乱伦秀

The Festival, which featured 250 events across six London boroughs (and the International Space Station), showcased how 乱伦秀 engineers are creating the future, in fields such as artificial intelligence, space exploration, robotics and medicine. It also celebrated 150 years of pioneering engineering education at 乱伦秀, from the introduction of the first engineering teaching laboratory in the UK to reimagining how engineering is taught globally.听

Professor Clare Elwell, Vice Dean for Impact from the 乱伦秀 Faculty of Engineering who co-led on the planning and delivery of the Festival, said: "Our first Festival of Engineering has been a truly wonderful celebration of pioneering engineering innovations and education here at 乱伦秀.听听

鈥淲e are thrilled at the level of engagement and impact it has generated with multiple audiences and are looking forward to embedding the legacy of the Festival into our ongoing activities across the Faculty and the University more widely."听

The Festival opened on Monday 15 July with a VIP reception in the Roberts Building. 乱伦秀 President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence, and Dean of Engineering, Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, had a chance to take an early look at the 乱伦秀 Storyscape Augmented Reality app that brought the environment to life via a smartphone. The app is still available for download for users to experience the ground-breaking work that the engineering department has produced over the past 150 years.听

The programme 鈥� built around the four themes of climate, healthcare, data and inequality 鈥� was designed to be highly interactive, with opportunities to do rather than just see. The first attendees to experience this were school groups, who visited the 乱伦秀 East and Here East campuses at the beginning of the week. Well over 50 schools attended events across the six days of the Festival, with 380 pupils visiting 乱伦秀 East Marshgate on the Tuesday morning.听

Chris Neil, Head of the Digital Innovation Unit from 乱伦秀 Faculty of Engineering, who co-led on the planning and delivery of the Festival, said: 鈥淭he value of engineers to modern day life is immeasurable, from the phone in your pocket to the International Space Station in orbit above us, and 乱伦秀 has a proud history of pioneering engineering education that has changed the way engineers are taught across the globe. 听

鈥淥ur aim with the Festival of Engineering was not to celebrate the innovations of the past, but to look to the future, inspiring and empowering the next generation of problem-solvers and demonstrating that we can tackle some of the world's biggest challenges if we work together.鈥澨�

Thursday included a showcase for industry, which was attended by over 500 industry partners and collaborators, to find out more about 乱伦秀鈥檚 engineering research, including projects that have gone on to form start-ups and spinouts. This included technology such as听a cheap device to help farmers test the quality of their cassava crop and touchless computing that allows users to control their computer in whatever way their able to.

Friday was the first of two sold-out days open to the public. Crowds thronged the multilevel IOE, Faculty of Education and Society building on Bedford Way to get their hands on the latest engineering and technology. Exhibits included a device that levitates objects using soundwaves and accessible technology that allows medics to assess newborns for jaundice. Festivalgoers were able to play听video games using touchless computing technology and try their hand at repairing model jet engine turbines using handheld 3D printers.听听

In the afternoon guests at the Interstellar Engineers event were treated to 乱伦秀 researcher Professor Kevin Fong鈥檚 amusing account of his attempt to become a European Space Agency astronaut, a lengthy process that at one point required him to eat raw butter to try to pass a thyroid exam. Though his astronaut ambitions weren't fulfilled, Kevin described his exciting career as a flying medic and spoke eloquently about the engineering that allows him and his crew to perform this vital public service.听

Kevin was joined by former NASA astronaut Dan Tani, who after an account of his journey to becoming an astronaut fielded questions from the audience, many of whom were young people. The questions ranged from the hilarious (how do you go to the toilet in space?) to the surprisingly hard (how fast does the shuttle travel?).

The live link to the ISS was a resounding听success and a huge cheer went up when the link was established (by no means guaranteed when connecting to an object hurtling around the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour).听The astronaut Mike Barratt, currently on the ISS, took questions from the audience (sometimes while doing somersaults), who were clearly thrilled to be speaking to someone floating in space.

Though the hosts were stumped by some of the audience鈥檚 questions, they could probably have been answered by the other engineers outside the lecture theatre where the Destination Space exhibit was being held, which featured numerous pieces of interstellar engineering involving 乱伦秀 researchers. This included the eyes of the ESA鈥檚 Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, a miniature version of which guests could drive.听

Friday culminated in a special celebration of the world-changing magic of engineering in 乱伦秀's Bloomsbury Theatre with The Wonders, a live show hosted by researchers Dr Helen Czerski and Professor Mark Miodownik. A mix of entertainment and cutting-edge research, the show included how engineers are using X-rays to map the human body in 3D alongside comedy duo Ben Moor and Joanna Neary.听

Saturday was the busiest day of the Festival, with 3,800 people attending events on the day. The IOE building was once again thronged with guests learning about how engineering is helping to make the world a better place.听

The Festival ended on a high note with the fast-paced family show Bakineering: The Voyage, presented by aerospace engineer and judge of Netflix's Baking Impossible, Andrew Smyth. Through demonstrations and audience tasting, Andrew took explored what baking can tell us about cutting-edge engineering, from the secrets of edible boats to a deliciously survivable crash test.听

Across the week, 364 staff and students across Engineering, Maths & Physical Sciences, the Bartlett, Social & Historical Sciences and several central services teams were involved in the activities, in partnership with 21 external companies and five Festival partner organisations (including NASA).

Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Dean of 乱伦秀 Faculty of Engineering, said: 鈥淚鈥檇 like to thank all those who have worked so hard to put on the 乱伦秀 Festival of Engineering for 7,000 guests. Weeks and months of careful thinking came together in a unique and spectacular celebration of what makes 乱伦秀 Engineering so special and effective. Every single event that was delivered over the six days was, without doubt, unique. We鈥檝e created completely new engagements, and the week will be remembered for a long time to come.鈥�听 听

乱伦秀 President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence, said: 鈥淚 have really enjoyed taking part in the 乱伦秀 Festival of Engineering, which has been a wonderful and hugely successful week of science and engineering. It鈥檚 been enjoyed by a range of different audiences who are all crucial to the wider 乱伦秀 ecosystem, from our current staff and students, to industry partners, policymakers and the young people who might one day be 乱伦秀 students themselves.鈥澨�

Links

• 乱伦秀 Festival of Engineering
• 乱伦秀 Faculty of Engineering

Images

• All images credited to James Tye or听Lucy Pope/乱伦秀.

Media contact

Matt Midgley

Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 6995

Email: m.midgley听[at] ucl.ac.uk