While 2020 has certainly had its challenges, we’re pleased that we’ve still been able to celebrate a number of successes across our Frazer-Nash Consultancy family. We’ve picked out just 20 of our news stories from 2020 below.
- Back in January, Frazer-Nash was asked by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to deliver the lead-lithium flow loop concept study for its STEP Programme. The work will help UKAEA to produce a conceptual design for a commercially viable prototype fusion reactor – known as a ‘tokamak’ by 2040.
- Fast forward to June, and Frazer-Nash was also awarded a role on the UKAEA’s Engineering Design Services Framework, to provide expertise in four technical areas: process engineering; computer-based modelling and simulation; electrical control and instrumentation (EC&I); and specialist nuclear services.
- In February, the English Institute of Sport (EIS) signed an agreement for Frazer-Nash to become its official Technology Consultancy Supplier, to help it continue to find cutting-edge solutions that enable sports and athletes to excel. The EIS has worked informally with Frazer-Nash across many years, but this announcement formalised the relationship between the two organisations.
- March saw Frazer-Nash awarded a share of £1 million of government funding, as part of the Defence and Security Accelerator’s (DASA’s) ‘Intelligent Ship’ competition. Working with partners, we were exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can help reduce the ‘information overload’ faced by crews on defence platforms.
- In May, Frazer-Nash was also awarded a DASA contract as part of its ‘Autonomy in a Dynamic World’ competition, to help develop the proof-of-concept for a new system to enable unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs, often known as drones) to land on board moving ships in challenging sea states.
- Staying in May, this month we were also celebrating Frazer-Nash’s acceptance as a Patron of the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), the leading international professional body for asset management. As a patron, we’ll be using our experience and expertise to foster and influence the best practice application of asset management theory, principles and techniques, acting as an ambassador for the IAM.
- June saw us sharing more about our exciting and fulfilling work on the Whizz-Kidz and Duchenne UK Wheels of Change project. Supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery Dreamfund, Frazer-Nash, and project partners the University of Edinburgh, Somo Global, Aergo and Curtiss-Wright, are working to help Whizz-Kidz make its dream of producing a powered wheelchair fit for the 21st century a reality.
- In June, we also ran a four part webinar series, in collaboration with the Nuclear Institute’s Young Generation Network (YGN), to explore the latest innovations in clean energy. Featuring industry experts from across the UK, the webinars provided a great insight into how the energy industry is delivering and enabling innovation in the pursuit of Net Zero.
- Our people were also getting some well-deserved recognition during 2020. In Australia, Safety and Assurance Consultant, Sindhu Shankar, was a finalist in the Engineering category of the 2020 Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) Women in Defence Awards. The awards celebrate talented, determined, successful women who make a positive impact to the defence industry. In the UK, Frazer-Nash Aerospace Business Manager, Luke Bonnett, was shortlisted for the Rising Star of the Year award at the 2020 Ex-Forces in Business Awards. As the world’s largest celebration of ex-military personnel in second careers, these awards recognise the significant value that veterans and their service-gained skills add to businesses. In October, Senior Engineer, Nicole Lee featured in the WeAreTechWomen’s TechWomen100 awards shortlist. WeAreTechWomen’s awards aim to shine a spotlight on 1000 future female leaders in technology by 2025.
- But we weren’t only receiving awards: in 2020, Frazer-Nash sponsored the Creating a Smarter World Award at the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Innovation Awards; and was headline sponsor for both The Engineer’s Collaborate to Innovate awards and the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET’s) Young Woman Engineer of the Year (YWE) Awards.
- As part of its goal of being a great place to work, in August, Frazer-Nash signed up to the ‘Time to Change’ employer pledge, led by mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. The Time to Change pledge is a commitment to changing the way we all think about mental health in the workplace, and acting to create a more open and understanding culture around mental health problems at work.
- As part of Frazer-Nash’s strategy of placing our ‘People’ agenda at the very highest level of the business, Head of HR, Sam Geis, took up the newly created role of People Director in October. Managing Director, Neil McDougall said: “In elevating our ‘People’ agenda to the highest level in the business, we will make sure that we, as directors, focus on what is important for us all as employees, leading to a better future.”
- Also in October, Frazer-Nash Principal Consultant, Dave Richards, and Group Leader, David McNaught, were awarded prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorships, enabling them to share their expertise with the next generation of engineers at Glasgow School of Art and the University of Strathclyde respectively. In December, Engineering Manager, Graham Hawkes became the third Frazer-Nash expert to be awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship, to share his experience with the University of Surrey.
- Frazer-Nash joined experts from across the renewables sector in July, as a member of energy trade association, Renewable UK. The membership will enable us to discuss and collaborate more widely on ideas for building energy systems of the future that are powered by clean electricity.
- There was also competition success for Frazer-Nash teams in 2020. In May, we successfully reached the final for the Association of Project Management (APM) South Wales and West of England (SWWE) Project Management Challenge; while in September, a team from Frazer-Nash was one of just seven awarded a finalist place in the shipping and logistics innovation challenge, Singapore Ocean of Opportunities. Then in October, a team from Frazer-Nash was selected to take on the ‘Unlocking Autonomous Navigation Challenge’ set by the ADMIRALTY Marine Innovation Programme (led by the UK Hydrographic Office).
- As the Australian Government fast-tracked the approval process for a new subsea cable route – the Marinus Link – in August, Consultant Brett Allen asked 'How do you take a subsea cable from concept to shovel-ready?'
- In October, Dr Janet Wilson and Dr Quoc Do were formally recognised as Fellows of Engineers Australia. Director of Frazer-Nash’s Australian business, Jonathan Armstrong, said: “As Fellows of Engineers Australia, they are both amongst the true leaders of the industry and profession, underpinned by their exceptional skills, experience and integrity.”
- Still in Australia, we celebrated a decade of our successful Australian business in November 2020. As part of our 10-year celebrations, we talked to some of the Frazer-Nash team who were with us at our launch, and during our early years in Australia.
- Frazer-Nash Consultancy, with the University of Hull's Logistics Institute, won the Railway Industry Association’s (RIA’s) Rail Industry Supplier Excellence (RISE) ‘Unlocking Innovation’ Award on 4 November. The award recognised the innovative nature of the Rapid Evaluation and Planning Analysis Infrastructure for Railways (REPAIR) project, which is examining how data analytics and machine learning techniques can offer new ways of predicting, and mitigating, the propagation of delays on the freight network.
- During 2020, Frazer-Nash was commissioned by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to carry out an independent study into space-based solar power. We will be investigating the potential of the power generation concept, which uses large Solar Power Satellites to collect solar energy, convert it into high frequency radio waves, and safely beam it back to ground-based receivers connected to the electrical power grid.
