Overview
Rebeka Sellick is the Institution’s Railway Division Chair for 2025-26, and will give her incoming address at One Birdcage Walk on the 10th September 2025.
Rebeka will offer a vision of the contribution railways should make in a world that increasingly requires energy efficient and low carbon transport. The theme of her address is Engineering Good Connections, exploring the role of engineers in radically growing the market share of railways by providing better solutions for trunk freight, for mass transit commuters and for long distance passengers.
Rebeka’s passion is to stimulate transformation in both political priorities and personal behaviours to make the most of the fundamental advantages of steel wheel on steel rail. She will encourage the mechanical engineering community to make the case to decision-makers and individuals to choose railways, so things can be moved more sustainably, and more people can travel well within a joined-up transport system.
The address will draw on the collaborative strategy needed to implement IMechE’s Transport Hierarchy: to first Reduce Demand; then Shift Modes; and finally Improve Vehicle Efficiency, measuring grammes of CO₂ per km travelled (or per tonne-km moved).
Pivoting from celebrating Railway 200, Rebeka will look ahead to the year 2225. By this time, will people consider having a large carbon footprint as anti-social behaviour? Starting from the current direction of travel, can we inspire more engineering careers? Can we make railways more attractive, by reversing societal norms? What if we value ‘technical’ roles more? Can we challenge petrolhead aspirations and ‘sell’ maintained as better than new? Let’s share the riches of connecting with different people on our railway journeys!
Rebeka’s address will be followed by a networking reception, which will include the One Birdcage Walk unveiling of Alfred Rankley's oil painting titled 'George Stephenson Giving Lessons in Embroidery to Edward Pease's Daughters at Darlington in 1823’. The painting has been restored as part of the celebration of Railway 200: the 200th Anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, led by the Institution’s first president.
This event will be available to attendees in-person, streamed live online, and available on demand on IMechE’s YouTube channel.
This lecture is free to attend, book your place via this website to join this event in-person or online.
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