CSES Christmas Drinks and Dinner: Tue 12 Dec 2017, The Ivory Peg

We are pleased to announce our next members' social. Come and join us for an informal bite to eat and/or something to drink this Christmas.

Medical Technology in the Broomfield Hospital Operating Theatres: Wed 17 Jan 2018, Anglia Ruskin University

We have added a lecture to our 2017/2018 programme: please add this to your diaries! Our thanks to Dr Prasanna Tilakaratna, a CSES member, for offering to deliver this talk.

Braintree: Owning the Future: Thu 2 Nov 2017, STEM Innovation Centre, Braintree

My Smarter Essex is coming to Braintree! Braintree: Owning the Future will focus on future healthy individuals and societies, places to live and energy and resources, and what this means for the north of Essex.

My Smarter Essex: Tue 23 Jan 2018, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford

We will then repeat this event at its original home, Anglia Ruskin University, in January 2018.

Schools' Engineering and Technology Competition: Mon 25 June 2018, Marconi Building, Anglia Ruskin University

We are pleased to announce the dates for our 2018 Schools' Competition:

• The competition will take place on Monday 25 June 2018
• The awards evening will take place on Wednesday 11 July 2018

Please note that the competition is on a Monday this year.

Find out more about the competition, and how to enter, here.

We will announce when the competition is open for entries (early 2018), and look forward to seeing you in June!

Lecture programme and first events announced

Summer may be over, but don't worry, because that means we're back with another exciting season of events for our members and the public!

Details of what we've got planned can be found on our events page. Take a look and add these to your diary. This is just the start: more events will be added as time goes on. If you are a member, make sure your communication preferences are up-to-date in your profile to receive notification of upcoming events by email.

We look forward to seeing you throughout the next year.

Could you help us improve our offering to members? Do you want to be more involved in the society? Would you enjoy socialising with fellow members, possibly over a drink or two?

We are expanding the benefits available to members, and a key part of this is exclusive social events. To support this, we are looking for a Social Secretary.

Please can you help the society by volunteering your time?

Read more: CSES seeks Social Secretary

On Saturday 25 February, King Edward VI Grammar School (KEGS) Young Engineers team 'Illuminatus', all in year 8, embarked on a journey to the First Lego League (FLL) National Finals at the University of Western England in Bristol. It was a great experience and we all gained something from it.

Thank you to CSES for awarding us a STEM Club Bursary which helped us to continue with this competition and go to Bristol. Below, some of the team members have given their own accounts of the event and what they have learned from it.

Congratulations to team Illuminatus, who went on to win the Design Execution award at the 2017 Schools' Competition.

Read more: KEGS First Lego League

In LEGO club, we use LEGO to practise STEM skills. We have used LEGO to make boats that float, make bridges that hold at least 2 kg, create models to design specifications and learn basic coding. Our favourite challenge was to design and make a device to send a LEGO figure down a zip line. We also enjoyed building tall towers and figuring out ways to make them stable. We were happy to receive the bursary and hope to use it to get some technical LEGO and power functions so we can build moving models.

— Daniel, Christopher, Maya and Tom (10 years old)

CSES awarded a bursary of £100 to Frinton-on-Sea Primary School in January 2017, followed by the STEM Club Award at the 2017 Schools' Competition.

IET Faraday Challenge Day 2018 organised by CSES at Anglia Ruskin University

Following the success of last year's Faraday Challenge, we plan to organise another great IET Challenge Day at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in 2018.

We are offering schools the opportunity to register early for this exciting IET event in 2018.

We propose the following dates in 2018:

• Tuesday 9 January
• Wednesday 10 January
• Tuesday 23 January
• Wednesday 24 January

This is a fun learning experience for all.

Read more: IET Faraday Challenge Day 2018