Future of Design – Inspiring the future talent of our industry
The IABSE Future of Design conference will be held in London in September. Lee Franck explains why it has become a must attend event
Independent of the outcome of the recent General Elections, the UK needs more engineers to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the economic recovery and to lead the country to a sustainable future.
In addition to encouraging young people to study maths and physics and to take on STEM degrees, it is also important that we retain the best and brightest within our industry and avoid losing them to better paying industries once they have taken that first step.
Key to this is to create an environment where we can share the enjoyment and fulfilment for the work we do, see the future of our career as an exciting opportunity and feel inspired to go out and shout about the exciting career path we have chosen.
"To me, Future of Design is an opportunity to get together with like-minded enthusiasts, a welcome source of knowledge and inspiration and a reminder of why I have become an engineer in the first place."
This has been the exact mission Jumana Al-Zubaidi and I set out on in 2012 when creating “Future of Design”, a re-energised version of the previous “Young Engineers Conference” held by IABSE (International Association for Bridges and Structural Engineering).
The event brings together the most eminent figures of our industry and gets them to talk about their latest cutting edge designs and share their vision and passion with the wider audience. Young designers also get the opportunity to present their research or design projects and to share their innovative ideas with an experienced audience.
Debate sessions on the future of our profession allow everyone to get involved and often prove to be truly eye-opening, sparking discussion throughout the rest of the day.
The audience is typically a mix of structural and civil engineers, architects, contractors and academics. It is a reflection of the multi-disciplinary design environment we often find ourselves in and an opportunity to create long-lasting relationships.
In fact it is the mix of professions, nationalities, gender and age groups that contributes to the engaging vibe of the events and allows you to rub shoulders with the world’s most talented and experienced designers.
To me, Future of Design is an opportunity to get together with like-minded enthusiasts, a welcome source of knowledge and inspiration and a reminder of why I have become an engineer in the first place.
So if you have missed the past events, don’t fret: the next one is taking place on September 10th 2015 in London (http://iabse.org.uk/event/fod-london-2015/).