This week, representatives from the engineering community and engineering charities were invited to Westminster Abbey to join the Secretary of State for Transport, Government Representatives and Year of Engineering partners in celebrating the outstanding contribution that engineers past and present have made to society.
The service highlighted the importance of inspiring the next generation with budding engineers, inspiring engineering role models and educational organisations all in attendance.
Luke Mitchell CEng, Senior Mechanical Engineer at Waldeck was invited to the national service, due to his role within the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Futures Workshop.
Luke shared:
“Novembers theme for the Year of Engineering has focused around ‘Tomorrows Engineer’, and for me this is of significant importance to our industry. As part of an industry that is continuously evolving and contributing so much to the future of our planet, we need to ensure we source the best talent from all cultures, genders and socio-economic backgrounds.”
“Engineering expertise will be critical to tackling the global challenges we face in the years to come. Engineers will play a central role in addressing the effects of climate change and rising sea levels, and in ensuring that our growing population will have access to food, water, clean energy and affordable healthcare. We hope future generations will be inspired by the opportunities engineering offers to shape their world, and to discover new ways to improve lives in the future.
“There is a big shortage of young people that think engineering could be a job for them; particularly, for young women. It is time for us, as engineers, to nurture and inspire the next generation of innovators, inventors and problem solvers by showing them what engineers actually do.
“Within my role as Chair for Yorkshire’s Young Engineers Network (YEN), I encourage our volunteers to go speak to graduates, schools and speak to parents to spread the word about the exciting projects and challenges us engineers work on day-to-day.
“Attending the service at Westminster Abbey was a huge privilege and I am certainly proud to be a part of our industry and call myself an engineer.”
Above: Luke with the CIBSE President, 2017’s Graduate of the Year and the Inclusivity Panel Chair.
If you would like to find out more about CIBSE Futures Workshop and the Yorkshire YEN, please contact Luke on 08450 990 285.