CEC Newsletters
Below you will find newsletters since 2024 when we moved to a newsletter format linked to the website mailing list.
March 2024 Newsletter from CEC (apologies, photos and formatting have been removed)
Dear friends and members of the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council
Happy World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development.
Welcome to our new look newsletter for 2024. A lot has been happening recently and we hope you will enjoy reading about some of it here.
Those of you who are members will have heard some of these updates from me already, but for those who have not yet formally joined, we invite you all to become a member. Full members are Professional Engineering Institutions or similar across the Commonwealth, but there is also an Associate and an individual membership available. It’s free of charge, and we would like as many of you as possible to be part of this Commonwealth network. We have formalised membership of our network in order to get your permission to hold your details, and so that we know who’s who, but other than that there is no requirement for any particular level of commitment, but if you do join, we hope you will get involved where you can. We have a growing and thriving younger engineers network and this may offer great opportunities for your young activists to get involved in a global movement. Please do pass this newsletter on to anybody you feel would be interested in getting involved. If you are a member of CEC, please do look out for the email communication on our next meeting of CEC Members taking place later in March.
If you are new to the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council, our mission is to promote and support the role of engineers and engineering in the Commonwealth as a key enabler of the critical infrastructure that underpins civilisation, the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the response to the global climate emergency. So clearly this is an important mission and there is a lot to do, so please get involved. You can read more about our goals, strategy and action plan on our website here. CEC is an International member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), and on World Engineering Day (4th March) I will be representing CEC at the WFEO meetings in Lisbon. Join the events live through the WED website.
In this newsletter we feature one of our Executive Council members, Ing Trudy Morgan from Sierra Leone, and some work going on with one of our Associate members, also in Sierra Leone. This illustrates a mentoring opportunity, so do get in touch if you would like to know more.
In the blog posts below you can also read about the work of the Young Engineers / Future Leaders and their progress in setting up a network and working groups of their own, and about Sibo the Engineer, a storybook project to inspire young and diverse people across Africa into engineering.
We have been working closely with the Commonwealth Association of Architects and the Commonwealth Association of Planners, and have agreed to re-establish a group which has existed previously but had fallen into inactivity over the last few years, called BEPIC - Built Environment Professionals in the Environment - and we will be working together towards a Memorandum of Understanding and joint engagement at the 2024 COP29 later this year. This group also includes the Commonwealth Associaton of Surveying and Land Economy. We have three young engineers representing CEC at the Commonwealth Youth for Sustainable Urbanisation (CYSU) group, and thanks to all young engineers who recently applied for the two vacancies.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter, and please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the CEC, get involved, or have ideas for future collaborations.
Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng; President, Commonwealth Engineers' Council (2023-2025)
Sibo the Engineer - Catching them young
CEC is delighted to partner with Michelle Maphosa and the team behind the Sibo the Engineer project, the ultimate inclusive and accessible STEM program on a mission to ignite the imaginations of African children everywhere! At the heart of the Sibo the Engineer program lies a series of enchanting children's books that follow Sibo, a young and curious Zimbabwean girl, and her friends as they embark on various adventures learning all things STEM. The innovative program comprises a captivating children's book series, engaging animations, and active learning activities, taking young adventurers on a thrilling journey through the fascinating world of STEM. Read more about this project in the blog post at the end of this newsletter.
Commonwealth Connect & Collaborate Event
On 23 February the CEC hosted a table at the Commonwealth Scholars' annual event where we met some of the current scholars who are studing for Masters qualifications in the UK funded by the British Government's Foreigh, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Whilst we didn't meet very many engineers amongst the group, this is nevertheless an excellent scheme for young engineers who want to travel and obtain qualifications in the UK. We will keep readers informed of when these opportunities become available for applications. We wondered whether we might form a student network of Commonwealth engineering students? Let us know if you are interested in setting one up.
Other News from around the Commonwealth
CEC would like to send congratulations to the Institution of Engineers Mauritius who celebrated their 75th anniversary in September 2023. From our Small Island Developing States, congratulations to the Antigua and Barbuda Association of Professional Engineers who have had their By-Laws approved by the full body of locally based Engineers. This now gives them the ability to invite locally based Engineers into full membership of the ABAPE for the first time; engineers in Kiribati are considering establishing a Kiribati Engineering Council; the Vanuatu Engineers Association has recently been rejuvenated and are looking to develop a competency framework; and The Fiji Institution of Engineers have changed their name to Engineers Fiji.
