Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, received the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC) President’s Prize for her societal impact as an engineer and educator, and her involvement in Global Grand Challenges.
The President’s Prize is awarded biennially for services to engineering education, and previous recipients of the award include:
- Former Academy President Sir John Parker GBE FREng, who received the award in 2014, and is a great champion of industrial strategy;
- Former Academy President Lord Alec Broers FMedSci FREng FRS, a nanotechnology pioneer who was President of the Academy from 2001 to 2006, and later served as the Chairman of the Judging Panel for the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering:
- Professor Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, DBE FREng FRS, who received the award in 2012, and was the Royal Academy of Engineering’s first Senior Research Fellow in 1987. She was elected to the Academy ten years later and is a strong advocate of engineering education and research.
Dame Ann became President of the Academy in 2014 and is also a Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge, where she was Head of the Department of Engineering 2009-14 and ran the University Gas Turbine Partnership with Rolls-Royce 2001-14. She has held visiting posts at MIT and at Caltech. Her research focuses on efficient, low emission combustion for aero and industrial gas turbines and low noise engines, especially for aircraft and cars.
At the request of government, Dame Ann led the Dowling Review in 2015 to examine how businesses of all types and sizes could be encouraged to connect with the UK’s universities through strategic research partnerships that can deliver economic benefits for the country as a whole.
Dame Ann said:
“I am delighted and very honoured to be awarded the EPC President’s Prize. It is really special because it is awarded by my peers – engineering professors – who include colleagues and friends that I have known for many years. I am especially honoured, and humbled, when I see the very impressive list of past recipients.”
Engineering Professors’ Council President, Professor Sarah Spurgeon OBE FREng, presented the award to Dame Ann and said:
“It is a great honour for me to make the award this year to Professor Dame Ann Dowling. Dame Ann is a distinguished mechanical engineer and a leading advocate for the societal importance of engineering. Her work is characterised by collaboration and she has been hugely influential in developing the UK’s involvement in Global Grand Challenges. She continues to make a considerable societal impact as an engineer and educator.”
