Marking a year of chemical engineering achievements
What have chemical engineers been doing to advance the profession for the benefit of society in 2018? Here are just some of our highlights from the year.
January
2018 has been a year of change and modernisation for IChemE. Plans have been underway for a while, and we were delighted that 72% of the members who voted at the Extraordinary General Meeting in January had confidence in the President and Council in ensuring IChemE fulfills its charitable obligations.
January also saw the launch of our ‘Meet the Winners’ videos, celebrating our IChemE Global Awards 2017 winners (pictured). We also celebrated IChemE Fellows being awarded national honours in Australia, and in the UK.
February
The University of Birmingham were victorious at the 2018 Frank Morton Sports Day, which sees chemical engineers from across the UK compete in a various sports. They also competed in the Bushtucker trials set on the IChemE stand for I’m a Chemical Engineer, Get Me Out of Here! Cue maggot dust flying across the hall floor at the University of Leeds’…
March
In March we launched Interface, a virtual space for IChemE members to connect with one another, and to discuss how IChemE can impact the chemical engineering profession and influence important issues affecting society.
March also saw the launch of a new engineering network in Oman and we announced the first Interim Candidate Committee, who would play a key role in assessing nominations to the Board of Trustees.
April
The IChemE Energy Centre launched a paper in April criticising the current rate of deployment for carbon capture and storage. Read the full report, A Chemical Engineering Perspective on the Challenges and Opportunities of Delivering Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) at Commercial Scale. 
We also launched new editions of Coulson & Richardson, the go-to chemical engineering guidebook for anyone studying chemical engineering, in print and on IChemE’s online library, Knovel.
May
May brought about the Annual General Meeting, with the election of new IChemE Trustees and Ken Rivers appointment to President. Changes to our Royal Charter and By-laws were also backed a the meeting, by 90% of those who voted. This was a key milestone in modernising the Institution’s governance and providing a mechanism for members to be more active in managing the IChemE’s affairs through Congress.
Vanessa Sutherland, Chair of US Chemical Safety Board, gave the Trevor Kletz lecture at Hazards 28 in May, focussing on a shared ownership of process safety principles (pictured). Check out the Hazards 28 photo galleries on Flickr.
Hazards and the AGM also saw several chemical engineers being presented with IChemE medals and prizes for their significant contributions to the profession.
June
In June, several IChemE members demonstrated how chemical engineering expertise can be used to shape policy. Some were invited to quiz MPs on the Industrial Strategy at Parliamentary Links Day.
Meanwhile, our Ashok Kumar Fellow 2017, Erin Johnson, met with Dame Judith Hackitt in Westminster to discuss their respective reports for UK government on the fire safety of buildings and building regulations (pictured).
Various medals and prizes were also awarded in June. IChemE Fellows received Queen’s Birthday Honours; UCL Professor Eva Sorenson (pictured) received the Frank Morton Medal; Massey University chemical engineering student, Meghan Keck, won the New Zealand postgraduate competition; and students in Singapore were recognised for excellence in science and engineering.
Dame Judith also attended Hazards Australasia, hosting a panel on fire safety with Stan Krpan, who led the Victorian Cladding Taskforce after the Lacrosse fire in Melbourne in 2014. The event saw many excellent presentations sharing expertise and lessons learned in process safety.
July
To mark the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, a special issue of the Loss Prevention Bulletin was published. The Chemical Engineer also ran a series of features where experts from process safety gave different perspectives on the tragedy and lessons learned.
Also in July, IChemE joined InterEngineering in the Pride of London march, the Midlands Member Group was reformed, and Huddersfield University’s Professor Grant Campbell and Dr Daniel Belton were awarded IChemE medals.
August
Trish Kerin, Director of IChemE Safety Centre and Shahana Buchanan, Chair of the IChemE Safety and Loss Prevention Special Interest Group, successfully lobbied for the Health and Safety Executive to waive the £70 fee for the Cullen report into Piper Alpha.
Legislation changes for engineers in Victoria, Australia were announced in August. Peter Slane, IChemE Director, Regions, wrote a blog to explain what the registration means for chemical engineers.
September
Christina Phang, Chair of the IChemE Malaysia Board, met with Malaysia’s new Minister of Energy, YB Yeo Bee Yin, to promote the value of chemical engineers advising on energy issues.
We also announced that chemical engineer Jennifer Spragg was to advise Parliamentarians on chemical weapons policy as part of being awarded the Ashok Kumar Fellowship 2018.
October
After weeks of campaigning, 32 IChemE members were confirmed on our inaugural Congress. Congress will act as a sounding board and advise the Board of Trustees on matters of interest to IChemE and its members.
If you would like to raise an issue with a Congress member, you can find their profiles and contact details on the Congress webpage.
October also brought about more celebration with the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2018. Her Royal Highness Queen of Perak Darul Ridzuan, Tuanku Zara Salim presented two young chemical engineers with trophies.
Chemeca 2018 took place in Queenstown, New Zealand. Awards of Excellence were presented to our members, including Christopher Jansen, the inventor of a catalyst unloading robot, Behdad Moghtaderi for his work developing new, safe mining technologies.
November
The annual IChemE Global Awards ceremony saw hundreds of chemical engineers gather in Manchester, UK to mark the innovations and achievements by chemical engineers. New categories were introduced for 2018, in Pharma and Diversity and comedian Alun Cochrane ensured everyone had a great evening as Awards Host.
We also launched a new website, with a modern look and feel that is easy-to-use and compatible on various smartphone and tablet devices. Have you checked it out yet?
December
World leaders gathered at COP24 in Poland in December to discuss how to meet global climate change reduction targets. Mark Apsey, who is leading an energy and resource efficiency (ERE) taskforce for the IChemE Energy Centre, explained the contribution of ERE to reduce the effects of global warming.
Meanwhile, we announced how the work of the Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) Cost Challenge Taskforce, where former IChemE President Geoffrey Maitland played a key role, has led to a new government action plan for mitigating climate change.
As this year draws to a close, it’s a great time for chemical engineers to look at their professional development. To support this, we’ve launched our 2019 Training Catalogue. Looking to negotiate your salary in the new year? Make sure you benchmark against the latest figures in our UK Salary Survey Report 2018.
Finally, a nod to the recipients of our annual end-of-year donation. This year our members have chosen to support Engineers Without Borders UK, who run initiatives around the world to inspire people to become engineers and apply their skills in a responsible way to address worldwide issues.
Thank you to all of our members and volunteers for their efforts this year.
Enjoy the festive season. We look forward to celebrating another year of chemical engineering achievements with you in 2019.
For more highlights, view our gallery below.
IChemE 