2024 Dates for your Diaries:
Association of Professional Engineers, Trinidad and Tobago (APETT); Engineering New Zealand; Engineers Fiji; Institution of Engineers, Pakistan; Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI); Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM); Institution of Engineers, Singapore; Institution of Engineers Mauritius ; South African Institution of Civil Engineering; Institution of Engineers, Kenya; Institution of Civil Engineers, UK (ICE); Pakistan Engineering Council ; South African Institute of Electrical Engineers; Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers; Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers; Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers; Engineering Council of Zimbabwe. (If you have applied to join but are not listed here, please get in touch.)
Membership is free of charge and is also open to Assoications and Individuals. Read more and apply here.
Focus on Sierra Leone
Each newsletter we will feature some news from a Commonwealth country member and this month we are featuring the President of the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers, Ing Trudy Morgan, as well as our Associate Member Engineers for Change, Sierra Leone.
Ing Trudy Morgan is President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers, Council Member of the Professional Engineering Regulatory Council; Co-founder and first President of the Sierra Leone Women Engineers; a trustee with the UK based charity Engineers for Change (Sierra Leone); and the International Representative for the UK Institution of Civil Engineers.
Following her first degree from Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, she started her career with Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons working on iconic buildings in London, followed by 11 years designing and building railway bridges and infrastructure across the UK. She completed her MBA at Cranfield and spent the next 10 working as a management consultant and business development specialist leading teams across 17 countries designing and constructing offices for a large UK government agency. She returned to Sierra Leone in 2010 where she has worked as a Consultant with the IFC, World Bank; and the United Nations. She has worked in many sectors including transportation, health, ICT amongst others.
Passionate about youth and women empowerment, she has started several initiatives that support the growth and development of young people and women. Ing Trudy made history by becoming the first female Fellow from Africa, of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. She has won several awards locally for her work with women engineers. In June 2020, she became the first female President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers in its 50 year anniversary. And in November 2023, she was named as one of 274 engineering icons by Transport for London and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Join Trudy and other CEC women as we celebrate International Women's Day on 8th March.
Collaborative Projects and the Role of Mentoring - a Perspective from CEC Member Engineers for Change Sierra Leone
At the recent Kampala Heads of State Summit, The Commonwealth Secretary General counselled: “Together, we have the power to shift the balance of our fracturing world from mistrust and confrontation to dialogue and collaboration. Your perspectives are essential, and your action is imperative.”
Creating successful collaborative relationships is not like shelling peas. A skim through ISO 44001 – Collaborative Business Relationships shows what a broad range of conditions need to be met, but how do you choose collaborators? Fundamental to successful collaboration are personnel with the appropriate competence and skills. In the engineering world this means Professional Engineers registered to internationally recognised standards.
For several years now the charity Engineers for Change Sierra Leone has been working through the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers to mentor Graduate and Apprentice Engineers towards the UK Engineering Council’s Engineering Technician, Incorporated and Chartered Engineer levels. The model is transferrable to any Commonwealth national engineering body and applying any internationally recognised registration scheme. Mentors are volunteers, so why wouldn’t nations tap into the life-times of experience held by their many retired diasporic professional engineers amongst others? If this interests you, please contact [email protected].
To follow what's going on with CEC between newsletters, keep your eyes on our blog posts on the website here. See the latest one below:
Young Engineers/Future Leaders
A recent call out to young engineers across the Commonwealth appealed to a...
Read More
Catching them Young through Sibo the Engineer Project- Where Fun and STEM Collide!
Introducing Sibo the Engineer, the ultimate inclusive and accessible STEM...
Read More
New Year, New Strategy
Happy New Year to all members and friends of the Commonwealth Engineers’...
Read More
This email was sent to you by Commonwealth Engineers' Council
c/o One Great George Street
London, UK, SW1P 3AA
United Kingdom
http://www.commonwealthengineers.org/
Twitter/X: @CommEngCouncil
Unsubscribe
Dear friends and members of the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council
Happy World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development.
Welcome to our new look newsletter for 2024. A lot has been happening recently and we hope you will enjoy reading about some of it here.
