Smeaton lecture 2026: The UK’s leadership in wing technology – is this the aerodynamic legacy of John Smeaton?

David Porter

David Porter is director of engineering with the Department for Infrastructure, which is Northern Ireland’s highways authority. In this role, he is also the chief highways engineer and head of the civil engineering profession in the Northern Ireland civil service.

Porter is responsible for the development of the department’s professional and technical staff, engineering policies and standards, and health and safety. He also leads on procurement and the internal consultancy.

Previously, he was chief executive of the Rivers Agency, Northern Ireland’s flood defence and drainage authority.

Porter has served on the ICE Council three times, twice as the Northern Ireland representative and once as a general member. He is a trustee who, until recently, held the learning society portfolio. He has also served on several institution committees and panels.

A fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering, Porter was awarded the Poskitt Medal by ICE Northern Ireland in 2017 and the President’s Award by Engineers Ireland in 2018.

Sir Iain Gray

As managing director of Airbus UK from 2003 to 2007, Sir Iain Gray led the development and industrialisation of the A380 wing, which was designed at Filton and manufactured at Broughton in Flintshire. Capable of carrying 545 passengers over 15,000km, the A380 remains the largest production airliner ever to enter service.

In 2007, Gray became the founding CEO of Innovate UK’s forerunner, the Technology Strategy Board. There he led the development of support for business innovation and the allocation of collaborative R&D funding.

Gray joined Cranfield University in 2015. As its director of aerospace, he has built on its strong heritage of applied research and teaching in this sector, while overseeing the university’s strategic relationships with key organisations in the global aerospace industry. 

Prof. Peter Guthrie OBE FREng

Peter Guthrie is professor of engineering for sustainable development at the University of Cambridge. Specialising initially in geotechnics, he worked for three decades as a civil engineer on major international infrastructure projects before joining the university in 2000.  

Guthrie’s research focuses on energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. He has worked to incorporate social and ecological considerations into the design of projects ranging from nuclear decommissioning and urban development to the construction of airports, rail links such as the Channel Tunnel and public spaces including California’s Orange County Great Park.