Aeronauts and Innovators – Northern Ireland’s Aviation Pioneers and their Inspirational Engineering Achievements
Northern Ireland has had a long tradition of engineering, innovation and productivity. A small island region nurtured an industrious people who were innovative and ambitious to play their part in the modern world. In the early 1900s Belfast was nicknamed as “Linenopolis” with Irish Linen being famous worldwide for its outstanding quality, and some half to the global supply of ropes came from Belfast. Of course, it is also the birthplace of the Titanic, one of the most famous ships in history. These major iconic achievements were underpinned by a society with a driving passion for new ideas, and with aviation being the most advanced technology of the early 20th Century there were innovations and innovators aplenty. From Lilian Bland (the world’s first aviatrix), to Harry Ferguson (who revolutionised agricultural engineering) aviation innovations spawned many inventions, and from the stately Titanic to the Shorts SC1 the people took to the skies. A small place with big ideas. So, what does the future hold?
Speaker:
Professor Mark Price, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Engineering and Physical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast
Hosted by the Cranfield College of Aeronautics Alumni Association and the Royal Aeronautical Society
If you would like to register please book your place here.
Programme & speakers
Professor Mark Price, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Engineering and Physical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast
Speaker Biography:
Mark Price graduated in 1987 with a 1st Class Honours degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast and a Masters’ in Engineering Computation in 1988 before taking up a post in industry as a stress engineer in Short Brothers (now Bombardier Aerospace). He returned later to QUB to undertake a PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering on hexahedral finite element mesh generation which was completed in 1993. Mark then joined FEGS Ltd (now ITI) as a software engineer and project manager to implement his research work in their CAE application CADFix, which is now used in major aircraft development projects as a key analysis support tool. He then made a brief career change moving into a fintech startup company in its earliest days, First Derivatives, to develop systems for financial companies.
In 1998 he returned to QUB Aeronautical Engineering lecturing in aircraft structures. With a strong focus on design applications and integrated cost models including manufacturing processing effects in design simulations. He has built a solid body of work and methods in the design of airframes and design automation for airframes. He received the 2006 Thomas Hawksley Gold medal from the IMechE for his work on friction stir welding in airframe design. He has published over 200 articles, supervised 30 PhDs to completion and has obtained grant funding of over £25M including prestigious major national and international collaborative programmes. These have ranged from knowledge transfer programmes to blues skies concepts. His latest work is revolutionizing engineering design systems working with Glen Dimplex, Deloitte NI, Airbus and ITI Global. (www.biohaviour.com)
A passionate educator, he has held key administrative roles including Head of Teaching for Aeronautical Engineering and was a university auditor for the quality assurance of degree programmes, having implemented quality assurance systems and modernized the programme to include manufacturing and advanced design systems.
Mark is currently Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engineering and Physical Sciences at Queens University. The Faculty has some 850 staff and 6,000 students. Its disciplines range from Archaeology and Geography through Psychology, the Engineering disciplines, Chemistry, Maths and Physics. Mark leads a prestigious Russell Group Consortium of Engineering Universities (UCEER) in partnership with the 9 Chinese Excellence League Universities (E9) which specialise in advanced engineering.
His latest book, co-authored with his great friend and mentor Ajoy Kundu, and David Riordan from Bombardier, has just been released by Wiley. Entitled “Conceptual Aircraft Design – An Industrial Approach” it brings a solid and very practical perspective to the design of aircraft, reinforced with many practical examples based on real aircraft.
Location & travel details
Who should attend
All alumni are welcome to attend.
Cost & concessions
It is free to attend.