Managers, especially middle managers have had it tough in recent years. In seeking to flatten the organisational hierarchy, and reduce costs, many companies have sought to remove the middle management layer. Those that remain feel pressure from below, from staff with big expectations, and from above, from senior managers who want them to be leaders. So what makes a good manager, asks James Sweetman.

Sean Brady concludes this two-part article with a warning to engineers not to become over-reliant on their ‘tools’, but to consider how and when to apply them.

In this intriguing tale of the Getty kouros, Sean Brady explores the role that implicit assumptions play in undermining experts’ judgment.

How would you like to visit a massive sewer? It was not the best invitation I'd had that day or even that week, despite Covid restrictions. My husband, bless him, is an engineer through and through. As a scientist myself, we both share an innate curiosity. So, curiosity aroused, I took him up on the offer to do a site visit to the Blackfriars site of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. It was a revelation, writes Trish Thurley.

In Part 2 of this article Áine Greene outlines a summary of the secondary data collated through a literature review. The conclusions from an analysis of the primary data are then presented with recommendations for future work.

Former Engineers Ireland president Chris Horn on who should be on the board and how to make meetings productive.