Those of you who are members will have heard some of these updates from me already, but for those who have not yet formally joined, we invite you all to become a member. Full members are Professional Engineering Institutions or similar across the Commonwealth, but there is also an Associate and an individual membership available. It’s free of charge, and we would like as many of you as possible to be part of this Commonwealth network. We have formalised membership of our network in order to get your permission to hold your details, and so that we know who’s who, but other than that there is no requirement for any particular level of commitment, but if you do join, we hope you will get involved where you can. We have a growing and thriving younger engineers network and this may offer great opportunities for your young activists to get involved in a global movement. Please do pass this newsletter on to anybody you feel would be interested in getting involved. If you are a member of CEC, please do look out for the email communication on our next meeting of CEC Members taking place later in March.
If you are new to the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council, our mission is to promote and support the role of engineers and engineering in the Commonwealth as a key enabler of the critical infrastructure that underpins civilisation, the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the response to the global climate emergency. So clearly this is an important mission and there is a lot to do, so please get involved. You can read more about our goals, strategy and action plan on our website here. CEC is an International member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), and on World Engineering Day (4th March) I will be representing CEC at the WFEO meetings in Lisbon. Join the events live through the WED website.
In this newsletter we feature one of our Executive Council members, Ing Trudy Morgan from Sierra Leone, and some work going on with one of our Associate members, also in Sierra Leone. This illustrates a mentoring opportunity, so do get in touch if you would like to know more.
In the blog posts below you can also read about the work of the Young Engineers / Future Leaders and their progress in setting up a network and working groups of their own, and about Sibo the Engineer, a storybook project to inspire young and diverse people across Africa into engineering.
We have been working closely with the Commonwealth Association of Architects and the Commonwealth Association of Planners, and have agreed to re-establish a group which has existed previously but had fallen into inactivity over the last few years, called BEPIC - Built Environment Professionals in the Environment - and we will be working together towards a Memorandum of Understanding and joint engagement at the 2024 COP29 later this year. This group also includes the Commonwealth Associaton of Surveying and Land Economy. We have three young engineers representing CEC at the Commonwealth Youth for Sustainable Urbanisation (CYSU) group, and thanks to all young engineers who recently applied for the two vacancies.
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter, and please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the CEC, get involved, or have ideas for future collaborations.
Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng; President, Commonwealth Engineers' Council (2023-2025)
Sibo the Engineer - Catching them young
CEC is delighted to partner with Michelle Maphosa and the team behind the Sibo the Engineer project, the ultimate inclusive and accessible STEM program on a mission to ignite the imaginations of African children everywhere! At the heart of the Sibo the Engineer program lies a series of enchanting children's books that follow Sibo, a young and curious Zimbabwean girl, and her friends as they embark on various adventures learning all things STEM. The innovative program comprises a captivating children's book series, engaging animations, and active learning activities, taking young adventurers on a thrilling journey through the fascinating world of STEM. Read more about this project in the blog post at the end of this newsletter.
Commonwealth Connect & Collaborate Event
On 23 February the CEC hosted a table at the Commonwealth Scholars' annual event where we met some of the current scholars who are studing for Masters qualifications in the UK funded by the British Government's Foreigh, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Whilst we didn't meet very many engineers amongst the group, this is nevertheless an excellent scheme for young engineers who want to travel and obtain qualifications in the UK. We will keep readers informed of when these opportunities become available for applications. We wondered whether we might form a student network of Commonwealth engineering students? Let us know if you are interested in setting one up.
Other News from around the Commonwealth
CEC would like to send congratulations to the Institution of Engineers Mauritius who celebrated their 75th anniversary in September 2023. From our Small Island Developing States, congratulations to the Antigua and Barbuda Association of Professional Engineers who have had their By-Laws approved by the full body of locally based Engineers. This now gives them the ability to invite locally based Engineers into full membership of the ABAPE for the first time; engineers in Kiribati are considering establishing a Kiribati Engineering Council; the Vanuatu Engineers Association has recently been rejuvenated and are looking to develop a competency framework; and The Fiji Institution of Engineers have changed their name to Engineers Fiji.
2024 Dates for your Diaries:
- 4 March: World Engineering Day (WED) for Sustainable Development. Join the World Federation of Engineering Organisations' WED events online.
