Awards 2021

The Honorary Fellowship Award - An Honorary Fellowship is the highest commendation awarded by the Institution.  It recognises outstanding service to both the Institution and to the Agricultural Engineering Profession.

There were two Honorary Fellowships awarded this year.

Malcolm Carr-West CEng FIAgrE - for his outstanding service to the Institution as the Chair of the Membership Committee and for his involvement with the Engineering Committee on behalf of the Institution.

As Malcolm received his Award he said "I am delighted and honoured to receive this award and the support I receive from HQ and the Membership Committee means that it is not difficult for me to perform my role.  I did not realise the influence the Institution had on my career until I was in my mid-career; it was the basis from which I was able to meet others in my profession and keep my CPD up to date.  It is clear to me that I owe more to the Institution than I can ever repay."

The Honorary Fellowship Award

Alastair Taylor IEng CEnv MIAgrE - for his outstanding contribution to the success of the Institution and his enthusiastic promotion of agricultural engineering

Alastair was delighted to be made this award and said "When I reflect upon the people who have received this award in the past and the status of those people.  To be walking amongst those giants in our discipline is such a humbling feeling for me and such a privilege as well"

The IAgrE Award Of Merit - The Award of Merit is made to a person distinguished by their work in agricultural science or engineering or one that has rendered outstanding service to the Institution.

Tim Burnhope FREng CEng FIAgrE - For his outstanding service to and leadership within  Agricultural Engineering

“This is a real honour and a surprise.  We are in a most exciting decade for young engineers, and I would encourage anyone to get involved," said Tim as he received his award.

IAgrE Award For Contribution to The Landbased Sector - This Award is made to IAgrE members who have made sustained contributions to the landbased sector throughout their career.

Gareth Ellis CEnv MIAgrE - for his experience and expertise in improving environmental standards, increasing renewables and reducing energy and waste, working and living according to sustainable principles.

Gareth was delighted and thanked the Institution,  “It is amazing to receive this award and in the current circumstances a real pick me up.  I am very grateful thank you very much.” 

The President's Award (formerly the Michael Dwyer Memorial Prize) - The prize is to a mid-career engineer who has made outstanding progress in the agricultural engineering industry. The Institution is delighted that there were two winners again this year:

Kit Franklin AMIAgrE - for his success in driving the Hands Free Hectare project and for his enthusiastic promotion of agricultural engineering

Kit replied to his citation saying: “I am surprised and honoured to be recognised and receive the President’s Award, which has previously been awarded to some very prominent members of the Institution and the agricultural engineering sector.  As ever thank you to colleagues and members of IAgrE.  The IAgrE is a very vibrant part of my career and it makes my career more interesting thank you.”

Branch Meritorious Service Award - Made to members who have consistently rendered outstanding service to their Branch of the Institution or a Technical Group over a number of years, there were two such awards this year:

Richard Trevarthen IEng FIAgrE - East Midlands Branch - for his long service as Chair and Secretary of the Branch and for the enthusiasm with which he welcomes allcomers.  This is awarded in recognition of his contributions and achievements in maintaining a strong and healthy branch. 

“It is a great honour to receive this award again.  I consider myself to be extremely fortunate in that I’ve got with me a wonderful and enthusiastic committee.  They do a big job in making my job a lot easier and like everyone else we can’t wait for the new season to start and hope and pray we’ll be back to whatever normal is,” said Richard.

Branch Meritorious Service Award

Mike Whiting MIAgrE - Western Branch - in recognition of his sustained contribution in preserving the future of the Institution at both Branch & National level

Mike thanked those he works with on the committee and said “Thank you so much, this award is really appreciated.”

Douglas Bomford Paper Award - The Award is offered to the author or authors of a paper which, in the previous calendar year, was published in full in the Institution journals “Landwards” and/or “Biosystems Engineering”. At least one of the authors must be a member of the Institution.

The winner of the Award this year, for his contribution to the paper "Non-destructive discrimination of avocado fruit ripeness using laser Doppler vibrometry", Sandra Landahl, Leon A Terry,  Biosystems Engineering, Volume 194, 2020, Pages 251-260, ISSN 1537-5110

Professor Leon Terry FIAgrE

"It is a great honour to receive this award.  Sandra did most of the hard work and I just pestered her to get things right.  This is probably the only time a paper about avocados has received such an award.  We are delighted to receive this award and thank you very much."

The IAgrE Team Achievement Award - this was awarded in recognition of successful teamwork and demonstrates what can be achieved through collaboration

CLAAS UK, award received by Trevor Tyrrell as leader of the team - the award was made for their contribution to the industry both in terms of products offered and engagement in Agricultural Engineering

On receiving the award Trevor Tyrrell said, “When Helmut Claas was asked about CLAAS’ secret of success, his answer was clear and unpretentious: “There is no secret, just good ideas and motivated people”.   

“Those good ideas and motivated people have created a team in CLAAS UK who are striving to bring talented young people into our industry, and train them to the highest standards across a wide spectrum of disciplines.  I am very proud to accept the IAgrE Team Award on behalf of the CLAAS UK team, who fully deserve it in recognition of the benefits that their work has brought to the agricultural engineering industry as a whole in the UK and Ireland.”

IVEL Award - This award is made at the LAMMA Show to a new product that demonstrates the most positive contribution to the environment.  There has been no LAMMA Show to date in 2021 and therefore no award has been made.

Student Awards

IAgrE CNH Industrial Award - Made on the basis of a dissertation or thesis undertaken by an undergraduate or postgraduate student as part of their studies demonstrating innovation and practical application in the landbased industry. 

Postgraduate Award

William Hook, Harper Adams University - for his thesis "The design and evaluation of seed dispersal units to increase see placement accuracy on a Stanhay Pro Air Multiline precision seed drill using EDEM software"

IAgrE CNH Industrial Award - Made on the basis of a dissertation or thesis undertaken by an undergraduate or postgraduate student as part of their studies demonstrating innovation and practical application in the landbased industry. 

Undergraduate Award

Andrew Hardy, Harper Adams University - for his final project "Develop a compact excavator attachment for lifting trees out of the ground with a rootball"

Student Project Award - This award is given to the best final year project submitted as part of a course leading to ND, NVQ Level 3, or similar qualification in land based engineering.  

Because of the disruption caused by the pandemic no Student Projects we completed to be nominated

IAgrE Safety Award - This award has been established to encourage and recognise innovation in safe design or operation of equipment or processes by students studying agricultural engineering or subjects related to the application of engineering and technology to the land based sector. 

Huw Gilchrist, Harper Adams University - for his final project "Design and development of a safe load indicator for a tractor and fore-end loader"