The FIRST SCOTTISH SYSTEMS ENGINEERING CONVENTION took place on 29 ^th November 2001 at the Teacher Building, St Enoch's Square, Glasgow. Speakers included Professor John Roulston OBE, FRSE of BAE SYSTEMS, Andy Low, the deputy Technical Director of Thales, James Kirby, head of the QinetiQ (formerly DERA) Systems and Software Engineering Centre, and two established experts of the UK Systems Engineering scene, Professors Derek Hitchins and Philip McPherson. The conference was timed to increase awareness of systems engineering and capability maturity as the Scottish Centre for Embedded Software was launched.

Programme

Coffee & Registration

Session 1 - Risk and Complexity in Government and Industry: 

• The Value of Systems Engineering - Emeritus Professor Philip McPherson
• Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking - Professor Derek Hitchins
• Rails - The Complexity of Simple Guidance - John Williams

Tea / coffee break

Session 2 - Exploiting New Technology - “From Microsystems to Macrosystems”

• Systems Engineering in the Context of High Risk Development Programmes - Prof. J.F.Roulston OBE, FRSE
• Radical Solutions with new Technology: Systems Level Integration - Professor Steve Beaumont, ISLI
• Scottish Embedded Software Centre - James Kirby, QinetiQ

Lunch

Session 3 - System and Product Development in the 21st Century

• Reducing Uncertainty in Development - Capability Maturity Models from Defence to Disney - Andy Low, Thales
• Addressing the People Problem - ISO 15288 and the Human-System Lifecycle - Stuart Arnold, QinetiQ & Brian Sherwood-Jones, Process Contracting Limited

Tea / coffee break

Session 4 - The People in the System                                         

• The Human in the System - Robust Design for Real World Users - Ron McLeod, Nickleby
• Cultural Requirements for Management Systems in Different Countries - Simon Harris, Stirling University

Drinks Reception & Dinner

• Round table discussion and/or St Andrews Night entertainment at the Grosvenor hotel.

A bus will transport delegates at around 17.30 to the Grosvenor hotel off Byres' Road for drinks and the conference dinner. Directions will be available for car drivers. A bus will take people back to the George Square area and hotels in the town centre in time for the 23.00 train to Edinburgh.

Who should attend?

• Government decision makers who need a better understanding of why small decisions can have big and unexpected consequences, and of what has to be done to ensure that systems and organisations meet stakeholder expectations and work robustly and safely

• Industry leaders and managers who want to increase their organisation’s customer focus, improve their development process, and satisfy legislative and competitive demands for robust, high integrity, high added value systems and products

• Individual engineers who want to be able to “think systems”, see the wider context of their work, and develop products and systems which will be competitive in the global marketplace

• Academics with an interest in systems engineering, systems science and product development.

Primary Contacts

• Hillary Sillitto, Thales Optronics Glasgow (IoP Contact):
• John MacLean, BAE SYSTEMS, Edinburgh:
• Ron McLeod, Nickleby Human Factors, Glasgow (Scotland IS contact):
• Phil Oakley, BAE SYSTEMS, Edinburgh (IEE contact):

Last Updated: 29 May, 2003