About the Hinton Lecture
Soon after the Fellowship of Engineering (now the Royal Academy of Engineering) was formed in 1976, our President introduced the flagship Distinction Lecture. The annual event offered the professional community, and wider public, a chance to hear reflections and predictions from some of the greatest engineering minds of their time. Following the retirement of this first President, Lord Hinton of Bankside OM KBE FREng FRS, the series was renamed the Hinton Lecture in his honour.
Annual insights and subject expertise
The lecture has remained one of the Academy’s premier events ever since. Expert speakers from the UK and around the world have been invited to cover subjects as diverse as energy, broadcasting, education, medicine, international relations, transport, AI and computing; each talk has shared cutting-edge knowledge and offered prescient insights into some of the most rapidly advancing technologies of the day.
Lord Hinton
The Hinton Lecture by year
We are proud to have hosted so many distinguished inventors, researchers, CEOs, government ministers, and more at the Hinton Lecture lectern. All Hinton Lectures are open to the public to attend, with the latest lectures live-streamed to a global audience. You can catch up on recordings of the most recent Hinton Lectures at the links below.
2025 - 2016
Register for the 2025 Hinton Lecture
Register now to join us on 13 November with guest speaker James Manyika, Senior Vice President at Google-Alphabet.
*2019: John Giannandrea - Senior Vice-President, Machine Learning and AI Strategy, Apple In conversation with Professor Sir Jim McDonald FREng FRSE, President, Royal Academy of Engineering. Video content unavailable.
Hinton Lectures 2015 - 2006
2015
Professor Lord Robert Mair CBE FREng FRS - Sir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil Engineering and Head of Civil Engineering, University of Cambridge
Creating underground infrastructure. The role of geotechnical engineering
2014
Admiral Sir George Zambellas GCB DSC DL - First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff
Engineering a 21st century navy for a 21st century nation
2013
Professor Dr Uwe Krueger - Chief Executive Officer, Atkins
Imagination: the key to engineering the future
2012
Dr Tom Enders - CEO, EADS
2011
Bob Dudley FREng - CEO, BP plc
Engineering challenges at the energy frontiers
2010
Dr Lyn Evans CBE FRS - Project Leader, Large Hadron Collider
Back to the Big Bang - the Large Hadron Collider
2009
Rt Hon Lord Mandelson - Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Future foundations – building Britain’s economic strengths
2008
Rt Hon Professor Lord Darzi of Denham OM PC KBE HonFREng FRS FMedSci - Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery, Imperial College London
Advances in applying engineering solutions to surgery - video not available.
2007
David Waboso CBE FREng - Director of Engineering, London Underground
Building a world class tube for a world class city
2006
Professor Calestous Juma HonFREng FRS, Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program, Harvard Kennedy School
The role of the engineering sciences in international development - video not available.
Hinton Lectures 2005 - 1996
Video content unavailable.
2005
Lord Browne of Madingley FREng FRS - Executive Chairman, L1 Energy
The power of engineering
2004
Nick Donofrio FREng – Senior Vice President of Technology and Manufacturing, IBM
The value of innovation
2003
Sir Christopher Gent – Life President and former Chief Executive, Vodafone Group plc
From a communication service to a life support system
2002
John Armitt CBE FREng – Chief Executive, Railtrack Ltd
Delivering the national rail infrastructure
2001
Sir Peter Bonfield CBE FREng – Chief Executive, BT plc
Connecting the country – an engineering approach to creating ‘broadband Britain’
2000
Alan Mulally FREng – Senior Vice-President, Boeing Corporation
The future of global aerospace
1999
Lord Simpson – Managing Director, GEC plc
Engineering in transition – getting fit for the 21st century
1998
Dr Heinrich von Pierer – President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
Technology and markets: the drivers of globalisation
1997
Ian Liddel FREng – Partner, Buro Happold Partnership
Creating the Dome
1996
Sir Ralph Robins FREng – Chairman, Rolls-Royce plc
A further step in the evolution of engineering
Hinton Lectures 1995 - 1986
Video content unavailable.
1995
John Collier FEng FRS – Chairman, Nuclear Electric plc
Sizewell B – from concept to completion
1994
Robert Lutz – President and Chief Operating Officer, Chrysler Corporation
Re-engineering the corporation for the 90s
1993
Steve Bechtel FREng – Chairman Emeritus, Bechtel Group Inc
Designing and building mega-projects
1992
Iain Vallance – Chairman, BT plc
Communications: changing beyond recognition?
1991
Professor Fritz Prinz – Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, and Director of the Engineering Design Research Centre
Creating products in the next generation design and manufacturing environment
1990
Professor Duncan Dowson CBE FREng FRS – Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University
Medical engineering – the multidisciplinary challenge
1989
Colin Kirkland - Technical Director, Eurotunnel
Engineering under private finance – innovation or frustration?
1988
Dr A E Pannenborg - Vice Chairman of the Board of Management, N V Philips
Technology and the need for a continental dimension
1987
Sir Diarmuid Downs FREng – Ricardo
Perspectives of the Internal Combustion Engine old and new
1986
J S Cassels CB - Director General, NEDO
Engineers and engineering – thoughts from a layman
Hinton Lectures 1985 - 1978
Video content unavailable.
1985
Sir Frederick Warner FREng
The engineer in court and international arbitration
1984
Dr Robert Frosch - Vice-President, General Motors
A ‘high tech’ engineering revolution
1983
Alasdair Milne - Director General, BBC
Engineering in broadcasting
1982
Sir George Edwards FREng - Past Chairman, British Aircraft Corporation
The British aerospace industry – a national asset
1981
Sir Robert Clayton FREng - GEC Hirst Research Centre
To calculate, communicate, command and remember
1980
Sir Peter Gadsden FREng, Lord Mayor of London
The minerals industry and the city
1979
Pierre Aigrain - Secretary of State for Research, French government
Innovative engineering in France – strengths and weaknesses
1978
Sheikh Yamani - Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources
Great Britain, OPEC and Saudi Arabia
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