Teesside academic to lead Engineering Professors’ Council

A Teesside University professor has been elected to a leading position in a prestigious engineering organisation.

Professor Simon Hodgson, Dean of the School of Science and Engineering, has been made President of the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC).

The council represent academics from all the engineering disciplines and works to promote excellence in academic engineering in higher education.

Its membership consists of 78 institutions and nearly 6,000 individuals.

Professor Hodgson was elected to the senior role after a successful 12 month tenure as vice-president.

He said: 'I’m very honoured to have been elected president as this is a very prestigious organisation.

'I’ve been fortunate in my career to work in all kinds of universities which, to some extent, has given me a breadth of understanding of the sector.

'There are a lot of challenges and opportunities ahead and I hope that I will be able to bring a different perspective to the role.'

Originally from Kent, Professor Hodgson joined Teesside University in 2007.

He has a PhD in the field of engineering materials and before coming to Teesside taught at Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Humberside and the University of Loughborough, and also worked in industry.

During his two year presidency of the EPC, Professor Hodgson hopes to concentrate on three key areas.

• Ensuring that students coming to university are sufficiently prepared and technically equipped to study an engineering degree. • Ensuring that British engineering degrees are internationally competitive; particularly as in many other countries students spend an extra year studying engineering at university. • Strengthening research and innovation and knowledge transfer.

He added: 'I want to work extremely hard to strengthen these three areas as they are key to ensuring that Universities in Britain will continue to develop the best engineering talent.

'The EPC represents many different engineering departments and faculties and the challenge will be how to get unanimity of views to ensure these aims are met.'

Teesside University offers a broad range of engineering degrees from undergraduate to PhD level.

As well as the usual year-long placement, undergraduates at Teesside also have the opportunity to take part in an innovative professional mentoring scheme which teams them up with a professional engineer outside the University.

This provides them with a direct link to commercial engineers, industry and employment experience.

For more information on studying engineering at Teesside University visit www.tees.ac.uk/schools/scedt/.

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