Kenneth Severn Award 2016

In this highly personal address, 2016 Institution Gold Medallist, Robert Halvorson, describes how his long relationship with structural engineering practice and with the UK began with Sherlock Holmes. Halvorson explains how, in many ways, his career has been guided, for better or for worse, by how Holmes conducted his consulting practice. His detective practice involved many of the same issues that engineers face: his work required technical knowledge; he had clients of all sorts to deal with; he worked with intransigent public officials; he had to use his skills to investigate unknowns and arrive at logical conclusions; and so on. Halvorson shares some of the little bits of wisdom that others – colleagues, friends and, of course, Holmes himself – have shared with him over the years.

This month we bring you another question from the Institution’s Structural Behaviour Course. The topic is indeterminate bending moment diagrams. Answers will be published in the August issue.

In this section we shine a spotlight on papers recently published in Structures – the Research Journal of The Institution of Structural Engineers. Structures is a collaboration between the Institution and Elsevier, publishing internationally-leading research across the full breadth of structural engineering which will benefi t from wide readership by academics and practitioners. Access to Structures is free to Institution members (excluding Student members) as one of their membership benefits, with access provided via the “My account” section of the Institution website. The journal is available online at: www.structuresjournal.org