Western Aerospace Centre Prize 2016

Prize competition deadline is 11th March 2016.

The purpose of the prize is to encourage the further professional development of young engineers living and working in the West of England and South Wales, following graduation with a first
degree.
The format of the competition is designed to test the entrant’s communication skills when delivering technical information on their subject and the potential benefit to the business / aviation
industry, to a technical audience.
A 750 word abstract, summarising the author’s work on an  aerospace related research or development industrial project, must be submitted to the Western Aerospace Centre no later than 11th March 2016. The competition is open to self-employed individuals, as well as those employed by or studying with engineering organisations. Qualifying entries on any aviation related topic will be accepted. The detailed rules are presented below.
The selected finalists will be invited to give a 20 minute presentation at the Presentation Evening scheduled for April 2016 at the University of Bristol, in front of a panel including engineering directors from the region’s leading Aerospace organisations.
Subject to confirmation and availability, the four finalists may have a full day with the Red Arrows. The overall winner will receive a £500 first
prize, runner up cash prizes will also be awarded.
This is a chance to represent your company or organisation, to
gain exposure to senior aerospace representatives from industry
and academia, and for employers to encourage professional
development amongst their engineers.

COMPETITION RULES
1. The competition is open to practising graduate engineers and post-graduate engineering students who are living, studying or working in IMechE Region 9 (Wessex), 10 (Western) or 12 (South Wales) and who are aged 35 or under on 31st January 2016.
2. Submissions could be based on work that is being carried out on an industrial engineering project or for a further qualification e.g. MSc, PhD, EngD or any other formal professional development programme completed in the recent past. Undergraduate (including MEng) project work is NOT eligible for
consideration.
3. Submissions can be based upon the author’s individual project, or part of a group project providing the author’s contribution to the project is made clear.
4. An abstract of not more than 750 words in the main body (excluding title, contact details etc), summarising the author’s work on an aerospace related research or development project, should be submitted to the Western Aerospace Centre by 11th March 2016. Candidates are encouraged to have entries reviewed prior to submission by a suitable technical authority in your company or university, to provide assurance that entries are of sufficiently high standard.
5. More than one entry per organisation is permitted.
6. Each submission must be entirely the work of its author and be based on current or recent activities in the field of Aerospace. Abstracts must not have been previously submitted for any other prize competition, published in the proceedings of professional bodies or publicly presented. [Abstracts or papers that have been presented internally, as academic assignments or reports of professional activity, are considered not to have been formally published or presented.]
7. The candidate abstracts from each organisation are to be submitted in soft copy to Pauli Markkanen (Hon Secretary of the WAC) at wacsec@imeche.org. They should include contact details of the entrant, date of birth, and a statement that the submission is entirely the work of the author and has not
previously been published elsewhere.
8. All authors must obtain permission from their employers/tutors, where appropriate, to publish any work
that is considered proprietary. Gaining such permission is entirely the responsibility of the candidate.
9. The adjudicating panel, appointed by the WAC Committee, will consist of senior people drawn from both academic and industrial backgrounds.
10. Up to 4 finalists will be invited to proceed to the presentation evening, where they will make an oral
presentation of no more than 20 minutes duration, plus 10 minutes for questions.
11. The panel will be looking for a well written and structured abstract and presentation, also giving an appreciation of how the project relates to the wider organisation’s business goals. The competition will test the author’s technical knowledge and communication skills.
12. The adjudicating panel will assess each presentation and the winner will be announced at the Presentation Evening. A photograph and short biography of the Winner, together with an abstract of their presentation, will be published in IMechE literature and on the website. Submission of an entry to
the competition is assumed as permission to publish associated photographs and abstracts on the website.
13. The first prize of £500 will be awarded to the overall winner for the best combined written abstract and oral presentation. Additionally, there will be cash prizes for the runners-up.
14. The finalists will, subject to confirmation, have a chance to visit the Red Arrows, which includes the Squadron presentation, pilots’ inbrief for a training sortie, watching the practice display at RAF Scampton (weather permitting), followed by the in-depth debriefing. The finalists will enjoy lunch with the pilots, and will have plenty of opportunities for photographs, rounding off with an Engineering tour of the hangar.