Episodes

When we search for causes of accidents, we often assume a binary: either mechanical failure, or human error, were to blame, and we must pick between them. But labelling an accident as caused by human error doesn’t teach us anything. It makes no effort to understand what caused people to make the decisions they did. From aviation and healthcare to energy and defense, understanding how people interact with complex systems is key to improving safety, efficiency, and decision-making. At the most re...

AI is evolving so fast it eludes definition. The potential impact of the field is barely understood, even by those working in it. ‘Move-fast-and-break-things’ practitioners are deploying AI systems in autonomous vehicles, in courts, in medical diagnosis, and now even at the heart of the US federal government. Few of the constraints that govern individual and corporate behaviour are being applied to the field. Large corporations are shaping the sector faster than governments can act. In a societ...

How should engineers think about their duty to design safe structures? For IStructE’s head of climate action Will Arnold, this duty extends beyond the structure, to the safety of everyone on the planet. With renewable energy cutting operational carbon emissions, the majority of the engineering sector’s impact on climate change now comes from embodied carbon. Today, the World Health Organisation estimates that 150,000 excess deaths each year are caused by climate change. Embodied carbon from con...

Ten years ago, Fugro set out on an ambitious mission: to bring expert staff off of vessels, and into a purpose built remote operations centre, or ROC. The first of these ROCs, in Houston, now allows specialist staff to work on multiple projects at once, giving customers the real time data and analysis they need to compete in the fast-paced markets at the heart of the energy transition. In the decade since, Fugro has established ROCs around the world. In this episode, we learn how staff in Houst...

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) has a 100 year history of mapping the world’s oceans. John Nyberg, technical director, explains how the organisation’s role in understanding our oceans is evolving. Now, rather than just recording ocean depths for mariners, the organisation is setting standards for how we record environmental data. In Italy, this approach is being put into effect with an ambitious coastline mapping project. Planet Beyond explored this work in a recent episode. I...

What do engineers build? Often, the answer will be bridges and dams, apartment blocks and factories. But in everything they do, engineers are also helping to build communities. They are contributing to building people’s careers, and it is those jobs that are central to building a better world. In this episode, the last of four profiling shortlisted entries in the Engineering Matters Awards, we are looking at how engineers are helping to build better, more diverse workforces, and supporting the...

At the core of engineering and manufacturing, is the transformation of materials. A tree becomes a book. A stone is transformed into a concrete bridge, rocks into steel and glass skyscrapers. Each of these transformations are inefficient. Raw materials are lost to waste. Mechanical energy is converted into lost heat. In this inefficiency, we gradually chip away at our planet, and its liveability. If we are to maintain our planet, we must find new, more efficient ways to perform these transfor...

Across every sector, from manufacturing to transportation, energy to construction, the race toward a net zero future is reshaping how we work, produce, and consume. These industries have powered global growth for decades, but now, they must also lead the way in securing a sustainable future. The scale of the challenge is immense. Achieving a greener future will require more than incremental changes—it demands bold, transformative ideas. In this second episode of four looking at shortlisted entr...

What links draught excluders and nuclear reactors? Or carbon capture and methane monitoring? As we enter a generation of change, these and other ideas will be key to developing efficient, decarbonised energy, and to how we use this energy in our homes. This week, we introduce the shortlisted entries for the 2025 Engineering Matters Awards. The awards aim to celebrate the impact that engineers have on people, and on the planet. In this first episode of four, we look at how shortlisted entries in...

We live in a world where data and connectivity are essential to almost everything we do. Cable and satellite connections add value to business through trade and collaboration, and enrich our personal lives with the ability to engage with friends and family around the world. Maintaining these connections is a central aim of engineers in the 21st century. Little has changed in a hundred years. In the early years of the 20th Century, London was the backbone router of a communications network that ...

For many of us, now is a season of giving. A well chosen gift can bring lasting joy. But it’s easy to get wrong. One of the finest gifts anyone can give, is the gift of engineering. But how can engineers and designers ensure that when they share their gifts, they really meet the needs of users? This November, Engineers Without Borders UK brought together a diverse panel of experts to discuss the ‘Voices That Matter’ in engineering. In a conversation moderated by Jonathan Truslove, the panellist...

This week, we are returning to Rothera, in the Antarctic, where, in 2021 the British Antarctic Survey had just completed work on a project it has called ‘the world’s most extreme construction site’. Pour yourself a warming drink, and enjoy the episode. We’ll be back with a new episode next week. Since the end of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, humanity has focused its activities in the southern continent on science and research. To do this effectively, logistics are critical. To prepar...

