The Annual Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture, 'Engineering the Future: delivering through disruption' with Guest Speaker, Professor Orla Feely, President of University College Dublin (UCD), will take place at 5.30pm on Thursday 19 February in The Great Hall, Lanyon Building, University Road, Belfast BT7 1NN as part of the NI Science Festival.

Now in its 24th year, Business Engagement at Queen’s and Engineers Ireland hosts this prestigious lecture series, in association with The Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Pre-lecture tea, coffee and biscuits will be served.

About Professor Orla Feely

Professor Orla Feely is President of University College Dublin and holds a BE degree from the same institution and MS and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), Engineers Ireland and the Irish Academy of Engineering.

Professor Feely is President of CESAER (the Conference of European Schools of Advanced Engineering Education and Research), and has previously served as President of Engineers Ireland, as Chair of the Irish Research Council, the EU Advisory Group on Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions and the IEEE Technical Committee on Nonlinear Circuits and Systems, and as Board Member and Deputy Chair of the Higher Education Authority.

About the Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture Series

Sir Bernard Crossland was one of the UK's most eminent engineers. He was appointed to the chair of mechanical engineering at Queen's University Belfast in 1959 by Sir Eric Ashby (later Lord Ashby), a reforming vice-chancellor who, like Crossland, was a passionate believer in the importance of technological education for society.

He was one of the four expert technical assessors for the investigation into the fire at King's Cross underground station in 1987, which had caused the deaths of 31 people. The resulting Fennell Report recommended a thorough overhaul of fire detection and prevention measures, and an extension of the ban on smoking in sub-surface areas to all parts of the underground system. Sir Bernard assumed the posts as head of department (1959-82), dean (1964-67), and pro-vice-chancellor (1978-82) in Queen’s University Belfast. In 1982, he resigned from the headship of the department and took up a research chair. Two years later, he retired. Retirement for Crossland meant a quarter of a century of engineering research, industrial consultancies and dedicated public service. He was a member of numerous committees and councils supporting economic development and education in Northern Ireland.

Crossland had become a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1942. Forty-four years later, he was elected president. He had a pivotal role in the establishment of the Irish Academy of Engineering, and his awards included the James Watt international gold medal (of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers) and the Kelvin gold medal (of the Institution of Civil Engineers). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1979 and knighted in 1990. In February 2010, he received the Royal Academy of Engineering Sustained Achievement award.

Sir Bernard Crossland died 17 January 2011.

Contact the host of The Annual Sir Bernard Crossland Lecture 2026 with Professor Orla Feely, President of University College Dublin

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