10 Updates from governance From the President My first few months as President have been eventful and we’ve already seen some exciting developments this year with the launch of our re-engineered brand and website. Back in October I travelled to China, where I delivered my President’s Address to students and academics at Southeast University. I also visited Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them. Other highlights from my trip included opening the IET’s new office in Beijing and speaking at our International Radar Conference in Nanjing City. This was the fourth conference of its kind and, since it was first launched, this event has created a fantastic international community that’s leading in its field. For me, this is an example of what we do best – creating a successful platform for international collaboration and bringing the very latest innovations to our members. I was equally impressed by the quality of presentations and discussions at the Artificial Intelligence (AI) conference at Savoy Place, which you can read more about on page 14. This is a complex topic that will continue to feature prominently in our events calendar – in 2019 we will explore why we need to train unbiased AI in our Turing EngTalk in partnership with BCS. Before the festive break I was delighted to meet some of our Diamond Jubilee Scholars at a dinner held at the BT Tower. The event was hosted by BT’s then CEO Gavin Patterson and brought together the company’s Senior Engineering team with Diamond Jubilee Scholars. I’ve no doubt that they, and our other scholarship and bursary recipients, will go on to achieve great things. Our latest scholarship recipients were announced at the IET Achievement Awards ceremony in November. Both this, and the IET Innovation Awards, were truly inspiring events and it was a privilege for me to present the awards to the Achievement Award winners. Mike Carr OBE FREng BSc(Eng) HonDTech CEng FIET, IET President Council Update By Professor C Muthamizhchelvan FIET and Dr Peter Ward CEng FIET Council held its first meeting of the Session in October 2018, with a focus on the IET’s strategic priorities and recent meetings of the three Main Boards. IET President Mike Carr started the meeting speaking about key issues for the IET and our priorities for the current Session. These include a greater focus on industry, particularly SMEs, a clear position on megatrends such as artificial intelligence and continued support for apprenticeships. Mike also drew attention to work on the Strategic Framework which has redefined the strategic objectives that help to deliver the IET’s vision and mission. Working with Trustees and senior staff, Council also reviewed reports from the three Main Boards and heard about how the Board of Trustees recently approved an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy. This is expected to shape the future of volunteering at the IET. Another item for discussion was the long-standing ‘one team’ approach, which involves staff and volunteers working together to accomplish so many activities. Together with the Board of Trustees, Council spends time at every meeting discussing how the IET can improve teamwork and promote all IET values and behaviours. If you have any comments or questions for Council, please feel free to contact it at council@theiet.org Member News March 2019 Mike Carr CEng FIET presenting award at the IET Achievement Awards ceremony