Panel members
Professor William M Banks, Strathclyde University
Professor Banks is currently the Emeritus Professor of Advanced Materials in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde and the immediate Past President of the IMechE. He has served on (and Chaired) a large number of its committees including the Trustee Board, Council and the Trustee Board Awards Committee (Vice Chairman). He has chaired a few specialist committees including the Schools and Students Working Group where the objective was to interest young people in engineering. He is also Editor–in-Chief of one of its Proceedings Journals
Professor Banks is a past Chairman of the Engineering Professors’ Council. He is only the second Scot to have held this post. During his time as Chairman he became well known nationally for his championing of many quality causes and in particular for putting EPC on the Government’s agenda and keeping engineering education in the appropriate public domain.
He is also a former Research Director of the Faraday Plastics Partnership having been brought in by the partnership to raise its profile. This resulted in excellent reviews of its portfolio of activity and laid the foundation for further funding.
His research work has spanned composite structures technology to seminal work on the NDE of adhesively bonded joints using dielectric spectroscopy. He developed the composites research from scratch in his department at Strathclyde to a position in which Strathclyde is now recognised as a Centre of Excellence in this field internationally. A total of around 190 papers have been published. He has also acted as a consultant to many companies and formerly transferred his wide ranging research findings through the Directorship of the Centre for Advanced Structural Materials (CASM) and the Scottish Polymer Technology Network (SPTN).
Professor Banks’ work has been recognised by a variety of prizes and awards the latest of which was the award of The 2007 James Alfred Ewing Medal, assessed jointly by The Royal Society and The Institution of Civil Engineers, for “special meritorious contributions to the science of engineering in the field of research”.
In addition to being a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering he is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and serves on their committees. He has also served on the Council of the Institute of Materials Mining and Minerals as well as a number of its committees. Professor Banks also lectures internationally.
Mr Richard Green, Chief Executive, Design and Technology Association
Richard joined The Design and Technology Association in January 2003 as Deputy Chief Executive. For the first 18 months he was seconded part-time to contribute to the development of the design and technology materials as part of the KS3 National Strategy. In November 2004, when the Chief Executive moved to another post, he was appointed to this role. He trained at Goldsmiths and taught in London and the south-east. He was head of a successful department in a large comprehensive school before becoming the adviser for design and technology in the London Borough of Bromley. His work in this capacity involved him in providing advice, support and in-service training to teachers and senior managers in primary, secondary and special schools. He has also written and contributed to a wide range of design and technology publications, been involved in research, acted as a consultant to C4, worked as an OFSTED inspector, and initiated a number of projects linking design and technology in schools to business and industry.
Mr Bob Millington, Board Member, NFEC
Following an Apprenticeship and nine years in the engineering industry, Bob began a teaching career in the FE Sector. Of his thirty three years in FE, he spent twenty two as a member of college Executive Teams. He became Head of Engineering at Broxtowe College, Nottingham, in 1984, moving on to Head of Faculty of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering at Tile Hill College in Coventry in 1991. In 1997, Bob was promoted to Assistant Principal - Programme and Business Development, at the College, with special responsibility for Engineering.
With the merger of Coventry Technical and Tile Hill Colleges in 2002, which produced City College Coventry, Bob became Assistant Principal – Business Development and Dean of Technologies of the new College. That role included responsibility for Engineering, Vehicle Maintenance, Construction and Computing. In 2006, Bob retired from Further Education and was subsequently awarded the MBE for “Services to FE and Engineering Training”. He was also awarded a lifetime membership of NFEC. Bob then set up his own consultancy in training and education in Engineering. Customers have included Coventry University and Castle College in Nottingham, where he worked with Toyota Manufacturing UK to ensure a sound curriculum balance for their new Academy.
Thoroughly involved with NFEC from its launch in June 1993, Bob was a member of its Executive Committee from 1994 until his retirement. He remains the only person to have held all of the Honorary Officer roles. Bob has continued to support NFEC and has developed and managed its national conferences and Midlands Regional Seminars over the last four years. As part of the latter, he created a very active and successful Midlands Curriculum Development Network. Bob has recently been re-appointed to the NFEC Board, with special responsibility for National Liaison.
