireland has just over 1,000 members, from recent college graduates to seasoned professionals.

Every year it runs a number of events, with last year’s theme being about how technology is changing the working world.

A personal highlight for Given was an event in which a road maintenance engineer on one of Northern Ireland’s trunk routes walked his peers through the new technology revolutionising the work.

“They were looking at things like digital twinning and almost at the point of predictive maintenance, which would, in turn, reduce down time and road closures, thanks to regular monitoring,” says Given.

As well as networking and social events, including an annual dinner and a prestigious lecture series in association with Queen’s University Belfast, EI’s Northern region undertook an outreach programme with secondary schools for Engineers Week which saw 500 children learn about engineering as a future career option.

Structural engineer Patrick Kennelly is chair of the Cork region, which has just over 3,000 members.

“We pride ourselves on being probably the most active sector, so we’ve provided 35 events, with 3,100 people attending this year, which runs from April to April 2024. We also get the chance to stand as a strong voice for the profession in the region for both local and national issues,” he adds.

One of its biggest events this year was about the Cork Docklands development, which will see the population of Cork city rise significantly. Around 250 people attended that event, both in person and online.

A personal highlight for Kennelly was its recent family fun day which took place at the old Cork Waterworks, with more than 900 children and adults attending to find out all about engineering. It was run by more than 30 volunteer engineers, with demonstrations from some of Cork’s best known engineering companies, including medical device makers.

What with Cork’s new docklands development, flood defence works, new roads and bypasses, plus ongoing environmental and climate action, its been a busy year for the region, and a good one, he says.

“It’s all very positive at the moment. You can see it in the increased numbers of people attending our events and in recent surveys showing that 71 per cent of engineering employers expect their financial position to improve this year. The mood is good,” says Kennelly.