Prof. Tim Ibell FREng FIStructE, chair of the 2018 Structural Awards judging panel, explains why creativity should be central to efforts in attracting youngsters to become engineers
The 2018 Structural Awards shortlist has just been announced. Being the annual highlight in the Institution of Structural Engineers’ calendar, these accolades celebrate the extraordinary talent and skill of the Institution’s membership across the world.
The awards embrace all professions and trades involved in the creation of our built environment, and they let all know how world-leading structural engineering can be transformative to the success of all sorts of projects, from the smallest to the largest. Society is the real winner.
The Structural Awards cover 13 categories, from Tall and Slender to Long Span, and from Innovation in Construction to Heritage. The primary criterion in the choice of the winner and short list in each category is structural engineering excellence. What this means in reality is that the panel seeks out evidence for innovative approaches to structural engineering which have enhanced the overall design, thereby adding great value to the project.
Best Value and Sustainability are additional categories which reward structural engineering which has driven these particular criteria successfully. The Supreme Award recognises the project which epitomises international structural engineering excellence, without which the project simply would not have been viable. Supreme Awards over the years ooze structural engineering mastery, and have included such icons as The (First) Severn Crossing and the London Velodrome.
But probably the most important aspect of the Structural Awards is that they inspire the next generation of structural engineering students to believe in doing things better than ever before. The awards shout out that structural engineering is fun and creative. This message is so critically important as we seek out and attract talent amongst school children who are considering careers in engineering. Engineering is synonymous with creativity. The Structural Awards demonstrate this emphatically. This is why they are so important right across the world.
This is The Year of Engineering and, just like The Structural Awards, it is also a celebration within our profession, a showcase for all associated with our profession, and an inspiration for the next generation of engineers. The parallels are wonderful.
The thing which always strikes me about the winners of the various categories in The Structural Awards is that imagination, brilliant ideas and creativity lie at the heart of these projects. While technical depth is simply a given amongst all members of the Institution of Structural Engineers, the core attribute of winners of The Structural Awards lies in their ability to have wonderful ideas which lead to extraordinary outcomes. This is the essence of great engineering.
As an educator myself, I am convinced that one of the most sought-after attributes of all engineers, namely creativity, should be central to our attraction of youngsters to become engineers. Engineering is far, far broader than STEM. We should be shouting about the reality of our profession’s creative heart to make a very necessary step change in the recruitment of our students, by letting all youngsters know that great engineers know to ask the right questions, and usually these questions begin with ‘Why?’. Engineers are thinkers, doers, makers and artists. The greatest of engineers are both divergent and convergent thinkers. The Structural Awards help so deeply in ensuring that this message is conveyed as far as possible. Without this message, our profession will not attract the wonderful calibre of talent which is waiting to have better ideas than ever before.
Our profession talks about the skills gap. One of the biggest gaps we have is in not publicly aiming for a 50-50 gender balance in the recruitment of engineering students to our universities. The message seems clear to me. If you are interested in everything at school, including STEM, humanities and the arts, then become an engineer. You have the perfect make up if you have breadth of outlook, technical ability and emotional intelligence to want to do good for the world.
The Structural Awards show time and time again that STEM is not enough, alone, to ensure great success. It seems to me that it is time for all universities to take heed of this message, and to embrace a new era of recruitment of broad-minded, creative engineering students who may well go on to win a Structural Award in future.
Prof. Tim Ibell FREng FIStructE, chair of the 2018 Structural Awards judging panel
Added to divergence and convergence, may I offer the concepts of Yogis and Commissars-thinkers and doers. Yes, the creation of the concept/idea is essential yet, until it has been produced -whatever it is- and systems thought through to ensure proper construction/manufacture and the reality of day-to-day operation the project is unfinished?
Giving a scale of 1-10 it is interesting to see where on these scales some of the great past Engineers and indeed political leaders would score. The best Yogi-sars are 5:5: they have good ideas and can put such into use. Napoleon was a 5:5. Alexander the Great is always defined as a 10:1: he created the concept of a wonderful ‘Empire’ but it crumbled so quickly after he died. Perhaps a 1:10 is Captain Mannering: probably without any initiative whatsoever, but a ‘safe pair of hands’ to do the day-to-day. Apply this ‘score-test’ to yourself (come on, we all know where we stand amongst our peers) and to them! Particularly those above. Maybe they (and you) aren’t so bad after all?
Hi Mike, the true definition of “creativity” is not development of ideas but the completion of a “novel relational product”. For creativity to be complete a product must exist ‘materially’.
here we go again: a central plank of my thesis on the difficulty of describing any technical development/creation in words (those who make their living? from trying to do such are called patent agents!) and we appear to have difficulty defining the very act of creating….!
I was trying? (Bl**dy words again) to get across the concept that it is the complete process from the ‘id’ to the successful life cycle usage which we Engineers and Technologists are able to do: and others less-able (is that a new word?) cannot!
We already do a lot of creativity, the problem is that it is about artistry rather than engineering elegance! Form overriding function so many times, especially when ‘improving’ a product means removing functionality. (I think I have interpreted Mike’s comment above)! Function is what people use, form is what some people like to look at! Both have their places. A good engineering design already has it’s own elegance.
As the Chief Engineer at ICI Wilton told a rather young and very inexperienced graduate trainee in 1965: “when you have finished a drawing, design, schematic,layout,
leave the office and try to forget all about it. Next morning, stand back and look at it from a distance. If it looks good, it almost certainly is!”
Now I know this is difficult with ‘screen’ based design (whatever happened to tracing paper, inked lining, scales and hand-lettering) to do this: but I believe the exercise is well worth it.
Incidentally have all the industrial world finally settled on Third Angle projection: or is there still a mixture of 1st and 3rd? One of the largest/most expensive co*k-ups I had the misfortune to be a part of (along with of course added catastrophe because of the involvement of a purchasing agent who saw it as his role to stop direct communication between Engineers and suppliers ) involved this.
I couldn’t agree more that students need to know Engineering is more than just STEM and if you are interested in all subjects at school then Engineering could be an excellent career choice.
I believe young students may be put off a career in Engineering due to preconceptions that it is all just math- there is room for artists in engineering!