Prizes & Awards

Colin commenced his S&T career in 1968 as an Engineering Scholar in the Manchester Division of British Rail and shortly afterwards joined the IRSE as a Student member in October 1969.

He began his contribution to the Institution’s work in the 1970s by serving on the IRSE Student and Graduate Committee. He transferred to become a Graduate member in December 1974 and was awarded a Thorrowgood scholarship in 1975.

He transferred to Member In March 1981 and shortly after was elected to become a Member of Council in 1983. At that time all membership and financial records were recorded, updated and reported manually and it was during this period that Colin Id and implemented the Institution’s first computerised membership records system.

He transferred to the grade of Fellow in February 1986 and by then he had also led the Institution’s first computerised financial records system which he then implemented when he was appointed as the Institution’s Treasurer in 1986 in which capacity he served until 1993.

In 1991 he was appointed Chairman of the special Licensing Sub Committee that was set up by Council to devise and develop the IRSE Licensing Scheme to assure the competence of S&T staff following the Clapham accident. The Scheme was launched to the signalling industry In January 1994 and Colin was instrumental in achieving its wide application in the years that followed.

He has served at various times on most of the main Committees of the Institution including Management Committee, Finance Committee, Membership and Registration Committee and Licensing Committee. He was also one of the founding Directors of IRSE Enterprises Ltd. when the Council decided to set up Its wholly owned subsidiary trading company In February 2005.

He was elected to become the IRSE President in 2003 and served on Council as a Past President until 2006. He was then appointed to become the Institution’s Chief Executive and General Secretary in this capacity he served until 2015.

In April 2007 he was made an Honorary Fellow and in June 2015 was awarded the President’s Medal for his outstanding service to the Institution.

In July 2015 he was appointed Chairman and Senior Engineer of the Licensing Scheme in which capacity he has continued to serve until June 2024.

He has served on Council since 1983 either as a full Council member, President, or as the Institution’s Treasurer, Secretary, or Licensing Scheme Chairman. Altogether this totals more than 41 years of continuous outstanding service to the IRSE.

Philip Wiltshire joined the IRSE in 1964 and is the Institution’s longest serving, living past-President. It is likely that when he was elected President in 1982, he was the youngest member ever to fulfil that role. Since then, Philip has been an excellent supporter of the Institution. In the 1980s he represented the IRSE at the Engineering Council, and in the 1990s he played a leading role in the formation of the IRSE Licensing Scheme.

In 1992 he led a working group developing the Licensing Quality System and the initial Licensing Regulations, and then joined the newly formed Licensing Committee at its first meeting held in April 1993. Previously, the development of the Licensing Scheme had been managed using a special sub-committee of the Management Committee chaired by Colin Porter, initially formed in 1991. Philip had also been a member of this sub-committee for most of its existence.

Philip has been a member of the Licensing Committee since its inception, and still is today. During that time, he has led on the evolution of all the key documentation, notably the Licensing Standard and the Licensing Procedures. In addition, he has chaired several Appeals Panels. He is also an auditor of Assessing Agencies, and this has meant he is kept up-to-date with the actual workings of the Scheme.

Elected as an Honorary Fellow in 2002, Philip has been with the IRSE for almost 60 years, during which time he has always been willing to help and has never refused to undertake any activity when requested.

Brandon is the Director of Engineering for UK Projects within GTS Canada. In this role, 150 engineering staff report to Brandon spanning System Engineering, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Test Engineering and historically Data Communication Systems all dedicated to moving block signalling solutions within London’s Urban Rail. As an extended member of the Executive Committee for GTS Urban Rail Solutions (URS) Canada, he has monthly sessions with the executives for GTS URS and is included in monthly Leadership meetings hosted by the Chief Technical Officer for Engineering across all Business Units in GTS.

He will be very influential in encouraging the business to sponsor individual membership of the IRSE, taking the exams and using the licencing scheme. He has expressed interest In the IRSE for the ability to join the wider community and knowledge base.

.

As the director of Railcenter, Henk plays an essential role in training signalling experts in the Netherlands. He has set out the strategy to train all levels (mechanic, engineer, tester, etc.) and has facilities available for all systems. Not only conventional techniques but also ERTMS. He gives the rail center the space to also experiment with innovations and to carry out integration tests in the existing systems. he also actively supports IRSE's activities by making the facilities available for IRSE activities. For example, he facilitated the IRSE ITC in a technical visit. This sponsored the IRSE activities and will continue to do so.

Brian started working in signal boxes when he was 16 on the LNER in Newcastle and then joined Westinghouse, where he worked for nearly 50 years both in the UK and overseas. One of the proposers (Tony Howker) has known him throughout that period.

He is very well known throughout the railway signalling community for his work all over the UK, Norway, and particularly Singapore where he was the main managing signalling engineer for the construction and commissioning of the Mass Rapid Transport system. He is acknowledged for his unrivalled knowledge and experience of signalling installation and commissioning works.

