Post-graduate student scoops awards

Obey Suleyman, a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde and the current young member representative on the SAM Council, has been awarded the 2025 Frank Fitzgerald Medal and Travel Grant by the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining.

This award is made to a student or early career member of IOM3 who is active in the field of iron and steel and has demonstrated excellence in and commitment to continuing professional development in the form of depth or breadth of technical knowledge, or in a personal contribution to promoting the profession.

Obey has also recently won the Academic Award at the 2025 Young Professionals Green Energy Awards for his pioneering research on the manufacture of wind turbine components which is advancing the sustainability of Scotland’s renewable energy industry.  His work has been featured in the Herald Scotland newspaper.

Award for long-serving SAM Secretary

John Wilcox has been awarded the Sir Andrew Bryan medal by the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IOM3).  The award is in recognition of the significant contribution he has made to the Institute through his involvement with Scottish Association for Metals (SAM) over a sustained period of time. 

John Wilcox's journey with SAM began in 1983 when he was first appointed Honorary Secretary. His dedication has been unwavering ever since. In 1998, he briefly stepped away from his Secretary role to serve as the Regional Representative of the Institute of Materials for Scotland and Ireland. However, his commitment to SAM brought him back as President in 2003, and he resumed his role as Secretary in 2005, a position he still holds today. 

Beyond his invaluable contributions to SAM, John was a member of the Council of the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining from 2009 to 2019 and served on the Institute’s Accreditation Committee. He also represented SAM at the Federation of Engineering Societies in Glasgow (now Engineering Scotland) and acted as its Secretary from 2000 to 2012. 

John has been the heart and soul of the Association for many years. Notably, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he led SAM into the digital age, maintaining regular lectures and expanding the audience and speakers to a global scale, significantly enhancing the association's appeal beyond Scotland.

John's leadership is evident in every aspect of the association, from organizing events and supporting office bearers to updating and maintaining the membership and constitution. He ensures that all operations run smoothly and efficiently.

He is also actively involved in various Association activities, such as site visits and engaging with student societies. John tirelessly works to expand the network of Scotland's metals, materials, and manufacturing industry, connecting students with industry professionals. His innovative ideas continually bring like-minded individuals together, fostering a vibrant Scottish materials and manufacturing network.

John is truly the pillar of the Association and a remarkable ambassador for SAM. His dedication to promoting the advancement of the science and technology of metals, alloys, and allied materials within Scotland is unparalleled.

The awards will be presented at the 2025 IOM3 Awards Day in London on Thursday 4 December.

On-line meeting: "Fracture control of steel pipelines – are we really in control?"

When:  2 Jul 2025  6:00 PM - 7:00 PM  (UK Time)

Location:  Online (MS Teams)

Registration:  https://theweldinginstitute.com/event-6221974

This event will give an overview of fracture mechanics methods that can be utilised for design and fitness for service of steel pipelines.

The speaker, Dr Yuri Tkach, will present on the topic. Yuri is a technical specialist with over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. Specializing in fracture integrity and fitness-for-service assessment, he is involved in projects from pre-FEED/FEED to detail design, construction, and commissioning. Yuri joined Wood in 2011 where he has been responsible since then for provision of services and expertise in the areas of fracture integrity and fitness-for-service assessment of structural components containing defects.

Yuri has served as principal engineer/investigator on programs to determine material characteristics under different loading conditions including fatigue performance and fracture resistance of pipeline materials subject to hydrogen embrittlement.

Yuri is passionate about decarbonisation and energy transition and he has been involved in numerous CO2 and hydrogen projects all over the world. He has gained expert knowledge and experience in ductile fracture propagation analysis as well as in development and implementation of fracture control plans for pipelines (including carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines).

Yuri also works on the BSI Technical Committee WEE/37 responsible for BS 7910 “Guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures” being a member of Technical Panels on fracture, fatigue and materials properties. He is also chairing Technical Panel on strain based integrity assessment under umbrella of WEE/37.

This event is being organised by the North Scottish branch of the Welding Institute and is open to all interested parties.

R W Thomson Prestige Lecture

Great evening at the RW Thomson Lecture hosted by The Mining Institute of Scotland (MIS) and presented by Andre van Der Berg from Anglo American.

Meeting the MIS Council was brilliant and we look forward for The Mining Institute of Scotland (MIS) and The Scottish Association for Metals (SAM) to continuing to work closely in the future.

A big thank you to MIS President Scott Petrie FIMMM.

Also, lovely to meet with the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) Madame President Christine Blackmore FIMMM CSci CEnv and Membership Development Manager Jamie Graham (MIMMM)

Note: The R W Thomson Prestige Lecture is an annual presentation organised by the affiliated societies of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in Scotland.

Fly-Drive-Sail: Grant Awards for Extra-Mural Activities

 The Scottish Association for Metals has agreed to provide grants to the following student societies:

• SRC Hydrogen Racing, the University of Glasgow's Hydrogen Fuel Racing (HFR) dedicated to the innovation and development of a hydrogen fuel cell powered racing vehicle
• GCU Racing Society, Glasgow Caledonian University’s effort for the Annual Formula Student UK competition
• Strathclyde Marine Robotics Society - building Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV's) for competitions 
• University of Strathclyde Motorsport, a student motorsport team competing in the global Formula Student initiative.
• University of Strathclyde Eco Vehicle Society, a team that designs, builds, and tests a highly efficient battery powered electric vehicle
• Team Aero-Watt - design, test and manufacture autonomous unmanned aircraft 
• HWRacing, Heriot-Watt University's formula student team
• UGAeronautics - design, build and test remotely controlled aircraft 

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The grants are to be used for the following purposes:

• The purchase of engineering materials 
• The cost of shaping, coating or fabricating engineering materials
• The costs of the inspection or testing of fabricated components
• Travel and accommodation costs for society members to attend events away from the home university

Please note that the Association is unfortunately unable to make any further grants available during the academic year 2024/25.  However, it is expected that our grant programmes will re-open in September for the academic year 2025/26.