Institution of Engineering and Technology reveals 2016 Apprentice and Technician Awards shortlist

Published:  30 September, 2016

The Institution of Engineering and Technology has announced the shortlists for its annual Apprentice of the Year, Technician of the Year and Armed Forces Technician of the Year Awards, which recognise individuals who have made exceptional engineering contributions to their profession or operational area.

The shortlists highlight achievements across a wide spectrum of engineering excellence, ranging from wind farm grid connection, optronics and microscope development to supporting the UK response of the Ebola crisis and improving the RAF’s communications network.

The winners of all three awards will be announced at the IET Achievement Awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 16 November. They will each receive a prize consisting of a trophy, certificate, £1,000 cash and two years’ free IET membership.

The Apprentice Award finalists are:

• Josh Barber, who works for ABB Ltd. as an Apprentice Circuit Engineer. He made a major contribution to a client’s wind farm grid connection by improving safety and efficiency while reducing both cost and installation time.

• Marc Bartholomew, a Technical Apprentice at Leonardo, a global high-tech electronic engineering company, who recently won an internal award for the oil surveys he conducted in Malaysia.

• Joe Carter, a third year applications apprentice at Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, who developed a microscope prototype and wrote his own firmware for a development project, saving the company £100k - £150k per year.

The Technician Award finalists are:

• Sam Moloney EngTech TMIET is a Systems Technician at Leonardo, where he is developing a sophisticated design for electronic vehicle architecture. He is also site expert for a simulation tool which is used to demonstrate a project's capacity.

• Andrew Nicholson EngTech TMIET, a Senior Technician at Arcadis Consulting Ltd, whose knowledge of Building Information Modelling (BIM) techniques has changed the way Arcadis operates and collaborates with its clients.

• Sam O’Sullivan EngTech MICE, a technician at Pell Frischmann Consultants in Wakefield whose work has been critical for the progress of the Rainford Junction Bridge Project in St Helens.

• Ozair Said EngTech TMIET, an Engineering Technician at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff who is leading the Telecommunications team’s effort in Building Information Modelling (BIM) in order to enable the collaboration between key international technology suppliers and manufacturers to produce a custom Telecommunications Systems BIM library.

The Armed Forces Technician Award finalists are:

• Corporal Andrew Gittins, who helped the RAF use its existing communications hardware in new ways, thereby improving information services to overseas operations while maintaining the high level of cyber protection and security required by the MOD.

• Staff Sergeant Kurt Knight, who was deployed to Sierra Leone as a member of the Specialist Team Royal Engineers to support the Ebola crisis, where he was the lead electrical engineer for the design and construction of two treatment centres.

• Staff Sergeant Nicholas Statham who is responsible for designing and project-managing the construction of mission-critical fuel storage facilities and fuel installations in both Cyprus and the UK.

Professor Jeremy Watson, incoming IET president said:

“The standard of this year’s entries was higher than ever, making the judging extremely difficult. All the IET Apprentice and Technician Award finalists demonstrated skills and knowledge through their work that went far beyond their role. They have taken on challenging tasks and through innovation and determination to succeed have brought real benefits to their companies.

“They have been recognised by the IET for their achievements and for being role models to future generations of engineering apprentices by having the potential to inspire others to develop their own engineering career.”

The Apprentice and Technician Awards are part of the IET’s Achievement Awards and Scholarships programme, which this year provided over £1million in awards, prizes and scholarships to celebrate excellence and research in the sector and encourage the next generation of engineers and technicians.

All IET awards seek to inspire and reward engineering excellence, from apprentices at the start of their careers through to reputable, established professional engineers and technicians.

Find out more about the Achievement Awards here: www.theiet.org/achievement.