Throughout his career Brian placed particular emphasis on mentoring young engineers and many in the Industry remember his assistance fondly and gratefully. He was known throughout the rail industry in Singapore as ‘Uncle Brian’, largely for his helpful and knowledgeable contributions when mentoring.

Mark joined the Institution as a Student member in 1989, moving to Technician Engineer in 1995, Member in 1998 and Fellow in 2004. He has been a committee member of the Western Section in the past.

His most recent contribution to the Institution has been as the Production lead for IRSE News. He was asked to take over the role in 2014 after the sudden death of the previous production manager, Stuart Angill. He willingly agreed to take it on, and under his control, coupled with the able involvement of the Managing Editor, Paul Darlington, he has made improvements to the layout and improvements to the look and feel of the magazine. He actually lays out the magazine from the drafts of the articles submitted, and he does that to a tight timescale every month, except for the one month break in summer, and then submits the finished layout to the printers, Herald, for them to print.

Mark has been instrumental in the graphical form and editing of various IRSE documents over many years. His skills and expertise in this area is only matched by his motivation and commitment to the Institution. Examples of his recent work includes leading the production of the for IRSE News since 2014. He took on this role willingly following the sudden death of the previous production manager, Stuart Angill. Since that time, in conjunction with Paul Darlington, the Managing Editor, he has made significant changes to the layout and feel of the magazine to improve its attractiveness to the membership.

In addition, from 2019 through to its publication in 2022, he took on the role of Lead editor of the Metro Signalling text-book. This book was a major re-write, which provides extensive graphical representation as well as formally laid out technical expert contributions from around the world. Its production ran to numerous drafts (all personally read, commented and corrected) which resulted in a final document of sum 473 pages.

The IRSE News production role is a demanding and on-going one that requires commitments to often challenging and tight deadlines for its prompt publication, and it is not unknown for submitted articles to arrive later than planned, putting pressure on Mark (who has demanding roles and commitments outside of the IRSE) but he has always responded extremely well with good humour.

Paul Darlington and Mark Glover make a very effective team producing a most tangible membership benefit which is highly regarded, according to every opinion poll carried out so far, by the membership and Marks’ contribution, and offer of support and advice, is always welcomed by those who need to publish information, be it for conferences (such as his work on Aspect’19), textbooks, or indeed items for the News.

Paul is a long-term member of and contributor to the IRSE with just some of his involvement including on the committee of the Midland & North Western Section, extended service for the exam committee (2005-2015), the IRSE Audit Committee (2015-2018) and Assessor for IEng and CEng professional registration since 2013.

Most significantly Paul has been Managing Editor of IRSE News since August 2017 through to the present day.

Paul’s contribution has been exceptional and over a very long period of time. He has furthered the aims of the Instutition in many ways, but most significantly amongst these being his support of developing engineers and his involvement in IRSE News.

Using his technical training background and extensive industry knowledge of signalling and telecoms Paul has played a major role in his local section, and more widely through his work for the Exam Committee and as a Professional Registration assessor. He continues to support people as they develop through their careers, and there are many engineers at levels throughout the profession that have benefited from Paul’s support throughout that time.

Since August 2017 Paul has been Managing Editor of IRSE News, during which time the content and quality of the magazine has developed considerably. He constantly sources relevant, interesting and technically important content which then passes through the technical editors prior to lay out in the magazine. He is then responsible for editing and final sign off, working closely with the Production Manager to create the best possible content with the volunteer team. He has continued to be very proactive in reminding contributors when details are required and ensuring the quality of them is maintained when it comes to publishing the IRSE News.

Under Paul's leadership, it is worth highlighting the particular success of the ‘Back to basics’ series of articles that have been created to support those seeking to enter the IRSE Professional Examination, giving a sound grounding in many elements of the profession. This body of knowledge will continue to be used to many years to come.

Paul is a frequent contributor of articles and photography to the IRSE News and other rail magazines and has invested significant time and energy in developing the IRSE News to best meet the objectives of the Institution over an extended period of time.

Derek has been an active member of the institution’s examination committee since 1969 - that's over half a century of service.  He has contributed to the setting of hundreds of exam questions and has undertaken the marking of thousands of written answers from candidates who have sat the examination. 

Derek has attended hundreds of committee meetings, and his energetic and cheerful demeanour is appreciated by his fellow committee members.  Not to mention his valued contribution to committee discussions informed by his extensive experience in the signalling industry. 

Currently Derek is one of the examiners aligned with the examination's Module C 'Principles of railway control and communication systems' and his work for the committee continues unabated. 

The examination committee is extremely grateful for Derek's valuable contribution to their work and hopes that a Merit award will extend this recognition to a wider audience.

Rod has supported the London & South-East Section since its inception in 2018 as a committee member. He has arranged presentations, technical visits and supported the work of the committee. 

He is also a member of the IRSE's International Technical Committee and written up some of their reports. 

He has made Presidential Presentations and presented papers at Aspect and Conventions. 

