The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers are accepting applications until the end of March for their 2012 Venture Prize. The Royal Society are also accepting nominations for a range of awards.

The deadline for nominations for the Institute of Physics Awards 2012 is 13 January.

The ability of small businesses to borrow money is a key to economic growth, particularly in manufacturing and engineering. Government plans are in place to increase lending to businesses, but it is being questioned whether greater credit availability is actually allowing companies to borrow more.

Winners of the IOM3 2011 Special and Publication Awards were presented with their medals and prizes at an Awards Lunch at the Institute's London office

The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, worth £1m, has been launched by David Cameron to celebrate work that benefits society and to inspire young people to become engineers.

This year, on 23 November, we celebrate the 10th Annual Bretby Conference, in association with the International Clay Technology Association (ICTa), at Stafford County Showground.

We would like to draw your attention to a prestigious new award to recognise outstanding contributions to research in chemistry and materials science, the £50,000 AkzoNobel UK Science Award.

The Institute’s International Clay Technology Association (ICTa) is seeking donations of textbooks on ceramics.

Dr Scott Drawer, UK Sport and Dr Peter Bonfield, BRE, will present the plenary lectures at the IOM3 Materials Congress 2012 - 'Innovation and Enterprise for Sporting Performance and Infrastructure' in June 2012.