The first ICE Graduates and Students conference concluded on 6 October 2010 in Plymouth.
The first ICE Graduates and Students conference concluded on 6 October 2010 in Plymouth. The conference was organised on the theme of Lessons from Engineering Disaster Response. The half day conference was intended to draw out the challenges faced by individuals responding to disasters and how engineering judgement plays an important role when carrying out these tasks. Presenters at the conference included organisations such as the REDR, Engineers Without Borders, Royal Engineers, Environment Agency and LHC Architecture. It was very evident from the presentations that all speakers had extensive experience of responding to numerous humanitarian aid efforts across the globe.
The importance of empowering local communities with skills that allow them to sustain their communities after the aid agencies pullout was a key lesson to take away from the conference. A number of talks also drew attention to the requirements for resilience of infrastructure in the UK against disasters such as flooding, and how the response to these events is planned for and managed. The myriad of questions that followed every talk was a good testament to the fact that the young audience was listening intently. The mock disaster response activity organised by REDR created a very interesting group dynamic and gave a brief insight into the chaos that ensues after such an event.
It was very gratifying to see a strong regional turnout to an event which was the first of its kind being organised by the ICE’s South West G&S network. Thanks to the Regional Support Team for doing a great job with organising and to all those who contributed in making this a successful event.
Authors: Siddhesh Raute & Anthony Pearson