EUR ING C.E David Rowe CEng, CSci, FIMMM, FWeldI joined The Welding Institute as a Senior Member in 2004 after working, since 1997, with friction stir welding inventor Wayne Thomas on the friction stir welding of steel and 7000 series aluminium. David has a BSc in Metallurgy from the University of Durham and is now the company owner for Cedar Metals Ltd. With this knowledge and experience, David volunteers for The Welding Institute, conducting Professional Registration Interviews (PRIs), which he has now completed over 115 of!

Why did you choose a career in engineering?

It looked interesting and so I became chartered in 1975.

Why did you volunteer to be a part of PRIs?

I had been a volunteer for PRIs for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3) for several years. I joined the Eastern Counties branch and became treasurer in 2008. I was also an elected member of the Membership, Education and Registration Committee (MERC), serving the regulatory 6 years, and was Branch Representative on Professional Board from 2011 – 2017. I also carried out PRIs for IoM3 from January 2016 – December 2020 (6 years maximum allowed) and for the Science Council from 2017 – 2021, until assessments were transferred to being online.

What do you like about volunteering?

Meeting new people, previously in-person at interviews and, post pandemic, online for PRIs. I have also been a member of virtual panels for several years, assessing candidates prior to their PRI interviews. Volunteering helps me keep up to date with technology, where I read technical journals and publications on various topics mostly outside my area of expertise, so that I am knowledgeable on the topics discussed by candidates at interview.

What benefits have you seen from volunteering as an interviewer?

Learning about new developments via candidates and helping them advance in their careers, which is good for the candidate’s continuous professional development (CPD) records and my own.

How would you recommend volunteering?

As well as helping candidates with their career advancement, I also give lectures to the Branches and other learned societies, promulgating my specialist knowledge on my areas of expertise. I would recommend volunteering to any Member of The Welding Institute. You meet new people, learn about their activities and gain new knowledge - all helping to keep my brain alert and young!

 Out of all the PRIs, is there one that stood out to you the most?

None in particular for The Welding Institute as, once I have done the PRI, I destroy all candidates’ records in accordance with GDPR; I forget about the interview, who I interviewed, and when. The only record I keep is a spreadsheet of the names of my co-interviewer and the date. However, one for Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3) stood out. It was a female applicant for CEng who had a PhD in Engineering, was fluent in 9 languages, and worked in the oil and gas industry. She had moved to New Zealand and wanted to get married there. However, her UK qualifications were not recognised there, and she had to gain the EC CEng, which was recognised. She was brilliant, and we rushed through her CEng so she could get married to a New Zealand guy a couple of weeks later. This shows the importance of the UK CEng qualification being recognised worldwide.

From 2015 to 2024, you have successfully completed over 100 PRIs – how did it feel achieving this milestone?

I did not realise I had done this till I checked my ‘interviewed-with’ spreadsheet and found I had actually done 115 PRIs for TWI to date.

In total, as well as the 115 for The Welding Institute, I have carried out 28 for the IoM3, 47 for the Science Council (SC), and 5 for The Organisation for Professionals in Regulatory Affairs (TOPRA). The SC and TOPRA interviews were mainly biosciences and medical staff, which gave me insights into new vaccine and medical research developments. One candidate for the SC for The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSci) we interviewed and failed, as he was doing research on monkey behaviour and concluded that the monkeys were cleverer than him!