Membership subscriptions overdue

Members are reminded that their membership subscriptions were due on 1 March 2023. If you have not already done so please can you pay your subscription as soon as possible. The easiest way to pay your membership subscription is online through the MyPage section of the website. It’s a very easy process to follow and you can also access your receipts online.

Step 1:

On the homepage of the CICES website, select ‘Login’ in the top right-hand corner and enter your ‘Username’ and ‘Password’.

 Step 2:

On the ‘Mypage’ section select ‘Profile’.

Step 3:

On the ‘Profile’ page select ‘Subscriptions’ to pay your subscriptions online. In the ‘Profile’ section you can also download a receipt by selecting the ‘Receipt’ tile and double-clicking on the date of the receipt required.

 

King Charles III

CICES would like to congratulate King Charles III following his recent coronation on 6 May 2023. The ceremony, which saw His Majesty King Charles III crowned alongside Her Majesty The Queen Consort, Camilla was held at Westminster Abbey and conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Proud to be awarded a royal charter in 2009, the institution wishes the King and Queen a long, healthy and successful reign. 

Disability confident committed employer

As part of its commitment to its golden thread of equity, diversity and inclusion, CICES is now a registered disability confident committed employer.

As a disability confident committed employer the institution has committed to:

• Ensure its recruitment process is inclusive and accessible
• Communicating and promoting vacancies
• Offering an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the job
• Anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required
• Supporting any existing employee who acquires a disability or long-term health condition, enabling them to stay in work
• At least one activity that will make a difference for disabled people

Find out more about disability confident at www.gov.uk/disability-confident 

New Earth observation pilot

The Geospatial Commission, part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), has launched a commercial Earth observation (EO) pilot for a number of UK public sector bodies that will help to unlock the value of EO technology in priority policy areas, from emergency incident response to land use.

The EO pilot will be delivered in partnership with Airbus Defence and Space and will run until the end of March 2024. Thalia Baldwin, director, Geospatial Commission, said: “Our Earth observation pilot is aiming to keep the UK in its high geospatial orbit, increasing public sector capability and the demand for market innovation through testing new applications of EO data and technologies”.

Paul Russell, head of intelligence UK, Airbus, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Geospatial Commission on this initiative and we look forward to seeing how public sector bodies will work with our satellite data to support the delivery of critical public services”.  

Rebranded Expos – CLR Expo and FWM Expo under ESS Expo

Major environmental shows (the Contamination and Geotech Expo, the Flood Expo, RWM, as well as the Energy Fuels and Decarbonisation Expo and Water Management Expo) have come together to better align their focus on the environment.

To reflect this, the Contamination & Geotech Expo has become the CLR Expo (Contamination & Land Remediation Expo), while the Flood Expo becomes the FWM Expo (Flood & Water Management Expo).

An overarching name for the collective shows is now ESS Expo (Environmental Services & Solutions Expo), forming the UK’s largest event dedicated to the environmental services industries.

CICES is partnering and exhibiting at FWM Expo which will take place on 13-14 September at the NEC, Birmingham. www.ess-expo.co.uk 

HQ delegation visit CICES Hong Kong

In April this year CICES CEO, Simon Hamlyn and President, Andy Evans visited Hong Kong to meet the CICES region along with its chair Daniel Sum. During the visit, they attended the prestigious CICES Hong Kong annual dinner that was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Royal Plaza Hotel with over 250 other members and honoured guests.

As part of the trip, they also met up with John Battersby of BK SURCO, the overseas training JV between SURCO and Battersby Kingsfield. On behalf of the CEO and the president, the institution would like to express its gratitude for the warm reception and generous hospitality offered throughout the visit from the Hong Kong region.

Demand for engineers increasing, with rapid growth in green jobs

A new report commissioned by EngineeringUK highlights that demand for engineers is predicted to grow faster than for other occupations and that vacancies for ‘green engineering’ roles in the UK have increased by more than half (55%) over the last 5 years.

The report, produced by Lightcast identifies there were approximately 6.1m engineering jobs (including tech roles) across all industries in 2021, representing around 19% of all jobs in the UK.

At the same time the report finds that in the past year, recruitment activity for engineering roles accounted for a quarter (25%) of all job postings in the UK, suggesting that the skills shortage in engineering is greater than in other areas, or that employers are hiring for future growth, or a combination of the two.

Dr Hilary Leevers, chief executive of EngineeringUK commented: “Given the soaring demand for engineers across all sectors, it’s essential that the UK has a robust plan and funding in place to train the future workforce, bringing more young people from all backgrounds into engineering and technology, alongside reskilling the current workforce.”

The full report ‘Engineering skills needs – now and into the future’ and accompanying discussion paper are available to download at: www.engineeringuk.com/futureskills 

Webinar roundup

Thanks to David McNeice, DWF for delivering the ‘Back to Basics’ webinar on ‘Time and programming under standard forms’.