He also supports the IRSE as a Council Member

Byron began his career in 2014, joining Transnet (Operator running mainline services in South Africa) as a graduate in the signalling design office in Durban South Africa.  After 2 years he completed the training program and was appointed as a Signal Design Engineer.   

During his time at Transnet, he was involved in the design, delivery and testing of various projects. These projects included the design and stage works for the replacement of slow speed turnouts with highspeed turnouts resulting in track circuit and signal placement changes.  The relocation and redesign of a local control panel at Duffs Road to the centre of train control in central Durban. The reconfiguration and rationalisation of the track and signal layout between Phoenix and Stanger, which was to cater for the replacement of the Route Relay Interlocking with CBI interlocking. He was also involved in the testing and commissioning of the Majuba rail link project which included checking and validating contractor interlocking designs as well as the testing and commissioning of the systems.  

After 8 years at Transnet Byron was appointed as a Senior Signal Engineer for Equipment Engineering Services at Transport for London.  For the past 1.5 years he has supported Signal Operations and been involved in various projects across the network ranging from obsolete asset redesign including legacy relays, asset failure monitoring (relating to the introduction of the UNISTAR point machine on the LU network), Points Heater monitoring system modification and install, special investigations for signalling equipment that has failed in service, testing of equipment that is no longer supported by the internal production department and design of bespoke test equipment. 

The outputs from the monitoring installed on the UNISTAR point operating equipment have provided valuable information to support improvements in the overall reliability of the system. 

Over the last 10 years of work Byron has achieved the following Professional Registrations, Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa, Associate Member with the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers.  He is also registered with the following technical institutions, The Institution of Engineering and Technology and The Signal and Electrical Engineers’ Technical Society (TechSoc). 

I first joined the railway as a Year-in-Industry student on the Network Rail IT industrial placement scheme, working in IT Project Management to deliver a new signalling design tool. After this I returned to finish my degree in Computer Science & Mathematics at the University of Manchester, including a final year project to collect and analyse real-time train running data to predict train performance.

I then returned to Network Rail on the IT graduate scheme, completing a number of placements around the business including operational performance, group strategy and IT project management. At the end of the graduate scheme I settled into a permanent role as an Assurance Analysis Specialist – analysing the safety and sustainability data for major infrastructure projects in the North of England. I gained a passion for safety that I have taken through my work since.

During my four years in the role, I simultaneously studied for an MSc in Railway Systems Engineering and Integration at the University of Birmingham, and in the process brought together my passions for safety, signalling and technology with the writing of my dissertation which was entitled ‘Digital Technologies and Their Effects on Workforce Safety’. In the dissertation I researched a number of recent accidents and incidents across the railway, and investigated how technology (including ETCS) could have prevented these.

After graduating from my master’s degree, I became a Project Engineer working in Industry Partnership Digital Railway, working predominantly on the TRU ETCS project. After two years in the Digital Railway team I joined the TRU ETCS team directly as a Senior Project Engineer. In this role I have furthered my interests in safety and sustainability by writing reports on the impact ETCS has on them, in support of the business case for ETCS on TRU. I have also worked on requirements engineering, reliability and performance, as well as general project engineering duties. In the last four years as a Senior Project Engineer I have quickly learnt a lot about signalling engineering, project engineering and ETCS implementation in and around Great Britain.

Jennifer gained distinction in module C and a pass in module D in October 2023’s exams, having previously gained a credit in Module B in October 2022 and a credit in the Certificate (module A) in March 2022.

Scott is currently the Principal Signalling Engineer in Network Rail’s Route Services Engineering & Asset Management team.

He has 15 years’ experience in railway signal engineering, starting with Network Rail in 2008 on their Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme for Railway Signal Engineering before graduating to frontline signalling technical grades then into to a senior technical support role.

Following on from this frontline technical experience Scott then progressed into engineering management, holding signalling maintenance engineering positions in London and then Motherwell. Scott then moved into his current role in asset management last year.

Scott completed the Certificate in Railway Control Engineering Fundamentals (Module A) and Railway safety and systems engineering (Module B) of the Advanced Diploma in Railway Control Engineering. His aspirations are to pass the two remaining modules (C & D) in the October 2024 exam intake to complete the Advanced Diploma in Railway Control Engineering (IRSE Professional Exam). Scott is working towards Professional Registration at the level of Chartered Engineer (CEng) through the IRSE.

István gained the highest marks in module B of the Institution’s Exam in October 2023.

The 15 IRSE members who have been awarded the Hewlett Fisher Bursary to attend ASPECT 2023 are:

• Aimee MacDonald
• Alex Daley AMIRSE
• Ashutosh Singh AMIRSE
• Caroline Horton
• Dan Barton MIRSE
• Desmond Khoo
• Eddie Ying Min Li MIRSE
• Ewan Burns
• Fabian Raaijman
• Kallum Lee
• Louis Moore
• Pfariso Khalushi
• Pieter van der Beek MIRSE
• Tyson Moore
• Ziyulong Wang AMIRSE