The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) is designed to connect systems engineering professionals with the ECF, providing a gateway for individuals new to the profession to broaden their engagement with the systems engineering community. Furthermore, the ECF looks to inspire and motivate its members to collaborate and influence future best practice and strategy.
Around 40 developing Systems Engineers from around the UK attended the forum, which featured an introduction to Leonardo and the company’s Centre of Excellence for Electronic Warfare in Luton by Jenny Whitby (Leonardo UK, Head of Systems Engineering). The theme for the day was 'Understanding Problems, Integrating Solutions' and covered a diverse programme of discussions and activities. Delegates heard about the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and how systems engineering is helping to understand the complex problems Leonardo and our Team Tempest partners are focused on addressing. The day also included a tour of the site’s integration laboratories in which they learned about the integration and test activity we perform on the Praetorian Defensive Aid Sub-System (DASS).
The guest speaker for the day was Leonardo’s VP Systems Engineering UK, Mike Stephenson, who spoke about “career development as a Systems Thinker / Systems Engineer” and provided advice to the delegates on using Systems Thinking to plan their learning and careers.
Commenting on the day, Leonardo UK Head of Systems Engineering, Jenny Whitby, said: “I was delighted to join the young engineers who attended the INCOSE Early Careers Summer Event at Leonardo. These events are so important in facilitating the development of our early careers community. The day's theme – 'Understanding Problems, Integrating Solutions' – aligns perfectly with the work our Systems Engineering teams at Leonardo get to do on a daily basis.”
Akin Adegbenro, who helped plan the day with fellow ECF committee members, Tyler Burrowes, Nathan Drury and Nintse Dan-Thé, thanked Leonardo for hosting the event, adding: “The day was incredibly well-organised, offering fantastic opportunities to network with other systems engineers and gain insights into the GCAP programme. Mike Stephenson’s talk on how to apply systems thinking to our careers was especially inspiring, and the tour of the amazing facilities was a real highlight. Thanks to the entire team for enabling such an enlightening and valuable event.”
Systems Engineers play a pivotal role and are involved at all points of the engineering design lifecycle, working with customers and stakeholders to develop requirements for the design, and interacting with other Engineers (Software, Mechanical, Electronics) to allocate requirements.
Leonardo systems engineers therefore ensure the delivery of our world-leading capability for products including the BriteCloud expendable active decoy, Miysis DIRCM, Falcon Shield Counter UAS and for programmes such as GCAP.