Mr Amarjit Basi, Principal and Chief Executive, New College Nottingham
Amarjit Basi is Principal and Chief Executive of New College Nottingham, a founding member of the 157 Group of Colleges. He was previously Principal and Chief Executive of Walsall College where he led the transformation of the College to align its curriculum and services to support local and regional economic and regeneration priorities. He is also taking a lead role in transforming FE through a focus of Entrepreneurship.
Amarjit previously held senior management posts at Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College, The Oldham College and North Warwickshire & Hinckley College – each of which attained beacon status or equivalent. Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College attained a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade for its programmes for overseas learners, which expanded from 450 to 2000 learners during his time at the College.
He is the national AOC Skills Champion for Energy & Utilities and also a Board member at Cogent, the sector skills council for Chemicals, Nuclear, Oil and Gas, Petroleum and Polymers, and also Engineering UK. He has practised as an inspector, chief moderator and consultant on curriculum and quality matters for key national development and quality agencies over the past 20 years. He also led the development of the Black Country University Technical College, which opened in September 2011.
Dr Anil Kumar, Director Education and Research, EngineeringUK
Anil has responsibly for supporting and developing in partnership with key external agencies, EngineeringUK’s national SET education, skills, and research policy activities in order to address the UK skills gaps and the promote the value of engineers to society.
Anil joined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) from university where he gained a PhD in medicinal chemistry as a senior research scientist and over the next 15 years held a variety of education/ science policy senior roles within GSK including UK recruitment manager, HR Manager, Head of Education Affairs and Head of
Science Policy and Public Understanding of Science; during his time at GSK he was also seconded to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES, formally the DfEE) for two years as Head of Higher Education Policy & Research.
Anil has tackled the challenge of improving business performance for the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors and more widely the STEM sectors throughout his career including his time as Chief Executive of the Chemical Industry National Training Organisation, Director of the Chemical & Pharmaceutical Industry national awarding body (VQSET) and Director of People, Knowledge and Communications at the Chemical Industries Association.
Externally Anil is currently a Board member of Foundation Degree Forward, member of the high level Government Joint Progression steering group, the Science Education Forum, the Council for Industry and Higher Education’s Policy Group, a member of the E4E operational group and a member of the Engineering Diploma Development Partnership steering group. He is also on the Board of Shelter, the National Campaign for Homeless People, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Mrs Annette Smith, CEO, ASE
Annette Smith took up the post of Chief Executive at ASE in March 2009. Previous to this she was Director of Regions with the British Association for the Advancement of Science with responsibility for, amongst otter things, the Young People's Programme, National Science and Engineering week, the CREST awards and the regional team. Her first degree was in Physics from the University of Liverpool and she subsequently gained a PGCE and a Masters in Science Education.
Annette has wide experience of the world of science education, with teaching experience in adult and further education as well as in secondary school science. She has been a lecturer in primary science education, an LEA laboratory technician and worked in industry in environmental health physics and safety.
Recently, she held the role of President of the European Science Events Association (EUSCEA) and she is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.
Prof Helen Atkinson, Head of Mechanics of Materials, University of Leicester
Prof Atkinson was appointed to a Chair in Metals Processing in the Department of Engineering at Leicester University in 2002 and Head of the Mechanics of Materials Group in 2005. She was previously a Reader in Engineering Materials at Sheffield University. Prior to joining Sheffield University in 1989, she worked at Sheffield City Polytechnic between 1987 and 1989 and for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at Harwell between 1981 and 1987. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2007, the highest honour for an engineer in the UK. She has a first class degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from Cambridge University (1978-81) and a PhD from Imperial (1983-86) carried out as part of her work at Harwell.
She has served on the following bodies: Institute of Metals Council (1989-91); Institute of Materials Council (1992-96); UK Government Technology Foresight Materials Panel (1994 to 1999) (reporting to Cabinet on the priorities for materials R & D in the UK); Chemicals and Materials Task Force for the Foresight Crime Prevention Panel run by the UK Government Office of Science and Technology (OST); OST Action Group on Sensors (report published in 1997); Implementation Group for the Government’s Strategy for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (2004-7); Committee of the Engineering Professors Council (EPC); QAA body reviewing the benchmark for engineering degrees.
