AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear company, and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) have launched a lecture series aimed at sharing knowledge and fostering an active community of industry professionals and academia in the Middle East.

The lecture series, titled ‘Beyond Engineering’, will consist of four lectures and focus on market-specific insights, highlighting solutions and best practices that advance the engineering industry, said AtkinsRéalis.

From digitisation to artificial intelligence, decarbonisation and sustainability, the series will also address key industry challenges and opportunities in the region while examining how skill development can help shape the future of more resilient infrastructure across the built environment, transportation, and energy sectors, it stated.

The first lecture, titled ‘Engineering Excellence 2025: Navigating Challenges, Creating Opportunities’, was held at AtkinsRéalis’ premises in Dubai. The event featured a dynamic panel discussion and hosted a diverse group of industry leaders, subject matter experts, and early career professionals.

“As the engineering industry in the Middle East strives to achieve sustainable growth, meet the needs of a rapidly growing population, and address the pressing risks of climate change, key challenges will arise,” said Campbell Gray, CEO of the Middle East and Africa at AtkinsRéalis.

“By launching this initiative with the ICE, we can leverage collective expertise to tackle these challenges head-on and provide invaluable opportunities to future talents for learning and growth, fostering innovation and delivering value to communities across the region,” he stated.

ICE Director General Dr Janet Young said: “As a 207-year-old organisation, the ICE has rich engineering heritage and has remained relevant by constantly questioning what future challenges will be. This Beyond Engineering lecture series is a great example of how international knowledge sharing will help the ICE’s members and wider civil engineering community shape the world.”

The next lectures to be held at AtkinsRéalis’ premises are entitled ‘Futureproofing the Built Environment’, scheduled for May; ‘Shaping Resilient Transport’, to be held in September; and ‘The Pathway to Energy Transition’, slated for December.