Part of our job as a professional body is ensuring members are equipped with an abundance of technical knowledge so they can continue creating impactful and safe solutions to help society and the environment.
That’s why we created our Knowledge Hub – a central hub from which members can search, browse and access IChemE’s technical resources.
Continue reading 23,000 pieces of knowledge at your fingertipsThe COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have caused a shift in job opportunities for chemical engineers, particularly for those in more traditional carbon-based industries.
This may lead some to wonder what opportunities there are to move from these sectors to emerging ones and how to best to utilise and showcase their transferable skills in applications and interviews to make the switch.
In two recent articles for The Chemical Engineer, recruitment consultant James Colley offers his expert opinion. As Director of Consilium Recruit he has worked closely with chemical engineers and recruiters over the years to help find suitable matches and recognises the wealth of transferable skills chemical engineers can bring to different sectors.
So, here are five of his many tips on switching sectors.
Continue reading Five things to consider for transferring sectorsFor the final in this six-part blog and video series, Your career in chemical engineering, we spoke to executive leaders and IChemE Fellows Jane Cutler, Professor Carl Schaschke and Chris Woodroofe to learn about their career experiences in various sectors including in oil and gas, overseeing engineering degrees, and airport operations.
They also provide advice to those starting out in their career and share what helped them transition to senior leadership roles.
The full series gives an insight into how 18 chemical engineers got to where they are in their careers today, the key engineering skills that have helped them succeed and practical tips for job hunting.
Continue reading Your career in chemical engineering – Executive leadershipFor the fifth of this six-part blog and video series, Your career in chemical engineering, we spoke to senior engineering managers Rachel Cooke, Simon Farrar and Helen Ramsay.
Find out more about their career paths through different sectors, the engineering skills that have helped them become successful managers and why they applied for their current roles at tech firm Amazon, regulating dangerous goods at WorkSafe Victoria and creating devices for diabetes at Abbott below.
Continue reading Your career in chemical engineering – Senior engineering managersFor the next in our new blog and video series, Your career in chemical engineering, we spoke to Yasmin Ali, Thaddeus Anim-Somuah and Tommy Isaac who explain what they enjoy about their roles in energy policy, chemicals manufacturing and hydrogen energy production. Plus, they give advice to those seeking career progression to managing people and large scale projects.
Their stories are in one of a six-part blog series sharing the career journeys of 18 chemical engineers, the key engineering skills that have helped them succeed and their practical tips for job hunting.
Continue reading Your career in chemical engineering – Engineering managersFor the third instalment in our blog and video series, Your career in chemical engineering, we chatted to experienced engineers Sam Grayson, Sarah Morris, and Dhammy Parameswaran for more on their experiences in risk management, water, and pharmaceuticals, respectively.
They share the day-to-day challenges they face and how they obtained their roles. Plus, they provide practical tips for graduates applying for jobs in the video below.
Continue reading Your career in chemical engineering – Experienced engineersFor the second in our new blog and video series, Your career in chemical engineering, we spoke to Joe Agnew, Kit Wayne Chew and Olivia Sweeney to understand how they got to where they are now in their career.
The early career engineers also share practical tips for those currently at the start of their career who are looking for roles, as well as why they enjoy their roles in chemical processes, microalgae research and lecturing, and plastics recycling, respectively.
Continue reading Your career in chemical engineering – Early career engineerWhat is a just transition and how does it affect chemical engineers?
There are many definitions of a “just transition” online, all with a similar theme in equally supporting workers in high carbon intensive industries to move into new lines of work, and the communities and economies they serve.
The Chemical Engineer looks at this in depth in two recent feature articles. In the first, reporter Amanda Doyle explains what the energy transition is and why it must be fair for workers in high carbon industries, while the second article analyses a survey of oil and gas workers, revealing how the energy transition affects them and what they feel could be done to support them.
Continue reading Achieving a Just Transition and boosting skills for chemical engineersIf you’re graduating or at an early stage in your career, finding the sector and job that will set you onto your career path may feel daunting given the diverse opportunities available in chemical engineering.
This six-part blog and video series, Your career in chemical engineering, gives an insight into how 18 of our members got to where they are in their career today, the key engineering skills that have helped them succeed and practical tips for job hunting.
For this blog, we spoke to recent graduates Emma Claxton, Nikita Javale and Robyn Mayne for more on their experiences in pharmaceuticals, energy and dairy, respectively.
Continue reading Your career in chemical engineering – Graduate engineersFinding a job that truly motivates you can feel incredibly challenging and perhaps out of reach.
Whether that’s at the start of your career to set you on your journey, or throughout your career as you may wish to explore a different sector or move through career levels to more managerial roles, where do you start?
Continue reading Career paths: be inspired by these engineers to set you on your journeyIn this blog, Alan Harper, the CPD Lead of IChemE’s Professional Formation Forum, urges members to prepare for mandated CPD audits. He explains what’s changing and why taking part in the audit is important for members.
Continue reading GUEST BLOG: CPD requirements are changing – are you ready?We have so many dedicated member volunteers. They are the heart of the Institution performing various roles to ensure we can fulfil our duties as a qualifying body and a learned society for chemical engineers.
Thank you to all our worldwide volunteers for your efforts, which have continued throughout the coronavirus pandemic, maintaining an excellent standard of activities and support.
As this week marks Ireland Volunteers Week (21-27 September), under the theme ‘health and well being’, we want to say a huge thank you all of our volunteers in the region for their continued contributions.
To celebrate, we’re sharing the stories of just some of our many volunteers to highlight their fantastic work. Read about how in their volunteer roles they are continuously supporting their fellow chemical engineers, and particularly during this pandemic.
