5. Continuing Professional Development

Major conferences and Eminent Speaker programs

• Our learned society groups, including Technical Societies, continue to rate their major conferences very highly.
• Engineers Australia supported 15 national and international conferences during 2008-2009 with nearly 1,200 technical presentations attracting approximately 4,500 delegates.
• Significant improvement has been achieved in the governance and administration of these events and their associated sponsorship. This has been particularly timely in light of the more challenging financial environment.
• Highlights included the CELM conference and Young Engineers summit in Perth including a keynote presentation by Tim Costello. The CELM conference made a significant donation to World Vision.
• The presentations by the finalists for the AAEE Teaching Awards, included in the AAEE conference program for the first time in 2008, were reported as ‘inspirational’. Newcastle’s hosting of Chemeca proved the viability of holding major national conferences in regional Australia, and New Zealand cooperation was evidenced with the Biomedical Engineering conference in Christchurch in November 2008.
• Eminent speakers this year have included both timely content, ie energy efficiency provisions in the building code, and high profile engineers such as Ron Cox who presented at nine venues across Australia on the challenge climate change is presenting for coastal engineers.
• Dr David Skellern was the inaugural ITEE College Eminent Speaker and presented a series of lectures in major centres on The Future of the Digital Economy.
• Eminent speakers and national CPD seminars are now attracting over 2,000 registrants and attendees.

Capturing intellectual value - technical publications

• Engineers Australia’s publications are now available to all Australian and international libraries on subscription basis via Informit. Comprehensive metadata and abstracts can also be found via Google Scholar and purchased on pay-perview basis, providing Engineers Australia members with greater local and international exposure. The database is updated continuously as new content is published.
• The Engineers Australia Library project was named a finalist of the Australian Library and Information Association Information Online Group 2009 Award announced in Sydney on the 21st January 2009.
• In the last 12 months Engineers Australia members conducted 16,252 searches across all databases.
• We published 18 (up from 14 planned) Technical Journals this financial year, plus three online editions of the AJEE. New Editorial Manager software has greatly improved and sped up the editorial process. Once again we must thank the volunteer editors without whom these publications could not be produced.
• We are now preparing the first application for ISI listing, starting with the AJEEE. This process will take about a year, with all issues of one year being assessed as they are being published. Once the first issue of AJWR for 2009 is published we will start the process for that journal as well.
• The publication of Chemical Engineering in Australia continues to be a popular product for both Engineers Australia and IChemE.

Further professional development

• CELM Chapter events in Divisions continue to provide development opportunities to better equip engineers to become proficient engineering leaders. Planning is well in hand for promotion of 2010 as our Year of Engineering Leadership, including the next biannual CELM conference to be conducted jointly with Young Engineers Australia in Brisbane in April.
• A Working Party has developed a draft Stage 3 competency standard for senior engineers operating in a technical capacity. The competency standard envisages technical practice in a diversity of capacities including design, project management, operations, manufacturing, research and change and technical development. Following initial consideration by College Chairs, the draft Stage 3 Technical Competency Standard will be circulated for broad member review and feedback.
• Each year around 200 inquires are received from people seeking to articulate with about half of these actually starting an agreed program. Approximately 25 candidates complete their articulation program each year, half through personally tailored programs and the other half through the Master of Engineering Practice offered by the University of Southern Queensland.
• A series of information workshops is being held in all capital cities to help de-mystify the assessment of primary qualifications, to provide assistance in preparing the necessary documentation and to advise applicants of possible alternative pathways.

Delivering CPD

• CPD events cover a hugely diverse range of formats, from major international conferences, seminars and workshops, eminent
  speaker presentations, and individual technical meetings.
• Approximately eighty presentations were recorded and added to the video library.

CPD Delivery in Divisions - 2008 - 09

Canberra - 68 technical meetings and events were held, plus two site visits. Total attendance estimated at 1,870.

Newcastle - Total CPD offered was some 147 hours, with a total of some 1,850 attendees, well up on last year.

Northern - Eminent speaker tours were beneficial for the Division, where regional and remote members are disadvantaged. In all, over 800 CPD attendee hours.

Queensland - Excluding local group and corporate events, there were over 7,500 attendees to 104 technical presentations. 80 technical presntations were made available online.

South Australia - Groups arranged over 40 seminars and visits, with an estimated 56 CPD hours offered. Approximately 2:1 members to non-members participated, with total takeup of some 1,700 hours.

Sydney - Approximately 220 presentations were delivered to members in Sydney, and regional groups. Well over 7,000 attendees and 15,000 CPD hours takeup were recorded, with Civil and Structural attendances exceeding 250 each month.

Tasmania - Information on 95 events was distributed to members through the year. Two EEA courses were well attended

Victoria - Some 435 events were delivered, plus 90 regional events.

Western Australia - Some 240 events were provided, with increased numbers of regional events. Including the CELM national conference, takeup was nearly 20,000 CPD hours by more than 10,000 attendees.

Australian Rainfall and Runoff Revision Project

Since its publication in 1958, Australian Rainfall and Runoff (AR&R) has remained one of the most influential and widely used guidelines published by Engineers Australia.

The current edition was published in 1987, with some revisions in later years. However, many of the practices recommended in this earlier edition of AR&R are now becoming outdated, both in terms of available rainfall and streamflow data, and analysis techniques. This, together with greater understanding of climate change and its effects on flooding, make the revision of AR&R a high priority. Revision of AR&R is identified as a priority in the Council of Australian Governments’ National Adaptation Framework for Climate Change.

The revision is being undertaken in three stages over four years, with funding presently available for the first two stages. 21 revision projects will be completed with the aim of filling knowledge gaps. 10 of these projects commenced in Stage 1 and are now nearing completion. The outcomes of the projects will assist the AR&R editorial team compiling and writing the chapters of AR&R.

Stages 1 and 2 have been funded by the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and the Bureau of Meteorology. The Department of Climate Change has provided $4 million for the years 2008-2010, while the Bureau of Meteorology is providing over $2 million of in-kind funding. Engineers Australia is contributing nearly $2.7 million of in-kind funding, with the expectation of a similar level of support in the later years.

The revision is being undertaken through Engineers Australia’s National Committee on Water Engineering. Steering and Technical Committees have been established to provide overall direction and technical advice respectively in the conduct of the Project. Engineers Australia is the Executive Authority for the Project, and is responsible for the discharge of its commitments under the Funding Agreements with Department of Climate Change.

< Back | Top | Next >