Gold Medal Address – A life of leisure

It goes without saying that I regard it as a singular honour to be awarded the Institution’s Gold Medal. It is not something that one ever gives a second thought to on a day-to-day basis, so to find out that one’s peers and colleagues in this profession regard my work as worthy of this recognition is extremely gratifying.
In discussing the subject of this address with the President and the Chief Executive I was encouraged to do two things. Firstly, and perhaps inevitably, to reflect on the rather unusual field of work in which I have been involved for over 20 years and which in many ways epitomises the public perception (such as it is) of my career ‘so far’ – the engineering of major theme park rides and attractions. And secondly to allow an opportunity to consider, as I did in my Presidential Year (1999-2000) the public face of engineering in general and structural engineering in particular.

John Roberts, FREng, BEng (Hons), PhD, CEng, FIStructE, FICE
Jacobs Babtie