The University of Westminster’s Vice-Chancellor and President Dr Peter Bonfield has co-chaired a new government-backed report which sets out how UK engineering can help tackle key domestic and global challenges.
Entitled Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges (TERC), the report was commissioned by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – the public body which invests in research in UK universities.
Over the course of eight months, and in one of the largest engagement exercises carried out across the UK’s engineering research community, a diverse range participants contributed to workshops and roundtables which informed the outcomes of the report.
This engagement helped to identify the most pressing actions and recommendations for funders, professional bodies and the wider community. The report makes significant, positively disruptive recommendations which have been welcomed by the strong movement of sectors and bodies who have been part of its development, including EPSRC, UKRI and government.
A key high-level priority from TERC is the adoption of inclusive engineering approaches, which ensure that the outcomes of engineering solutions work equitably and without bias for all parts of society. This also requires the inputs to these solutions to be drawn from a diverse and representative community of scientists, partners and collaborators.
Dr Peter Bonfield, said: “Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges identifies the most important questions and greatest challenges facing engineering in the future, and how we can help solve them by embracing and implementing the clear recommendations made in this report.
“Informed by our communities’ collective experience and knowledge, it outlines the most pressing high-level priorities, such as promoting inclusive engineering and equipping our engineers with the new knowledge and insights they need to make the world a better place.”
Read the Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges report here.
