BBC World Service and the Royal Commission For The Exhibition of 1851 host The Engineers: Re-Engineering The Future

The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that all over the world engineers are being called on to re-purpose and solve problems which the spread of the disease has created.

Published: 19 June 2020
Now is a chance to hear how engineers in different fields, in widely different environments, think we can re-engineer the world for the better, in this unique global debate.
— Stephen Titherington, Senior Commissioning Editor

The BBC World Service and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 are bringing together leading experts and an online audience from across six continents to share their insights and inspire innovation worldwide.

How are engineers reinventing our world to fight the virus? What can engineers do to re-imagine the everyday and make life safer and easier across the globe?

Presenter Kevin Fong will be joined by a panel of four leading engineers from around the world. The panel will respond to questions, comments and first-hand accounts from a global audience linked by Zoom. This is a special edition of an annual event series staged in partnership with the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. The panellists are:

  • Luke Leung, Director of Sustainable Engineering at SOM, who worked on the Burj Khalif in Dubai and Zhengzhou Greenland Tower in China.
  • Linda Miller, Civil Engineer at Bechtel, who has worked on the Sydney Metro and Crossrail in London.
  • Rebecca Shipley, Director of UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering and is responsible for reverse engineering the CPAP ventilator.
  • Carlo Ratti, Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, who is responsible for the creation of CURA Pods, mobile ICU units.

Stephen Titherington, Senior Commissioning Editor, BBC World Service English, says: “Amongst the audience will be men and women - engineers in different fields in widely different environments - who have had to adapt their lives and their work to deal with coronavirus. Now is a chance to hear how they think we can re-engineer the world for the better in this unique global debate.”

Bernard Taylor, Chairman of the Royal Commission For The Exhibition Of 1851, says: “With lives across the world disrupted, engineers in every continent are at the cutting edge of problem solving and innovation, restructuring, and adapting to respond to this new challenge. We are delighted to be able to continue this partnership with the BBC World Servic, highlighting the role of engineers in society. For this special edition we are proud to help convene this important public conversation within the digital space."

The programme will be broadcast on the BBC World Service on 27 and 28 June 2020. It is part of the pan-BBC Radio Rethink season, posing the question of what the world should do next following the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is produced by Charlie Taylor for the BBC World Service.

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