Welding Institute Annual Award Winners: TWI Staff

The Welding Institute annual awards are taking place on 2 July at The Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton, near Cambridge. Each year the awards provide the opportunity for the Institute to recognise outstanding contributions to materials joining and welding technology. As such, each year, TWI employees are among the award winners, and this year will be no different.

Among the award winners this year is Eur Ing Ian Hogarth CEng FWeldI, who is to receive the Distinguished Service Award. This award is conferred in recognition of outstanding contributions to The Welding Institute on a national basis, as a result of which the position of the Institute has been significantly advanced.

Ian’s 45 year involvement in the welding community started with an indentured welding apprenticeship with Aveling Barford Ltd in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1974. He progressed over the years from NDT, Welding Inspection to Welding Engineering and achieving the status of CEng, Eur Ing, and successfully achieving an MSc from Cranfield University. Having secured many professional welding qualifications, Ian took on a new role as a lecturer focusing on the IIW Welding Engineering Diploma. Ian personally developed the CSWIP Welding Quality Control Coordinator course which was successfully introduced into industry in 2008 and remains a popular course.

Ian is estimated to have trained over 2000 students from Welding Inspector to Welding Engineer since 2007. The course materials he has developed are successfully used in the training of today’s students across the world. While Group Manager of TWI Training (2006 to 2011), Ian had overall responsibility for the operation of training courses and examinations with an annual turnover of over £5 million. During this time he developed the multi-choice examination system for the CSWIP Welding Inspection course.  This system enabled the examinations to be marked in seconds via a scanner and enabled the examinations to be conducted in several languages, as previously the marking required translating.

Ian was instrumental in expanding the BS EN ISO 3834 and BS EN 1090 company certification side of the business, both recruiting and training the current team. He is now currently tasked with developing and expanding the welder and welding procedure certification side of the business under the UKAS accreditation. 

Ian is an approved examiner and represents TWI as a Liaison Officer for the Engineering Council.

In 1986, Ian joined The Welding Institute. He was Chairman (2010-2013) and now President of the Teesside Branch, as well as a Committee Member of the Northumbrian Branch (2002-2010). As well as his own branch activities, Ian gives up a lot of free time to give talks and after dinner speeches to branches across the UK.

Ian is a member of a number of Institute committees, including MERC (Management Education Registration Committee), WSPMC (Welding Specialist and Practitioners Management Committee) the Professional Board (6 year term ended June 2018), WFCS (Welding Fabrication Certification Scheme) and CMB (Certification Management Board).

Ian has significantly enhanced the services of TWI and The Welding Institute over a long period and still remains a key figure in its continuous development.

Elsewhere, Senor Technician Carl Forrest will be awarded the TWI Staff Commendation Award, which is given out in recognition of special achievements by TWI staff.

Working from TWI’s facility in Wales, Carl joined TWI in 2006 as a Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technician. Having spent time serving in the Royal Navy as a Marine Engineering Mechanic, Carl worked for 12 years in a test environment for for TRW Automotive, where tests included, durability, fatigue, strength and environmental using servo hydraulic controlled test machines. His current NDT qualifications include RT, UT, PT and MT BOSIET and MIST First Aid and Fork Lift.

Finally, this year’s Richard Weck Award winner is Dr Jeroen De Backer, a Principal Project Leader at TWI Sheffield. The Richard Weck Award, which is named after a former Director General of BWRA and The Welding Institute, is made annually for the most worthy Industrial Member's report from the TWI Core Research Programme.

Jeroen won the award for his report entitled, ‘Development of Robotic Bobbin and Stationary Shoulder Friction Stir Welding,’ which described significant advancements in friction stir welding (FSW) using a range of techniques on a robot to join complex component geometries with the aim of facilitating industrial uptake.