The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, NSW Chapter Executive Committee 2010/2011
Eng. Tissa Wijayasinghe – Chair Eng. Waruna Kaluarachchi –Committee Member
Eng. Nihal Fernando – Past Chair Eng. Shantha Fernando – Committee Member
Eng. Mahinda Karunaratne – Vice Chair Eng. Nages Nageswaran – Committee Member
Eng. Tamara Ginige – Secretary Eng. Kamal Fernando – Committee Member
Eng. Maya Amaraweera – Treasurer Eng. Dayan Gunasekara – Committee Member
Eng. Udaya De Silva – Editor Eng. Indra Jayawardene – Committee Member
A brief summary of events including the highlights, in the Management Committee’s term of office
1. Major achievements of the year
Continuation of the seminar program with five interesting seminars for the year 2010/11.
- Starting of a new activity by organising a field trip to Power House Museum.
- Continuation of the traditional communication link of newsletter and issuing three newsletters.
- Introduction of a new IESL website.
- Continuation of membership renewals
- Annual fund raising for Engineers Convention
- Continuation of dialog and strengthened relationship with the parent body
- Information transfer with Sri Lanka
- Discussion and provision of information support to Hon Minister for power and Energy in Sri Lanka
- Continuation of dialogue with the Sri Lankan Consulate General Office in Sydney.
2. Planned tasks that could not be completed due to strong challenges that are yet to be addressed.
- Streamlining the membership renewal process
- Developing membership awarding and upgrading process
- Membership promotion and expansion
- Establishment of various engineering discipline colleges
3. Membership Services
Providing membership services was one of the primary tasks of the committee. The service included the following;
- Maintaining the IESL NSW Chapter contact list. In addition to IESL members residing in NSW, this list has potential members who have varying associations with the Chapter
- Facilitate IESL membership renewals, reinstatements and new memberships
- The committee had a meeting with IESL President Prof Ananda Jayawardena, then President of the Parent body, in May 2010, and following requests were made with regard to the new memberships:
- Special consideration be given to current IEAust members to obtain IESL membership
- The general amnesty be introduced again to enable IESL members whose membership have been expired due to various reasons to reinstate their memberships
- Examiners be appointed from IESL NSW Chapter for the assessment of membership applications in order to expedite processing of new applications from NSW engineers.
4. Professional Activities
Lectures/Seminars and field trips
In the year 2010/11, the Chapter hosted five evening lectures by distinguished engineering professionals at various venues.
These lectures were well attended and well received. The attendance varied from 35~60.In addition, the committee was able to organise a field trip to Power House museum at Ultimo, Sydney for the Ultimo Science festival.
Engagement with Sri Lanka
In 2010 December, the chapter chairman and a committee member were invited to meet the Hon Minister for Power and Energy in Sri Lanka to discuss several issues relating to the power sector. As a result, on Minister’s request, a formal report on advantages of the application of Systems Engineering methodologies for management was presented to the Minister. In addition, several presentations and workshops were conducted by Mr. Indra Jayawardana and Chapter Chair to the IESL, Ceylon Electricity Board and University audiences in Sri Lanka.
Expert Forums
The Chapter planned to form expert forums to share knowledge among engineers. This was to be web based and the capability was under development during this period.
5. Communication with Members
The communication with members was primarily via emails and the newsletter. The email communication was effectively used by the Chapter in all communications.
Further, the Chapter published three (3) newsletters which successfully conveyed the messages and articles to the membership. Member comments, pertaining to our communication process through the emails and newsletter were encouraged.
The IESL NSW Chapter launched its web site in early 2011. The website was developed by a professional web development company. The URL of the web site was www.ieslnsw.org.
6. Networking and Socialisation
The Chapter was actively promoted networking and socialisation among the members with few initiatives. They included:
- Engineers convention 2011
- Networking and socialisation sessions before and after evening lectures
- Committee Get-togethers
7. Engineers Convention
The Engineers Convention 2011 was held in Castle Grand Function Centre in Castle Hill on the 21st of May 2011.
Executive president of the IESL, Professor Ananda Jayawardane, was the chief guest for the occasion. Sydney Consul General Mr. Dayasiri Fernando and Mrs. Fernando too were honoured guests for the occasion.
An inspiring keynote speech was made by Professor Jayawardane, focusing on the current and future directions of the IESL.
The function was considered to be a grand success. It was encouraging to see the sponsorship support by few leading engineering organisations and the participation for the function by Alstom Grid.
8. Financial Status
The gradual stabilisation of the financial position of the IESL NSW Chapter continued through 2010/2011. During this financial year the Chapter managed a net surplus in excess of $6000.00. The total income of the Chapter was in excess of $20,000. The main contribution to the income and the savings was from the Engineers forum 2011.
The audited financial statement for the financial year 2010/2011 was provided to the membership.
9. Future challenges identified
While the chapter enjoyed a very successful year, there had been few challenges that were faced and needed to be properly analysed and addressed. They were;
- Streamlining the membership renewal process
- Developing membership awarding and upgrading process
- Membership promotion and expansion process.
The above three items which needed to be developed/streamlined in close coordination with IESL parent body was not materialised to the satisfaction of the committee. These functions being core functions of the chapter, special attention was necessary to be paid and proper processes to be developed or existing processes to be reviewed to achieve up to date customer service.
Further information please refer to the annual report.