Current issues

  • Wind power study
    A study into the implications of large-scale deployment of wind power on the UK electricity system. The study will concentrate mainly on the engineering implications of wind power across the full life-cycle from manufacture and installation to operation and maintenance through to decommissioning. The study will also consider possible effects on other related industrial activities and social impacts.

  • Additive manufacture and 3d printing
    Exploring the potential benefits of additive manufacturing processes and how they might affect the UK economy.

  • Smart buildings
    An activity looking at the design, creation and use of smart buildings, bringing together architects, engineers and ICT experts.

  • Innovation
    The Academy is running a series of events about the latest developments in specific sectors that will affect society in the next five-to-ten years.

  • UK procurement
    This project explores best practice in procurement across government and industry, and looks at how government procurement can stimulate innovation and growth. Through a series of workshops bringing together key figures in government and engineering practice, the key issues in improving procurement are explored – from managing risk to changing behaviour.

  • Design for the future
    We all carry our own carbon footprint: from our car journeys to heating our homes, everyday life has an impact on energy and material resources. While individuals have responsibility for minimising our use of energy and resources, engineers have a significant role in designing domestic technologies to achieve greater efficiency and less waste. This study looks at the whole lifecycle of domestic technologies, examining the role of engineering innovation in each step.

  • Space weather: impacts on engineered systems, infrastructure and society
    Extreme space weather events have recently been identified as an important risk to the UK’s national infrastructure and in 2011 they were, for the first time, included as part of the National Risk Assessment (NRA). In February 2013, the Academy explored the engineering and societal impacts of space weather. The study team was led by Professor Paul Cannon FREng.

  • Heat: degrees of comfort
    A study into the future of provision and use of heat in the UK economy out to 2050. If the UK is to meet legally carbon emissions targets in the future the way we both use and produce heat will have to change radically in the next 40 years - but what technologies will become dominant and what will be the impact on the average UK householder?

  • Industrial Systems
    The Academy carried out a study into the nature of modern industrial systems, and the place and value of manufacturing in the complex system of product design, manufacture, delivery and maintenance. A report was launched in April 2012.

  • Professional engineering governance (2555KB)Adobe PDF document icon image
    A briefing paper that addresses the role engineers play in making strategic high-level decisions in a wide range of organisations from private companies, both big and small, and government agencies. Based on responses from a number of Fellows of the Academy the report discusses why engineering advice is important, the risks associated with inadequate engineering advice and how such advice can be sourced and used.

  • Electric vehicles study
    The Royal Academy of Engineering published a study to examine the implications of electric vehicles (EVs) becoming mainstream by 2050.

 

 

Updated April 2013

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