Future Nominations Forum 2020 - The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

Celebrating engineering visionaries, inspiring creative minds.

The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize) is a global £1 million prize that celebrates a ground-breaking innovation in engineering. The prize rewards an individual or team of engineers whose work has been of significant benefit to humanity.

The 2019 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering was awarded to Dr Bradford Parkinson, Professor James Spilker, Jr, Hugo Fruehauf, and Richard Schwartz for their work developing the world's first truly global, satellite-based positioning system – GPS.

Now, the time for nominations for the 2021 prize is fast approaching, making this an exciting time to highlight engineering excellence across the profession and to shape the search for the next winner of this prestigious prize.

This event is led by the QEPrize Ambassador Network, a dynamic community of the best and brightest early career engineers from all fields around the world, who work to inspire the next generation to follow in their footsteps.

We invite early-career engineers from across the profession to join our ambassadors as our 2020 Future Nominations Forum – a community of early-career engineers with both professional expertise and personal passion for promoting engineering. The purpose of the Future Nominations Forum is to share knowledge of innovations and networks across the engineering profession and recommend areas that are worthy of consideration for the QEPrize. Together, they can help to ensure the widest possible pool of nominees for the 2021 prize.

In this event the Future Nominations Forum will come together to explore and debate two key questions:

1. Which areas of the engineering profession need more exposure and acknowledgement of their achievements?
2. How do we reach and encourage these sectors, and diverse engineers across the industry, to nominate outstanding innovations and the engineers behind them for the QEPrize?

The event will be hosted by Science Made Simple (SMS), an award-winning STEM outreach company with a track record of inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers and being a bridge between researchers and the public. The company’s specialised science communication services reach 60,000 people a year in schools, festivals, and learning outside the classroom, providing public engagement experiences which help to break down barriers between formal learning and everyday life. Science Made Simple’s aim is to bring science and engineering to all people, regardless of background.

We hope you will be able to join us for this exciting and unique event!

Register below by 14 February 2020 to secure your place.

Timetable: [Provisional - times TBC]

Intro - Welcome, housekeeping and aims

Session 1: Setting the scene - Introduction to the workshops and sessions and their objectives. using images to trigger ideas, attendees work individually and in pairs.

Session 2: Use your hands to free your thinking - Exercises to start the group thinking creatively. Attendees will make simple props

Session 3: Unconscious bias exercise

Lunch

Workshop 1 : Developing new ideas for nominations - Using United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a starting point, attendees will work quickly to create a pool of ideas.

Workshop 2: Exploring the nomination process - Attendees will work in task groups to explore the nomination process through conversations using some creative communication methods. Tasks will defined by SMS development process

Presentations and performances - Attendees show some of the presentations they made in Workshop 2, refine their thoughts from Workshop 1, summarise and present

Information pooling and close - Summary of ideas, further actions and information for those who wish to know more about the QEPrize Ambassador Network.

FAQs

What is the Future Nominations Forum?

A group of early career engineers from across the engineering industry, including QEPrize ambassadors and other young professionals. Members are expected to have both professional expertise and personal passion for promoting engineering. The purpose of the Future Nominations Forum is to share knowledge of innovations and networks across the engineering profession and recommend areas that are worthy of consideration for the QEPrize.

Is this event open to only QEPrize ambassadors?

This event is open to early career engineers from all backgrounds. If you are a QEPrize ambassador, we encourage you to also bring at least one colleague with you to the event.

Do I need to bring my ticket to the venue?

There is no need to bring a paper ticket to the venue – just give your name at the door. As a precaution, please keep confirmation of your booking on your mobile device.

Is the event catered?

Yes, the event is fully catered. Please state your dietary requirements at registration.

What are my transport/parking options for getting to and from the event?

As the event is in central London, public transport is recommended. If you are travelling by car, please get in touch with us with your arrival time and parking/accessibility needs.

The nearest train stations are:

• London Charing Cross (0.74 miles)
• London Euston (0.79 miles)
• London St Pancras (0.87 miles)

The nearest tube stations are:

• Tottenham Court Road (0.14 miles)
• Holborn (0.32 miles)
• Goodge Street (0.34 miles)

Is there any financial support for travel?

The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation is committed to accessibility for its events and its members – please contact us directly at ambassadors@qeprize.org with your name, location and mode of travel for more information regarding financial support.

How can I contact the organiser with any questions?

If you have any additional questions please email ambassadors@qeprize.org.