Nature-based solutions are emerging as vital tools to tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by leveraging nature’s inherent resilience to protect and restore ecosystems. This episode explores how innovative approaches can make these solutions mainstream and economically viable while addressing complex challenges like urban flooding, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable investment opportunities. As species vanish at unprecedented rates, ecosystems lose their resilience...

During the last Ice Age, glaciers scored huge trenches through the land beneath the Irish Sea. Today, those valleys are filled with softer material and sit between tracts of hard rock, creating a diverse landscape that wind farm developer Codling Wind Park has had to research in painstaking detail before it can begin installing its turbine foundations into the seabed. This challenge is explained by Ed Sly from Codling Wind Park, and Matthew Chappell, Melanie Zacheis, and Ross Frazer from Geo-da...

Monitoring and maintaining an entire rail network can be costly, slow and, for those working on the track, very dangerous. Specialised trains were developed that could be mounted with sensors for collecting data on track gauging and track condition, however these couldn’t be mounted together. In this episode we look into the development of RILA or Rail Infrastructure Alignment Acquisition, which has been used on multiple rail networks to make data collection faster and safer. In 2006 Jos Berker...

From habitat destruction, to use of pesticides, the arrival of invasive species and the growing impact of climate change, life, in all shapes and sizes, is fighting to survive. To protect the world’s biodiversity, first we have a better understanding of what and where that biodiversity is. In this episode we delve into iNaturalist, the 2024 Engineering Matters Community Gold Champion. iNaturalist is a citizen science community with thousands of active members sharing the wildlife around them wit...

In the early 1900s Sydney was transformed by its first electric lighting system, which was so bright compared to gas lamps it was hailed as “turning night into day”. The network did much more than just light up the streets. It democratised power, electrifying communities, homes and businesses for the first time. The system, designed by London based engineering consultants Preece & Cardew, became the basis for today’s electricity grid and ushered in a century of electrical evolution as the system...

Governments and businesses around the world have made commitments to achieve Net Zero by the middle of the century. This will require engineering innovation, and changes to practices, standards and regulations, across the generation, transmission, storage and transport segments. In this episode we explore these challenges and how they intersect. The IET’s Powering Net Zero week returns on December 3–6 2024, at Millennium Point, in Birmingham. Find out how you can take part here. Guests Keith B...

The Thames had been for thousands of years London’s main route to the sea. But it is also an obstacle. The last crossing east of London is the bridge and tunnel at Dartford, and this is often congested. But a new crossing has been proposed further down the river. Throughout its planning, the focus has been on the legacy that the new Lower Thames Crossing will deliver. As we saw in yesterday’s episode of this mini-series, recorded live at Highways UK, National Highways is pushing contractors and...

National Highways has adopted clear net zero targets: its own operations will be carbon free by 2030; those of contractors on its roads by 2040; and of road users by 2050. The challenge will be meeting those goals, while also fulfilling its mission of getting drivers where they need to go, safely and efficiently. The key to meeting this challenge is the carbon reduction hierarchy: avoid, switch, and improve. National Highways has set annual carbon reduction targets for its suppliers. By making ...

In 2024, National Highways completely closed parts of the M25, London’s orbital motorway. This blockage in the arterial system of the UK economy wasn’t a mistake. Instead, it was an example of meticulously planned surgery, performed by experts. In the previous episode of this mini-series, recorded live at Highways UK, we saw how data is becoming key to the future of the UK’s road infrastructure. In this episode, we learn how asset managers, infrastructure owners and engineers can use this data ...

As an engineer, it is easy to think of roads as a challenge to be solved. Many of the innovations we will discuss in this mini-series will have a real impact on the safety, efficiency, and environmental impact of roads. But roads should be thought of as a service, not as an end in themselves. Today, National Highways is committed to only build new roads where strictly necessary. The future focus for the strategic highways network is to make road transport safer, more efficient, and more reliabl...

Why should we be thinking about roads as a service, not just an engineering challenge? What does it mean for a road to be a computer wrapped in asphalt? How can we use data from cars, highway assets, and even the road itself, to plan maintenance with minimal disruption to road users? How can roads become greener, more sustainable, and have less carbon impact? And what legacy do we leave when we build a new road? All through this week, Engineering Matters will be releasing a new mini-series, loo...

We should all want to build workplaces where everyone feels safe and included. But how can we do that when we don’t know what everyone needs? How can we make sure that we understand our colleagues and potential recruits, and provide them with the tools they need to be welcomed, and to be successful? Engineering Matters Awards Diversity & Inclusion Gold Champion EKFB’s Victoria Hingley has been working to develop a more diverse and inclusive workforce at the HS2 joint venture. Part of the work h...