World leading engineering teams responding to societal challenges celebrated

The winning teams at the IET Impact in Society Awards, which celebrate global teams who are doing critical work that responds to the challenges that society faces, include:

• The UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) RACE team recognised for their teamwork in the Digital Futures category for its in-house developed robotics control system, CorteX.
• Universiti Malaysia Sarawak recognised for their teamwork in the Sustainability and Climate Change category for implementing sustainable, renewable energy projects in rural communities in Sarawak, Malaysia.
• Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd recognised for their teamwork in the Healthy Lives category for their teamwork in delivering successful telemedicine implementation to benefit both doctors and patients.

Robert Skilton, Robotics Fellow, UKAEA said: “Winning the IET’s Impact in Society Award in the Digital Futures category for our robotics control system CorteX is a really important achievement for UKAEA. It demonstrates how we are bringing immediate benefits to society as a direct result of the research being conducted to enable the future with fusion energy.”

On winning the Sustainability and Climate Change category, Dr. Then Yi Lung, academic and team-lead at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak said: “Winning this award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team towards making a positive impact in the community. It shows that the collective effort of the team has paid off and that our project has been recognised for its importance and significance.

“This award not only celebrates my own achievement but also highlights the importance of teamwork in achieving a common goal. This project has made a real difference in the community and has set an example for others to follow. It is a true reflection of the power of teamwork and the impact that it can have on society. Lastly, let’s keep up all good work and continue to inspire positive change in the world!”

The team from Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd, said: “We’re greatly encouraged and deeply honoured to emerge as winners of: “Healthy Lives” - 2023 IET Impact in Society Award. We will continue to exploit the multi-disciplinary expertise of our team, distributed across three continents, to explore satellite communications utilizing software applications to enhance the well-being of citizens in rural and undeserved communities in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3: “Good Health and Well-being” for digital health inclusion.”

Teams of engineers of all types and sizes from any part of industry and based anywhere in the world could enter. They could be formed of any number of individuals and could include junior team members e.g., apprentices and early career technicians.

Professor Bob Cryan CBE, IET President added: “At the IET we know first-hand that engineers continue to solve many of the challenges facing communities across the globe - making an ongoing difference to the world around us.  These Awards celebrate the teams of ‘unsung heroes’ doing just that, as well as truly celebrating the art of collaboration in engineering workplaces. I’d like to congratulate our winners – their work will show the importance of engineering to society, which in turn will help inspire the next generation of engineers and technicians.”

The winning teams were presented with a trophy at the Impact in Society Awards ceremony on 28 March 2023 in London

Ends

Notes to Editor

More information about the winning teams

Digital Futures category - The UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) RACE team

The success of CorteX, RACE’s in-house developed robotics control software, is a testament to the abilities of its team. Since the project’s inception, the team has grown and morphed, adding skills from multiple disciplines. 

This technology is the result of collaborative effort between experts in robotics research, software engineering, UI/UX design, quality assurance, standards compliance, and technical authoring. With this melting pot of experience, RACE is developing CorteX to help other teams all over the globe, both in industry and academia, who are facing complex interoperability challenges.

The original vision for CorteX came from Robert Skilton (UKAEA Robotics Fellow) in 2013. Matthew Goodliffe (Lead Technologist) continued the project in 2014 and was joined by Dr Ipek Caliskanelli (Senior Robotics Research Engineer) in 2017, together completing the vision and taking it from research project to tangible product.

Matthew and Ipek assembled an A-Team of senior engineers - Craig Whiffin and Michael Xymitoulias, who at the time were working on competing projects. With the addition of Melloney Luckhurst and her creative UX/UI expertise, the team designed the software architecture and modernised its HMI.

The CorteX team is highly flexible, using agile methodologies and has a natural ability to communicate. Either in person or remotely (especially over the course of the pandemic) the team has always been able to balance efficient interfacing with friendly informal conversation, resulting in high productivity with minimal pressure.

Both the team, and CorteX were put to the test in Sellafield’s ‘Grand Challenges’ scheme. Over two high-pressure days, the team successfully performed a complex, unseen task involving multiple robots and cameras, all without interrupting the logic. They demonstrated that their software – developed for future Fusion Energy robotics – is impactful in pressing, real-world scenarios like nuclear decommissioning.

Cortex has been adopted by many other teams at RACE as a control system, and the project has an excellent reputation as a supportive environment for new hires and Graduates. The team continues to collaborate effectively both within RACE and with external organisations. At present, they are transferring critical knowledge and CorteX’s technology to the clean-up operation at Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Sustainability and Climate Change category - Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

The team, led by Dr. Then Yi Lung, academic from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, consisted of volunteers and lecturers from different universities (Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak and Nanyang Technological University Singapore) and professional backgrounds, such as electrical engineering, banking, and academia. The team was focused on implementing sustainable, renewable energy projects in rural communities in Sarawak, Malaysia.

The team successfully completed Alternative Lighting Project 1 (ALP1) and was working on the ALP2 project, which aimed to create a sustainable, clean energy system for the village. The team had a strong sense of unity and worked collaboratively throughout the project, ensuring that every member was included and had a purpose. The team would meet regularly to discuss tasks and responsibilities, and tasks were assigned to team members who were the best fit for the job. Everyone was encouraged to contribute their ideas, and the team would keep in touch digitally to update each other constantly.

Throughout the project, the team faced challenges, including the need to maintain the trust of the local community and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed restrictions on movement. Despite these challenges, the team persevered and worked actively to communicate with the village heads remotely and find ways to continue the project.

The team successfully completed the ALP2 project by June 2022, with the last phase of connection completed. Overall, the team’s dedication and hard work were crucial to the success of the project, and their efforts have made a positive impact on the lives of the rural communities in Sarawak, providing them with sustainable, clean energy and improving their quality of life.

Healthy Lives category – Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd

To ensure the success of our telemedicine project, our multi-disciplinary team contributed expertise on; communications technologies, satellite communications, medicine, software engineering, mechatronics engineering, health policy and management, amongst others, whilst at the same time demonstrating a viable advanced technological solution for telemedicine implementation.

During implementation of our research and outreach field-project, a social media forum was created; regular social media progress meetings were used to permit close international collaboration of the co-investigators, enabling them to share project progress measured against our shared dynamic Gantt-chart.

Major challenges facing the adoption of telemedicine in Nigeria are language barriers and the low literacy level of the population, especially in underserved communities. This issue was resolved by the introduction of a support staff team who served as intermediaries between the doctors and the patients. In a bid to enhance team-work cohesion and healthcare operations, we engaged the services of local support staff to provide a sustainable support system that bridged the gap between the digital approach to healthcare delivery and the low literacy level of the population.

To solve the problem of inadequate training of the frontline workers, we ensured that the support staff had completed tertiary education. The doctors were outstanding practitioners in their respective fields; using software to enable knowledge sharing, and engagement with one another – this ensured a strong integrated interaction and flow of information between program team members.

The effectiveness of the team and success of the project is not only evident from the number of patients treated but also from the jointly authored papers written and accepted in conference proceedings and journals. Recommendations have been made for University Teaching hospitals to embrace telemedicine and digital-health inclusion in the teaching curriculum of student doctors to fast track e-Health adoption. Policy recommendations have also been made on the National ICT strategy to drive digital health inclusion forward in both Nigeria and Africa in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Goal 3 for “Good Health and Well-being”.

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