Great friends in great places (Day 18)

Great friends in great places (Day 18)

14th June 2014

It's generally well-known that relationships and how we work with our partners and stakeholders is important in the modern business world. Indeed, many organisations in the chemical and process industries have large PR machines and lobbies to represent their interests.

Of course, at IChemE, we do the same, but in a much smaller way. And as president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers it is my pleasure and privilege to represent the profession and meet a great range of people nearly every day.

The team at IChemE know that one of my priorities is to meet as many people as possible personally - I've cleared large parts of my diary from my day job at Imperial College London to do just that. This week I visited the IChemE head office team in Rugby, UK. They are a great bunch and very committed to the profession.

I'm also looking forward to meeting all the Member Groups, Special Interest Groups and various IChemE teams around the world over the next 12 months.

My predecessor, Judith Hackitt, was a great ambassador for the profession and IChemE. It brought her into contact with some great people in great places. She was even entertained by two Royal Families in just a few months - Qatar (pictured left) and Malaysia.

In fact we must be one of the few professions who can claim to have a fully qualified Princess as an Honorary Fellow. In April 2014 we presented Honorary Fellowship to HRH Raja Puan Besar of Perak Tuanku Zara Salim, D.K.S.A, D.K.A. (pictured top left) at the royal palace in Malaysia. Her Royal Highness, who is a great supporter of IChemE, studied chemical engineering at the University of Nottingham, UK, and has worked for PETRONAS.

Everyone at IChemE congratulates her on becoming a Fellow and we send our thanks to all our friends around the world for their support.