The Welding Institute would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Matt Haslett on recently being awarded Fellow status of The Welding Institute.

Matt (FWeldI CEng) has been a Member of The Welding Institute since 2012 and has been closely involved with many aspects of the Institute and our Members, including seven years volunteering as the chair of our Younger Members’ Committee (YMC).

We interviewed Matt about his achievement and also took the opportunity to find out a bit more about his career and experience within the engineering industry.

Educational Background:

Matt studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cambridge (Churchill College) from 2004 to 2008 and is currently studying part-time for an Executive MBA as an advanced apprentice with De Montfort University, Leicester.

Career Background:

“Before I went to university I worked for a year as a nuclear engineer. My first job after university was as a marine engineering officer in the Royal Navy before working as an operational analyst for the MOD. I moved back into engineering when I joined TWI in 2012. My current role is as a Principal Project Leader, working on and managing various project for our clients. My main areas of expertise include fracture mechanics, mechanical testing (small-scale, full-scale and bespoke) and engineering critical assessment. I also organise and lecture on some of TWI’s training courses (welding diploma and structural integrity assessment) and am heavily involved in educational outreach for TWI and The Welding Institute.”

Why did you choose a career in engineering?

“My dad was a mechanical engineer and I also got involved in a young engineers’ club at school. I enjoy problem solving and variety in my work, and engineering gives me both of these.”

Matts’ experience as Chair of the Younger Members’ Committee

As already highlighted, Matt chaired the Younger Members’ Committee for 7 years and he explained a bit about what this involved, including his reasons and ambitions behind taking on the role.

Why did you initially choose to undertake the role of Chair?

“I have a passion for education outreach. These types of activities got me interested in engineering while I was at school and I wanted to continue to promote STEM subjects in schools and ‘give something back.’ The YMC chair role was the ideal opportunity to push this agenda.”

What were your main responsibilities and roles as Chair?

“Chairing committee meetings, supporting junior members to advance their careers and promoting welding and joining technologies through education outreach.”

What were your goals when you initially chaired the YMC and did they change over your time as Chair?

“With my passion for education outreach, running events for schools was my main driver during my seven years as chair. However, I was able to get people from lots of different backgrounds involved in the committee, to help improve what we could offer.”

What changes within the industry as a whole, and more specifically, within the Institute itself would you say that you’ve seen for Younger Engineers within the time you undertook the role to now?

“I think working towards professional registration has become more recognised by younger engineers, which is great. Being adaptable to a situation is certainly now an essential part of being a good professional engineer, especially in the current times we find ourselves due to COVID-19.”

About Matt’s time as a Member with The Welding Institute

Why did you initially join The Welding Institute?

“I was already following a professional engineering route based on my mechanical engineering degree and joining The Welding Institute was ideal when I joined TWI and started to work in the field of welding, joining and associated technologies. To achieve Fellow status recently was a great honour and I hope I can continue to support the Institute in as many ways as possible.”

What roles do you currently undertake with the Institute?

“I am still part of the YMC, even though I am no longer the Chair. I also conduct professional review interviews and mentor junior engineers at TWI who are working towards professional registration.”

Why did you choose to become professionally registered with the Engineering Council?

“For me, CEng shows that you have been practising as a competent engineer, rather than just having a qualification. It holds a lot of weight as it is peer reviewed and I have often found that the best engineers I have worked with over the years have also been professionally registered.”

What advice would you give to someone who is considering professional membership or registration?

“Start early! Learn more about the competences required and start collecting evidence towards them. It will make it a lot easier to prepare your application when the time is right!”

The Welding Institute would like to congratulate Matt on his well-deserved Fellow status and would also like to thank him for all of the work that he has and continues to do with our Members!

Related Content:

Younger Members Committee – New Chair Elect, Catherine Leahy AWeldI