I think it's important that Engineering as a profession has its role models and I'd also love to see more Engineers highlighted in the media too for the work they do and the impact they have on everyone's lives. 


It dissappoints me so much when I hear or read of young people who consider minor 'celebrities' (those how are considered famous for just being famous a la 'The only way is Essex) as their role models. 


I'm honoured to be working with such amazing Engineers in my role at the IET and have come into contact with some truly inspirational people during my time here. 


So I for one, am completely behind Naomi on this one... 

I definitely agree. Every form of human endevour needs its own heroes in order to sustain and attract interest. Heroes embody all those aspects that we can consider as the virtues of a profession. And in so doing, heroes help to bring a sense of personality into a profession. Once people can put a face to a profession, then it becomes much easier for people to connnect with the profession.Yes, we definitely need our own engineering rock stars.

I am wary of role models. When I was in primary school I found it inspiring to read stories about Thomas Edison, Florence Nightingale and George Washington Carver and to see the Saltash bridge 'signed off' with 'I.K. Brunel - Engineer' was just fantastic!

They were all an inspiration, I didn't have to 'identify' with them, short of them all being human. Alas now role models have to matched to the group that we are trying to inspire - I'm not convinced that children are that narrow minded. The other problem with role models, certainly of the 'rock star' variety, is that their flaws are ruthlessly exposed too.

Ideally the public should see engineering achievements revealed by the 'ordinary' engineers involved. Scientists, authors and musicians get named as such. If an engineer was to make an appearance they are probably perceived as a being a presenter, public relations or sales person.

Major companies could do far more, they, after all, need engineers and they hold the purse strings of the publicity machines. The media, I'm afraid, are fickle friends, instant wham! BANG! destruction is the fashion. That is even true for 'rock stars' now, no more hard work, just one appearance on a talent show and a star is born!

I think it depends on your definition of a 'role model'. To me a role model is also someone who inspires me but not necessarily someone whose lifestyle I would choose to emulate. 


As Abel says, Engineering needs its heros and it's up to all of us to get out there and show people what Engineers do and why it's important. We shouldn't sit back and wait for someone else to do it for us. I for one will be doing something to help Naomi's cause and I urge all Engineers to do play their own part (even if it's just a small thing) too! 

Good things may come to those who wait, but the best things come to those who 'do'... 


So if I come in to contact with any of you Engineers during my travels and at IET events and meetings ... don't forget, I have a video camera and I'm not afraid to use it! 

Why is it that few girls ever consider doing Engineering? Why is it that the brightest of working class boys hardly ever think of doing Engineering? Simple - in their universe there is no species called an Engineer. Medical doctors, yes; Lawyers, yes; Entrepreneurs, yes; Waiters and Chefs, yes; Engineers, no.  And how do we get them to know and hunger after Engineering? One great possiblity - we need to enter into their lives - both online and offline - and we need to do so according to their own terms.  Hence the need to identify and support role models who can enter and inhabit the world of Britain's girls and working class boys, and who do not look alien in it. We therefore need Engineering Role Models, and this has to be done in an evidence-based, thoughtful and strategic manner.

My dad was an engineer. He never stopped; he brought his engineering work home and most probably took his home engineering to work. He was always looking for an alternative or ‘borrowing’ a technique from another field.

He was my role model, or maybe it was in the genes? Some of my primary teachers liked the way their “Day on The Beach” composition title became my “Life of the Crab” - half didn’t. As a budding artist I was told, “The sky is blue, the grass is green” or “Draw your people larger”, (ignore perspective). Stick to convention, to what they had been taught. Don’t question.

My work life has been similar, amazing half my employers and disturbing the rest; no analysis’, no questions. I haven’t learnt!

Why do ‘we’ need engineers? We the Institution? Well it exists only to meet a need, it has no intrinsic right to survive. We the nation? I have my doubts. The nation is still ruled by a classically trained administrative class, the heirs of Churchill, who kept his ‘experts on tap, not on top’. What sort of engineers do we need? Does it matter what ‘group’ they come from? Do we question the disproportionate use of steel in bridge building? Shouldn’t we be using more silver or silicon?

Should engineering be a ‘trade’? Teach the approved syllabus, pass the approved exams, and follow the approved procedures? A trade that if not exactly ‘feminised’ has become that of the conventional, compliant and conforming ‘craftsperson’ that fits the social ‘engineers’ (sic) ‘equality’ and ‘diversity’, (diverse in appearance, identical in thought), models?

Should it be a trade that can be taught at school? “Here is the specification, here is the design, here are the parts, put them together”, or “This is how to format a paragraph in ‘Word 2000’ – yes I know your parents have ‘Windows 10’ and you won’t meet either at work”. Trades like those of the wheelwright, the saddler and the weaver, unchanged, unchanging and now essentially unwanted.

There are a lot of questions to be asked before we go looking for our ‘Rock Stars’.