The Eddie Goddard Prize

IRSE Younger Members can apply. You must be a fully paid-up member of the IRSE at any grade, and be 35 years old or younger, and/or be in the first 10 years of your railway signalling/telecoms career.

If your paper is written by more than one person, all authors must be IRSE Younger Members.

The prize is up to £2000 to spend on expenses and admission fees for IRSE events (for example ASPECT, convention, seminar, technical visit or exam fees).

The award winner will agree with the IRSE which event(s) they will attend.

The monies will be claimed against expenses, and paid to the winner once they have attended the event(s).

If the paper is written by multiple authors, then the prize will be shared.

The winning entry will be considered for publication in IRSE News by the managing editor.

The paper should be no more than 3000 words

The paper should cover an aspect of systems engineering applied to the railway signalling and telecoms world. This could be, for example: the use of system engineering to develop a new product, a system engineering approach to deliver a project, or the application of system thinking to an operational challenge.

The paper should reference all sources that are not the author’s original work. The following information must also be provided:

• The name(s) of the author(s), with grade(s) of IRSE membership and membership number(s)
• Other relevant qualifications
• Affiliation (employer/company)
• High resolution ‘head and shoulders’ photograph(s) of the author(s).

Please note that any pictures or photographs are to be high resolution and submitted as separate files (not embedded into a paper). The author will also be responsible for obtaining permission from the copyright owner to provide the IRSE with all rights of publication and reproduction.

The award will be made every two years.

If, in the opinion of the committee, there is no entry deserving of the prize then no prize will be awarded.

The winner will be announced at the AGM.

Submit your paper by 1 December 2024 to irse.papers@irse.org along with the following information –

• The name(s) of the author(s), with grade(s) of IRSE membership and membership number(s)
• Other relevant qualifications
• Affiliation (employer/company)
• High resolution ‘head and shoulders’ photograph(s) of the author(s).

The winner will be announced at the AGM in April 2025.

Eddie Goddard was the IRSE president in 1995/96 and he had a passion for systems engineering.

He started his career with London Underground (LU) in 1963 in the Signal Department as a trainee and studied telecoms and systems engineering at Surrey University. Eddie worked in installation, development (early computer-based signalling control systems), design management and maintenance.

Working under Robert Dell he progressed to lead the whole signalling and communications department of LU in 1989. The delivery into service of the Jubilee line extension was also led by Eddie and he was the head of engineering for LU during the Public Private Partnership (PPP) years.

His focus was not only on the UK – he also undertook international assignments of the safety assessment of computer-based train control systems in Canada and Austria, and he chaired International Committees as well as being a member of the IRSE International Technical Committee.

Loving the technical challenges of railways, especially high-capacity metros, Eddie was always at his most engaging on these subjects, almost to his last day. His contribution to railways and the metro industry has been immense, and include being an early practitioner in the safety assessment of software, through to championing practical system engineering.

Eddie guided many young (and some not so young) engineers in their careers. He was known for being a great mentor and supporter of younger engineers, and gave of his time generously to pass on his considerable knowledge.

Read his presidential speech in the IRSE Proceedings 1995-96