Congratulations for making it to Durham and particularly to Engineering! You have a great time ahead of you, and you are studying a subject vital to many of the global challenges we face in coming decades. Engineers have for centuries been solving societal problems and making advances in materials, design and efficiency that have had environmental and economic benefits, and your job as fledgling engineers is to step up to join that challenge. Our general engineering approach is, we think, the future and our programmes here are delivered by world-class engineering experts across the engineering disciplines, who are constantly striving to update content to prepare our graduates for the world outside. I wish you all the best for your time at Durham and I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can. 

Professor Charles Augarde

Head of Department