IOR Service Engineer Lifetime Achievement Award winner  

There were four worthy nominations for the IOR RACHP Engineering Technician Lifetime Achievement Award this year. Between them they have over 130 years of experience in our industry – including individuals who have shown exceptional loyalty to their employers, who have tried office jobs but returned to the field due to their love of working on systems and those committed to exceptionally high-quality standards and pride in their work.

“Commitment, discipline and passion” are the three things that all of our judges noted when they interviewed this year’s IOR RACHPEngTech Section Lifetime Achievement award winner. Whether he is working on a technical challenge, training the technicians that work for him or working with customers.  He has already inspired his three sons to join the industry and follow in his footsteps.   He began his career 40 years ago in the Royal Navy, seeing service in the Falklands, moving through LEC training, and other businesses to settle at Kinnock and Sons.  I am pleased to announce that the winner of this years Lifetime Achievement Award is Kevin Gregory of Kinlochs and Son Ltd.  Kevin was nominated for the award by his son who says “he has a natural ability to teach, that is displayed by the quantity and quality of the engineers who have learnt from him, something he prides himself on”. He remains enthusiastic about the future of our industry – “This is a fantastic industry” he says “It is not going to go away, it offers variety, you meet lots of people -but you have to know what you are doing and do your job properly.  To the young people looking for a career- let me tell you this, the more you put into this industry the more you will get out of it. I am living proof. You can start right at the bottom as an engineer’s mate and end up the proud winner of a lifetime achievement award from the IOR. Thank you from the bottom of my heart”

IOR Ted Perry Award for Student Research winner

Is Nausheen Basha of City, University of London for her work on the Development of Screw Compressor by Improving Oil Injection System. Three researchers from different UK universities took part in a live 3-Minute Thesus event, presenting their work to IOR members as part of the IOR Cool Careers World Refrigeration Day webinar.  Our judges – themselves all past winners of the Ted Perry Award – selected Nausheen following a review of the summary of her thesis, supervisors statement and the live presentation. 

Her supervisor Prof Nikola Stosic commented “I have known Nausheen Basha since 2017 when she joined our City University Compressor Centre as an agile, knowledge thirsty and overall very successful PhD student supported by the compressor manufacturer Kirloskar, Pune, India within a now six years-long ongoing project on the development of oil-flooded screw compressors. Oil as a medium for lubrication, sealing and cooling plays a crucial role in screw compressors because it assures far higher pressure ratios than achievable in the oil-free compressors, however, oil injection inevitably introduces additional losses into their process, thus this investigation will certainly improve the compressor performance substantially. Nausheen has chosen a modern numerical and experimental approach to this activity which aim is to improve heat transfer between gas and oil and reduce compressor mechanical losses is of fundamental importance for the industry and academia. She completed her part in the project very successfully and presented it concisely in her thesis. I am sure that Nausheen’s work will have a tangible impact upon the screw compressor industry that I cordially support her nomination for the Ted Perry Award.”

Nasheen said she was “Excited and thrilled to win the award. Refrigeration is a career that is exciting and enjoyable where you can push your boundaries. We are in challenging times, we want to get towards net-zero so we need creative solutions and diverse workforces”.

You can view the award presentations and more in the recording of the IOR’s Cool Careers event now on at www.ior.org.uk/coolcareers2021