very pleased to be handing the role
to Mr Lomas as they have worked
in the same eld of encouraging
young members into engineering and
technology careers for some years.
Ms Philbin has been honoured to be
President over the past four years
and has leant a lot about engineering
design in the process. She offered her
thanks to the staff and volunteers who
have supported her during her term
of ofce and particularly those who
have volunteered at TeenTech events,
offering mentoring and support to the
young engineers of the future.
Ms Philbin wished Mr Lomas the best
of luck in the role and concluded that
she will happily continue to ‘bang the
drum’ for the Institution.
5.2 The Secretary announced that Dr
Humphries-Smith has come to the end
of her term as Chair of Council and
that EurIng Colin Ledsome has been
elected to serve for a term of one year.
Mr Lomas presented EurIng Ledsome
with his badge of ofce and invited Dr
Humphries-Smith to say a few words.
Dr Humphries-Smith reected on
her three years as Chair, which have
encompassed a number of events in
the life of the Institution. She set her
targets at the last AGM of; increasing
company visits to recruit new
members, investigate development
opportunities for IED HQ and seek
approval to register as an End Point
Assessor for degree apprenticeships.
These aims have all been furthered,
some more successfully than
others. Kim, as the new membership
secretary, has carried out a
programme of visits to companies,
which, along with the decoupling of
registration from membership, has
lead to the increase in applications.
A working party has formed to develop
a number of options for realising the
potential of Courtleigh to provide
a long-term sustainable future for
the Institution, with outline planning
approval being sought later this year.
The relationship with the Institute
for Apprenticeships has been more
challenging, but we persist in our
efforts to become a registered EPA, as
not only will it become an important
membership/revenue stream but a
number of our accredited courses are
keen to work with us to be of benet
of their students. Dr Humphries-Smith
thanked the Secretary and team at HQ
for their support during her time as
Chair and also the Honorary Treasurer
for his efforts during the period. She
wished EurIng Ledsome well in the role
and hoped he, and the two new Vice
Chairs, enjoy their experiences
as much as she has.
Mr Lomas presented Dr Humphries-
Smith with her Past Chair’s badge.
5.3 The Secretary announced that Mr
D T H Castle and Mr N Phelps have
been elected as Vice Chairs of Council.
Mr Lomas presented them with their
badges of ofce.
6 The Secretary then announced
members of Council. The Chair then
invited EurIng Ledsome, Chair of
Council, to say a few words about the
present scene and his aspirations for
the coming year.
EurIng Ledsome began by thanking
Dr Humphries-Smith and Ms Philbin
for their leadership over their terms
of ofce, observing that having three
women in the positions of CEO,
President and Chair makes the IED
unique as a professional body – adding
that he hopes it will be the norm at
some point in the future.
EurIng Ledsome commented that, 49
years ago to the day, Neil Armstrong
became the rst person to walk on the
moon, and went on to describe how
he had worked at NASA on the Apollo
Skylab and recollected that rocket
engineering is the difcult bit, rocket
science is easy.
EurIng Ledsome commented that he
doesn’t know where the IED is going
over the next few years – as a diverse
and agile organisation we can afford
ANNUAL REPORT
to be adaptable and move with the
times. However, membership does
need to grow to enable the IED to
truly represent the design industries,
become more nancially stable and
provide professional security to our
membership. Diversity and inclusion
are key to this success, a broad mix
of backgrounds and afliations brings
a greater range of thinking to the table
and a more considered outcome.
EurIng Ledsome concluded by
observing a quote from George Bernard
Shaw; ‘the reasonable man adapts
himself to the world, the unreasonable
one persists in trying to adapt the
world to himself. Therefore, all
progress depends on the unreasonable
man’ and encouraged all IED members
to get out there and be unreasonable.
The Chair then said a few words
regarding his role as President and
thoughts about the IED over the
coming year.
Mr Lomas stated that it’s a huge
honour to take over the Presidency
from Ms Philbin, adding his thanks to
the work she has done. The two share
a common enthusiasm for engaging
youth in STEM subjects, stating it is
critical that young people are exposed
to employment opportunities in design,
engineering and science in general.
Mr Lomas observed that one of the
issues is that engineering is largely
invisible to most areas of society but
is key to societal and environmental
development – the current ‘hot topic’
is building multi-disciplinary teams
to develop new processes and
products, the IED has a broad church
of members and so this future dynamic
is an opportunity to be seized.
Again, diversity is the key, dispelling
the myth that role models are all ‘pale,
male and stale’. Promoting the wider
range of membership within the IED
will help with this issue, along with
the promotion of product design as
an exciting and innovative career.
Mr Lomas looks forward to developing
and contributing to these changes over
www.ied.org.uk 21
/www.ied.org.uk