02 June 2003

Academy's Whittle Medal awarded for engineering the practice of sustainable development

The Sir Frank Whittle Medal for 2003 under the theme, 'for outstanding and sustained achievement by an engineer who has contributed to the well being of the nation', has been awarded to Professor Roland Clift OBE FREng, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Technology and Director, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey. Professor Clift has been selected in recognition for his leading role in developing the holistic life cycle assessment of products - 'cradle to grave' analysis - and its use as a systematic way of incorporating environmental and social issues in engineering decisions.

Professor Clift is one of the outstanding Chemical Engineers of his generation. He has a worldwide reputation for the application of sound engineering methods to the evaluation of environmental impact. He was an early advocate of the use of Life Cycle Assessment to develop an understanding of the environmental impact of processes and products from their inception to their final disposal. He has made major contributions to the development of analytical methods in convincing industry, government and commerce of the value of this approach.

Professor Clift pursued an early career in the field of particle-fluid systems and co-authored a seminal work on the subject. From 1981 and over the next decade, in Surrey, he built up one of the best research departments in the UK for work in particle technology.

From 1992, however, he established something completely new to a British university. His work has always been concerned with minimising the impact of technology on the environment, but he had come to realise that we can not hope to develop lasting solutions to long-term environmental problems without combining engineering with understanding provided by other disciplines: the new agenda represented by the concept of Sustainable Development requires the combination of academic disciplines, which are usually distinct. He therefore established the Centre for Environmental Strategy (CES) at the University of Surrey, a vibrant multidisciplinary group of engineers, scientists and social scientists. He was able to engage all of them to recognise the value of rigorous quantitative techniques combined with sensitivity to social concerns and priorities. CES is now recognised as a world centre of excellence in the environmental field and is widely consulted by industry and government.

Professor Clift led an initiative which generated research programmes in Clean Technology by three of the then UK Research Councils: Science and Engineering Research (SERC), Agriculture and Food Research (AFRC), and Economic and Social Research (ESRC). For this work he was awarded the OBE in 1994. The idea of Clean Technology has now been incorporated into all the programmes of these research councils, leading to the current Sustainable Technologies Initiative.

In 1996, partly because of his work in reconciling scientific and social criteria in environmental management, Professor Clift was appointed to the Royal Commission of Environmental Pollution and has played a leading part in studies which have already had a major influence on the policies of the UK government.

The real test of the value of Professor Clift's work is in its adoption by industry and in government policy. It has been used by mining and mineral processing companies in Australia and South Africa; by Companies like ICI and Unilever to understand and reduce their environmental impacts; in the consumer electronics sector to design products for minimum environmental impact over the whole product cycle; and even to resolve a dispute on self-chilling beverages between the EU and a US canning company.

Professor Clift is widely recognised for his work by invitations to participate in international meetings and committees and by his editorial positions. He is Visiting Professor in Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University, Sweden. Professor Clift is a passionate advocate of the sound economic sense of sustainable development through minimising environmental impact, and of the role of engineers in sustainable development.

Professor Clift commented: "This award means a great deal, not just to me but to my colleagues in the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey. Our work represents an important new direction for engineering, putting rigorous analysis into its social, economic and policy context. We see the award of the Whittle medal as recognising the importance of this work for the whole engineering profession."

The medal will be presented at the Academy Awards Dinner on 5 June 2003.

ends

Notes for editors

1. The Royal Academy of Engineering Sir Frank Whittle Medal reflects the spirit of the late Sir Frank Whittle OM KBE CB FEng FRS, one of the most creative engineers of all time. This medal is 'awarded to an engineer, with strong connections with the United Kingdom, for outstanding and sustained achievement which has contributed to the well-being of the nation.'
   
2. This is only the third time that the Whittle Medal has been awarded - the first in 2001 went to the creator of the world-wide web, Professor Tim Berners-Lee OBE FREng FRS for his achievements in communication, and in 2002 to Professor John Ffowcs Williams FREng for his for dedication to understanding the properties of sound, which has enabled huge innovation in international transport.
   
3. Frank Whittle was born in Coventry in 1907, the son of a skilful mechanic and inventor. From an early age he experimented in his father's factory and was fascinated by the fledgling aviation industry. He joined the RAF in 1923 as an apprentice. His talents were soon recognised and he qualified as a pilot at the RAF College, Cranwell, before reading Mechanical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. While at Cranwell he had developed a thesis on jet propulsion and patented his design in 1930, but officials at the Air Ministry dismissed his ideas as impractical. However, in 1936 he and some associates founded a company, Power Jets Ltd, to develop the theory. Despite political and financial adversity, Whittle's jet engine made its maiden flight on 15 May 1941, powering the purpose-built Gloster E28/39. By 1944 the engine was in service with the RAF. The technology quickly spread and has been fully exploited worldwide.
   
4. The Sir Frank Whittle Medal for 2004 will be awarded for 'engineering innovations in medicine'.
   
5. The Royal Academy of Engineering brings together the UK's most eminent engineers from all disciplines. They use their unrivalled knowledge and experience for the public good, giving independent advice to Government, supporting engineering education and research and encouraging excellence and innovation.

For more information please contact:

Lize King at the Royal Academy of Engineering

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