She is a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Structural Materials College and has served on and chaired a number of Panels prioritising proposals for funding. For the Royal Academy of Engineering, she currently serves on the Standing Committees on Education and Training and on Engineering Policy. For the EngineeringUK, she represents the university perspective on the Education and Skills Panel and has recently co-chaired, on behalf of the EPC with the EngineeringUK, a national study of the costs of undergraduate engineering education which gained wide publicity.
Between 1998 and 2002, Prof Atkinson served on the national committee for the British Transport Police, the body responsible for the public accountability and governance of the Transport Police. She has also been a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for the appointment of magistrates in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. She was appointed by the Secretary of State for Defence to represent the public interest on a Ministry of Defence Committee in 2007.
Mr Jim Mowatt, Director of Education, UNITE the Union
Jim is currently the Director of Education for “UNITE,” the UK’s and Ireland’s biggest trade union.
From a Clydeside engineering background, as a mature student,
Jim studied Economics before lecturing at the Institute of Extension Studies at Liverpool University. A spell with the TUC (Trades Union Congress) covered the “Winter of Discontent”.
In his own Union, Jim has represented the T&G at all levels. Signing the first ever single table Agreement in privatised Utilities; the first single Union deal in the Steel Industry and latterly led for all Unions in the chemical, oil and pharmaceutical sectors in the UK, Ireland and Europe.
He was with the previous Deputy Prime Ministerial mission to India and was instrumental in setting up Health & Safety procedures in the Bulgarian Nuclear Industry and has lectured extensively on the Management of Change in America. Jim has accompanied the Foreign Secretary in South Africa and worked with the British Council in Zimbabwe.
Jim chaired the first ever Windsor Leadership Trust meeting in St George’s House, Windsor Castle and contributed for over a decade to the Runge Management Course at Balliol College, Oxford.
Chris Hinton, BMW
Chris Hinton is in the final year of an apprenticeship at the BMW Engine Plant, Hams Hall (Birmingham). He started his apprenticeship at BMW in 2006 and has achieved good credibility within the company. His apprenticeship has been structured with obtaining a NVQ Level 3 in Engineering Maintenance, Key Skills and BTEC National Certificate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He is currently completing a Foundation Degree in Electrical Control Engineering with Data Communications at Birmingham Metropolitan College (accredited by Aston University) and plans to continue onto a full BSc.
Chris’s education has mainly focused on electrical and electronic engineering but he has had a wide range of experience at BMW in a variety of situations including supporting the production line in a technical role. Following these experiences Chris has had his training focusing towards tightening systems support for the production of the MINI and BMW ranged engines.
His personal interests lean towards training and development and ways in which engineering can be improved for the future. He hopes to be able to link his skills and experiences gained to gate in the field of environmental engineering and training and development.
Mr Bill Twigg, Development Director, SEMTA
Bill is an engineer with over 25 years experience in the automotive manufacturing industry during which he became increasingly interested in the structures involved in the training of engineers and underpinning qualifications. It was through the development of this aspect of his career that he acquired a Master of Education degree and later took the post as Development Director with the Sector Skills Council, Semta and The National Skills Academy for Manufacturing (The Skills Academy).
Within this role, Bill has developed Semta as a leading industry champion for training linked to national qualifications. He works closely with awarding bodies, government agencies such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) and Funding Agencies across the United Kingdom. His role also actively involves working with the captains of the engineering industry and with the science community to ensure that the qualifications and standards underpinning national qualifications reflect accurately the needs of sector they serve. To this end, Bill played a key role in delivering the national Sector Skills Agreement for Semta footprint focussing on the development of labour market intelligence with a particular emphasis for skills gaps and shortages within the sector. He has also been actively involved in the establishment of The Skills Academy and is Head of this area.
Bill is a member of the SMMT Industry Forum Board and was the first Chair of the RDI Licensing Body at its incorporation and launch in March 2006, and has been prominent in driving forward the actions needed to achieve the aims and objectives of one of the countries first Community Interest Companies.
Mrs Kate Bellingham, National STEM Careers Coordinator
Mr David Hatton, Head of Business Support for ETC/SEMTA in Northern Ireland
Ms Davina Foord, Policy Adviser - Employment, Business and Innovation, UUK
Mrs Jan Renou, Headteacher, Skipton Girls' High School
Mr Kelvin Roberts, Engineering Operations Manager, Babcock
