Going with the ~Flow

You may or may not have heard that we’ve recently funded a brand new batch of projects who are all planning to engage the public with the fabulous world of engineering.

Among these projects is ~Flow, a floating water mill on the River Tyne.

~Flow is basically a little floating wooden house, powered by a big water wheel on one side. Inside however are a whole host of imaginative instruments which create sounds and music, in response to the changing river environment. As an example, the pitch of the ‘Salinity Sampler Sequencer’ instrument (see right) changes depending on salt levels, which affects the conductivity of the water.

~Flow is led by Ed Carter, who I had the pleasure of meeting when I took a trip up to Newcastle this week. As part of the UK’s Cultural Olympiad, ~Flow, already has a pretty extensive engagement programme, but now thanks to Ingenious they’re going to be extending this so their visitors can find out more about the great engineering that’s gone into the project, and how those engineers have combined their expertise with artists and architects to create the inter-collaborative experience that is ~Flow.

If you fancy having a look at ~Flow yourself, it’s open to the public (for free) until September, or if you’re unable to make it to NewcastleGateshead, you can also listen to it online over at the Flowmill website.

I’m an Engineer: The view from the classroom

With over 1,000 questions and 60 live chats so far this year’s I’m an Engineer is well and truly underway. Running from 12 – 23 March, it’s an X Factor-style competition, where students quiz engineers online and get to vote for the ones they like best.

As the Royal Academy of Engineering are funding this first ever I’m an Engineer, I was lucky enough to be invited into a school to found out what the competition is like from the student’s perspective. And the class in question were a particularly bright group of year 9 girls who took no prisoners. As many engineering fields have quite obvious impacts on our daily lives, it wasn’t a surprise to see that this was the aspect which most interested the students. Cue lots of questions that quizzed the engineers on their moral stance on the defence industry – tough to answer any time let alone a Tuesday morning.

Given how fast and furious the chat was, it was a tough test of the communication skills of the engineers taking part. However the girls clearly appreciated the engineer’s replies, commenting afterwards that although they might not agree with all of their views, those who had taken the time to take on board their comments and engage in real discussions would be getting their vote.

Outside the live chat rooms there’s been a wealth of questions posed to the engineers across all zones, giving an insight into their lives both in and outside of work. And like its sister event I’m a Scientist, the students’ questions often take engineers down unexpected routes. Favourites so far include ‘Could you invent a moon lift?’,  ‘Have you ever fallen in the Thames?’ and of course, ‘Do you blow up stuff?’

Is recording engineering?

As well as funding public engagement activities through Ingenious we also offer Public Engagement Fellowships for individual researchers. The scheme is currently closed while we review just exactly we want the Fellowship to support (our very own engineering Brian Cox perhaps?) but that doesn’t mean our current Fellow has stopped too.

The man in question is Jez Wells who is an audio designer and engineer over at the University of York. Jez is trying to answer the question ‘Is recording engineering?’ and is looking at how similar the two disciplines actually are.

Jez is blogging all about his Fellowship findings on his blog (where he also gives a much better explanation of his work than I have). But if your interest has been piqued and you’re around York on Tuesday 28 February he’s also giving a talk at the University which you’re more than welcome to go along to.