The MacRobert Award is the UK’s premier award for engineering and attracts a number of high-quality nominations that demonstrate the very best of UK engineering innovation. Right now, our judges are busy visiting companies that have made our longlist. Now in the Awards’ 56th year, the judging committee will have the increasingly tough job in the next few months to select three worthy finalists and choose the overall winner. To learn more about the judging process, read Dr Alison Vincent CBE FREng, Chair of the MacRobert Award judging panel’s blog.
Here, we caught up with judge Dr Ruth McKernan CBE FMedSci, on her journey as a judge and tips for a successful nomination. Ruth has been a MacRobert Award judge since 2021 and has a background in neuroscience.
You’ve been on the MacRobert Judging Panel for several years. What made you accept the invitation?
Dr Ruth McKernan CBE FMedSci
After three years as CEO of InnovateUK, I came to appreciate the exciting developments going on outside my own area of expertise. As a neuroscientist, I enjoyed having my horizons expanded beyond the biomedical sciences to hear about technologies in different spheres such as quantum, energy, AI, and space. When I was asked to be a judge for the MacRobert Award, I was delighted. This was an opportunity to keep connected with the absolute best of UK engineering.
The MacRobert Award has received many brilliant nominations connected to your specialist field. In your expert opinion, what makes a successful nomination?
I now work for a venture investment firm, SV Health Investors, so one of the things I look at most carefully is the commercial plan and the business opportunity. I always ask: ‘Will this idea create a growth company? What impact will the technology have?’
Two companies have stood out for me in recent years. I hugely admired 2022 MacRobert Award winner Quanta Dialysis Technologies, who had a great business plan: a technology derived from an orange juice squeezer and also used AI to understand and improve their product based on the assimilated experience of their users.
The other was the 2024 MacRobert Award finalist University of Oxford, AstraZeneca, and partners' vaccine technology team. They may not have had the best revenue, but they invented technology on the hoof and under great pressure. They were able to demonstrate value in actual lives saved. In terms of societal benefit, it is hard to top that.
From your experience, what areas are growing in prominence and are there any innovation trends to look out for?
I am enjoying reading applications from environmentally focused companies and also applications that use AI across different engineering disciplines. I would love the MacRobert Award to go to a company that makes a major contribution to a low-carbon economy and puts the UK on the global map with a groundbreaking engineering solution to the climate crisis. Such challenges take many years to develop and commercialise, so it is quite hard for judges to know when this has been substantially achieved.
The Award’s winners have come from a diverse range of disciplines and organisations over the past 56 years, what do you think has been a common factor in the impressive submissions you’ve seen?
The common factor in winning submissions is that all the judges see straight away that the company meets the criteria of innovation, commercial opportunity, and societal benefit. The longlist is not so hard to compile as it is to select the winner. There have been some spicy debates in the judging room! There are excellent submissions that don’t make the shortlist but are brilliant ideas nevertheless. The team at the Royal Academy of Engineering is sometimes able to advise teams to submit for other awards, and that is gratifying.
What have been some of the more memorable moments from your time on the Committee?
I’m keeping my own counsel on this one - a judge never tells!
The MacRobert Award has a proud history of celebrating groundbreaking technological innovation. What do you think has been the most significant engineering / technological innovation in your lifetime?
The most groundbreaking innovations are the ones that the next generation takes for granted. I remember queuing up to use the red phone box on the street corner to call my boyfriend, so I have to say the mobile phone. It isn’t just one innovation but a whole plethora of them.
What advice would you give to any potential future nominations of the MacRobert Award?
First and foremost, please use simple language and avoid jargon. None of the judges can be experts in all areas of engineering. Illustrate the purpose and consequences of what has been developed. I had a sabbatical writing for a national newspaper, and the best advice I was ever given was to imagine you are telling your parent/friend the nub of the story. Guess what? Answer that question and show us why we should be excited!
On a more practical level, I always look for three things: is it clear what the innovation will be used for? Is there patented IP? Lastly, what does it say on Companies House for revenue? We always check that.
Quick fire questions
If you were not a neuroscientist, what would you be?
So many opportunities, so little time! From 6 to 60 years old I have wanted to be many things, from air hostess to travel representative in a ski resort, clinical trials manager, journalist, author, and yes, an engineer. Why should we feel bound by a job description or specific area of study?
Would you rather travel to the past or to the future? Neither. I like it just fine here. The future could be quite a scary place, and I just don’t dwell on the past.
Share something not many people know about you. I have started learning the Saxophone. Six months in, I can play the right notes mostly in the right order, but lacking in tone and speed.
Name the piece of technology that you cannot live without. I’ll go with modern medicine: vaccines and therapeutics. My saxophone teacher would say the electronic tuner.
Which three people would you invite to your dream dinner party
Only three? I’m more of a large party person. If I can’t have at least 30, then I choose my husband, son, and daughter. As adults with busy lives, we never get enough time together.
Submissions for the 2025 MacRobert Award are currently closed. We will reopen for nominations this autumn for the 2026 MacRobert Award. This year's winner will be announced in July at the Academy's annual Awards Dinner.
Originally founded by the MacRobert Trust, the Award is now presented and run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, with support from the Worshipful Company of Engineers. Each year the winning team receives a gold medal, widespread publicity, a £50,000 prize and an exclusive weekend away at Douneside House.
Please contact Patrick Woodcock, MacRobert Award manager, on 02077 660 630 or [email protected] should you wish to discuss putting forward a nomination in the future.