Discussion on Active Engineering History by Mr R.J.M. Sutherland

This lecture series, previously named the Star History series, derives from an initiative by Keith White when he was President. He felt that at least some of the activities of the Institution’s History Study Group should reach an audience wider than the Group’s membership. It is perhaps even more appropriate this year to remember who suggested the Study Group. This was Dr George Geddes when he was President in 1971-2. Sadly, George Geddes died last November. Although the History Study Group may seem a small item among his many considerable achievements, I think it is fitting to remember him this evening. Effectively, this lecture series is his ‘grandchild'. R.J.M. Sutherland

The first full-time engineering course at Bolton started in 1958. By the early 1960s the beginnings of the present School had received full recognition of its comes by the then Council of Engineering Institutions. The School now has 34 academic staff, 18 support staff and over 950 full and part-time students, working within an Institute which has the mission ‘to be widely recognised for the accessibility and responsive ness of its services and for its commitment to high quality teaching, learning and research’. Professor C. Melbourne

Niamh McCloskey reflects on her personal experience of the challenging reality of returning to work after maternity leave, questioning whether workplaces truly support women in this transition and highlighting how, with the right support and recognition of the new perspectives and skills that motherhood can bring, we can retain mothers and allow them to thrive in underrepresented industries.