At the Conference Banquet, held on Wednesday, 22 February 2017, three Conference participants received WIETE occasional awards given by Professor Zenon J. Pudlowski, WIETE Director. The recipients were: Professor Steven Thatcher of Central Queensland University, Cairns, Australia; Professor Sabina Kuc of the Faculty of Architecture at Cracow University of Technology, Kraków, Poland; and Associate Professor Mingjie (Oliver) Tan of Sichuan Open University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China.

The citation attached to the sterling silver coin featuring the rooster read: Celebrating the 8th WIETE Annual Conference on Engineering and Technology Education in the Year of the Rooster, this WIETE gift is presented in recognition of your achievements in engineering and technology education.

Professor Thatcher has been a strong supporter of our international network for many years now. He has attended numerous conferences organised by the then UICEE and now WIETE, and has published many conference and journal papers on engineering and technology education. At the same time, it is pleasing to note the emergence of new active members of the WIETE international network, with the other two recipients falling into this category. Also, it is pleasing to mention that the Conference attracted several young academics and postgraduate students.

We would like to congratulate our colleagues on their award and wish them continuing success with their exceptional contribution to engineering and technology education, and also to thank them for their involvement in the life and activities of the WIETE.