- 8 March: International Women's Day - Join CEC members Dawn Bonfield (UK), Trudy Morgan (Sierra Leone), Michelle Maphosa (Zimbabwe), Michelle Meaclem (New Zealand) and Valerie Kelsick (Trinidad and Tobago) for a webinar about Inspiring Inclusion in Engineering. 11:00-12:15GMT. Join here.
- 11 March: Commonwealth Day. An introduction to CEC webinar for the Young Engineers wishing to get involved in CEC, taking place at 09:00-10:00 GMT. Join here.
Association of Professional Engineers, Trinidad and Tobago (APETT); Engineering New Zealand; Engineers Fiji; Institution of Engineers, Pakistan; Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI); Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM); Institution of Engineers, Singapore; Institution of Engineers Mauritius ; South African Institution of Civil Engineering; Institution of Engineers, Kenya; Institution of Civil Engineers, UK (ICE); Pakistan Engineering Council ; South African Institute of Electrical Engineers; Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers; Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers; Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers; Engineering Council of Zimbabwe. (If you have applied to join but are not listed here, please get in touch.)
Membership is free of charge and is also open to Assoications and Individuals. Read more and apply here.
Focus on Sierra Leone
Each newsletter we will feature some news from a Commonwealth country member and this month we are featuring the President of the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers, Ing Trudy Morgan, as well as our Associate Member Engineers for Change, Sierra Leone.
Ing Trudy Morgan is President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers, Council Member of the Professional Engineering Regulatory Council; Co-founder and first President of the Sierra Leone Women Engineers; a trustee with the UK based charity Engineers for Change (Sierra Leone); and the International Representative for the UK Institution of Civil Engineers.
Following her first degree from Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, she started her career with Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons working on iconic buildings in London, followed by 11 years designing and building railway bridges and infrastructure across the UK. She completed her MBA at Cranfield and spent the next 10 working as a management consultant and business development specialist leading teams across 17 countries designing and constructing offices for a large UK government agency. She returned to Sierra Leone in 2010 where she has worked as a Consultant with the IFC, World Bank; and the United Nations. She has worked in many sectors including transportation, health, ICT amongst others.
Passionate about youth and women empowerment, she has started several initiatives that support the growth and development of young people and women. Ing Trudy made history by becoming the first female Fellow from Africa, of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers. She has won several awards locally for her work with women engineers. In June 2020, she became the first female President of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers in its 50 year anniversary. And in November 2023, she was named as one of 274 engineering icons by Transport for London and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Join Trudy and other CEC women as we celebrate International Women's Day on 8th March.
Collaborative Projects and the Role of Mentoring - a Perspective from CEC Member Engineers for Change Sierra Leone
At the recent Kampala Heads of State Summit, The Commonwealth Secretary General counselled: “Together, we have the power to shift the balance of our fracturing world from mistrust and confrontation to dialogue and collaboration. Your perspectives are essential, and your action is imperative.”
Creating successful collaborative relationships is not like shelling peas. A skim through ISO 44001 – Collaborative Business Relationships shows what a broad range of conditions need to be met, but how do you choose collaborators? Fundamental to successful collaboration are personnel with the appropriate competence and skills. In the engineering world this means Professional Engineers registered to internationally recognised standards.
For several years now the charity Engineers for Change Sierra Leone has been working through the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers to mentor Graduate and Apprentice Engineers towards the UK Engineering Council’s Engineering Technician, Incorporated and Chartered Engineer levels. The model is transferrable to any Commonwealth national engineering body and applying any internationally recognised registration scheme. Mentors are volunteers, so why wouldn’t nations tap into the life-times of experience held by their many retired diasporic professional engineers amongst others? If this interests you, please contact [email protected].
To follow what's going on with CEC between newsletters, keep your eyes on our blog posts on the website here. See the latest one below:
Young Engineers/Future Leaders
A recent call out to young engineers across the Commonwealth appealed to a...
Read More
Catching them Young through Sibo the Engineer Project- Where Fun and STEM Collide!
Introducing Sibo the Engineer, the ultimate inclusive and accessible STEM...
Read More
New Year, New Strategy
Happy New Year to all members and friends of the Commonwealth Engineers’...
Read More
This email was sent to you by Commonwealth Engineers' Council
c/o One Great George Street
London, UK, SW1P 3AA
United Kingdom
http://www.commonwealthengineers.org/
Twitter/X: @CommEngCouncil
Unsubscribe
