The Brunel International Lecture series was established in 1999 in memory of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), one of the world’s most respected pioneering engineers. Each lecturer is chosen by the International Committee for his or her contribution to civil engineering. It is also a forum to strengthen the links between ICE and the engineering institutions both in the UK and abroad.

The 12th Brunel International Lecture Series was launched on 12 June 2018 to run internationally for 18 months through December 2019. The series is titled “Transportation Infrastructure and Interdisciplinary Interfaces on Complex Mega-Projects” and also weaves in content on ‘the future of civil Engineering’.

Hosted by ICE-SA, this lecture series was delivered by Linda Miller, a Bechtel leader currently serving as Construction Director on the new Sydney Metro Tunnels & Stations Excavation team. For her work in promoting diversity (encouraging girls and women to join the global engineering and construction industry) Linda has been awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in The Queen’s Birthday 2017 Honours List.

The talk centred on Linda’s involvement in Mega Projects from early on in her career at Cape Canaveral Launch Centre to the new Sydney Metro Tunnels & Stations Excavation Team (Australia’s biggest public transport project, which, when complete, will deliver 31 Metro Stations and more than 66 km of new tunnels, including tunnels crossing under the iconic Sydney Harbour) to the Mega Boston Artery Project to the Crossrail Underground Tunnelling System, and gave a very animated talk on the problems and obstacles she had to overcome to achieve the project targets and deadlines. These included delays caused by nesting turtles at the Cape Canaveral site caused by the project lighting system required for 24-hour construction activities (completion date was non-negotiable in order to meet the elliptical orbit of a planets, which would not be repeated in our lifetime)! Another interesting discovery was that of burial graves caused by the Black Death in London (approximately 100,000 deaths in 18 months), although not so thrilling giving the setback to the project deadlines.

The talk was attended by some 80 – 90 people, with feedback stating that this was one of the best talks that has been presented in a long time!