Regional Trip: Historical Cambridge Friday, 14 October 2016

This year’s Engineers Australia UK Chapter Regional Trip was held in Cambridge over the weekend of the 17th to the 18th of September. The group consisted of 19 people from across the UK, and for some this was their first EA event in the UK which was great to see. The group stayed in student dormitories at St Catherine’s College and Churchill College, which provided a taste of student life at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

The weekend kicked off with a 2-hour walking tour of Cambridge which provided a chance to admire the amazing architecture of the town while absorbing the fascinating history of the town and University. The tour included a walk through Trinity College, which is one of the wealthiest colleges and where Isaac Newton studied and became a Fellow.

The afternoon activities took on a more engineering focus. First up, the group was given a tour of Makespace, a community funded workshop in central Cambridge. The workshop contained a variety of equipment and tools including 3D printers and laser cutters which members can use for personal projects and developing skills.

Following this, the group was shown around the Department of Engineering labs which had recently opened and were very impressive. Once again, the 3D printers were featured and there were also numerous types of manufacturing equipment which the students can use to advance their skills and understand the manufacturing process.  Some of the projects on display ranged from solar-powered cars to equipment that can break down human waste into fertiliser to use on sterile land for crops.

The final stop for the day was the Geotechnical labs where students study the properties and behaviour of soil and ground conditions under various situations. The lab contained a 15m span centrifuge which enables students to apply scaled g-forces models to re-enact the behaviour of real situations.

After a jam packed day, the group unwound in the evening over a 3-course meal at a quaint Cambridge pub.

The next day brought some sunny weather which was perfect for some punting along the River Cam. A few adventurous members had a go themselves and quickly learned it is a lot harder than the tour guides make it look. For everyone else, it was a very enjoyable ride taking in the beautiful scenery of the old buildings and College grounds. Despite a few steering issues and minor collisions, all participants made it up and back safely and thankfully, completely dry!

A huge thank you to Ben Ting for organising the trip. Ben is a former student at Clare College and his personal experiences as a student were very insightful and added a great touch to the trip.

Altogether, it was a memorable weekend and it was clear that everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We hope to see the new faces from the trip at our upcoming EA UK Chapter events.

Emily Challen

EA Member