Continue reading Thanking and celebrating our volunteers in Ireland – #NVW2020
Hundreds of chemical engineering students from across the UK and Ireland descended on central Birmingham this week for the annual Frank Morton Careers Fair.
It was a great chance for us to connect with so many of our Student Members at the event – this year hosted by the University of Birmingham.
Continue reading Chatting Chartered status and biosector careers with students at Frank Morton
Activities to share knowledge and support the professional development of chemical engineers are happening in a whole host of communities across the world every day.
At IChemE, we have various communities that focus on helping individuals enhance their technical knowledge, competence and skills, as well as assist them in becoming professionally qualified engineers.
We have many enthusiastic members who volunteer in our communities, so will be sharing their stories in specialist areas and regions in regular blogs.
In this blog, Jim O’Donnell, Chair of the Aberdeen Members Group, explains more about what the group does to support all levels of chemical engineers in their region and why he feels younger members in particular can play a positive role in shaping a sustainable future for our Institution and the profession.
Continue reading GUEST BLOG: Why I support my chemical engineering community in…Aberdeen
Recognising the need to address the skills gap in the nuclear industry, Energus, UK set up the nucleargraduates programme, under licence to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
For this, they took home the trophy in the Training and Development category at the IChemE Global Awards 2018.
This bespoke programme allows graduates to tailor their own scheme to best suit their training and development needs.
Energus works with organisations from all nuclear sector and supply chains to identify the skill shortages, and focus on training environmental scientists, chemical engineers, and cyber engineers.
Kathryn Walker from Energus, shares her delight at winning the award. Watch here:
Have you got a training scheme worthy of an IChemE Global Award 2019? Nominations are open until 12 July 2019.
Find out more information and enter online at: www.icheme.org/awards
This video was produced by CMA Video.
Over the past few weeks, our members have been celebrating diversity and female engineers’ careers to mark International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) 2019 and the 100th birthday of INWED founders, the Women’s Engineering Society (WES).
This year’s theme was ‘Transform the Future’. Our members felt it was important to reflect on the barriers and opportunities to engineering careers, how women are currently helping find solutions to worldwide issues, and how to encourage the next generation of female engineers.
So, here’s a round-up of the events they helped organise to discuss these issues.
Continue reading Marking 100 years of women in engineering – the past, present and future
IChemE exists to be a professional qualifying body and a learned society. It sets the standard for chemical engineering through a range of membership grades and registrations and for those seeking to improve their professional status, enhance their technical knowledge and share these learnings with their peers.
Without the efforts of our volunteers we cannot fulfil these functions.
This week we have been profiling just a few of our many volunteers and the work they do across the world, to mark Volunteers Week 2019.
In our final blog of the series, Riyaz Khambati explains his volunteering roles that contribute towards IChemE’s qualifications activities and how he supports young engineers working towards becoming professionally qualified.
To mark Volunteers Week 2019, we’re publishing a blog series profiling just some of our many volunteers across the world.
It’s thanks to the effort of all of our volunteers that we can fulfil our functions as a qualifying body and a learned society, sharing the chemical engineering expertise and learnings of our members.
Next in the blog series is Tom Lakey, who explains why he is passionate to volunteer as the Secretary for the Hull and Humber Members Group.
Continue reading Why I volunteer with my local IChemE Members Group – Marking Volunteers Week 2019
IChemE is led by members, supports members and serves society; but we can’t fulfil our role as a qualifying body or share learnings in chemical engineering without our member volunteers.
Volunteers from across the world contribute to IChemE’s activities on a daily basis across all aspects of our work.
Volunteers in Australia celebrated Volunteers Week on 20-27 May, and this week (1-7 June 2019) marks Volunteers Week in the UK. So, we want to celebrate and say thank you to all of our volunteers for their fantastic contributions. We’re profiling just some of our volunteers to highlight their great work in a blog series this week.
First up, Robert Peeling, Fellow Representative and Chair of the Communications Working Group in IChemE’s Congress, explains why he enjoys his role in the newly established Congress, which advises the Board of Trustees on matters of interest to IChemE and its members.
Continue reading Why I volunteer on IChemE’s Congress – Marking Volunteers Week 2019
Chemical engineers gathered at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh this week for the annual ChemEngDay conference. ChemEngDay was initiated to facilitate networking between chemical engineers in the academic community, and this year was the first time it has been held in Scotland.
116 chemical engineering academics, researchers, PhD students and industry experts came together to share insight and knowledge under the following themes:
• bioprocessing and biotechnology;
• catalysis and novel materials;
• energy;
• particulate technology;
• process modelling and simulation; and
• sustainable industry.
IChemE joined Aramco, Armfield, GUNT Technology and PA Hilton to exhibit at the conference and to speak to the academic community to learn more about their work and how these chemical engineers are helping provide solutions to global challenges.
This week we showcased six videos as part of our latest #ChemEngProfiles series, which were recorded last year with ExxonMobil UK. ExxonMobil are one of the top employers of chemical engineers, and one of the biggest oil and gas corporations in the world. The company has 19 refineries worldwide, one of which is based in Fawley, Hampshire, UK. They are also one of our Gold Corporate Partners.
In this brand new series, five of ExxonMobil’s chemical engineers,tell us what they love about their job, why working towards or achieving chartered status is important to them, and how the company is investing in the next generation of chemical engineers.
Continue reading IChemE X ExxonMobil – sharing the passion for chemical engineering
Last week we travelled down to the University of Sheffield to chat with chemical engineering students from all over the UK, at the Frank Morton Careers Fair.
The event provides us with a great opportunity to engage with students and host some friendly competition of our own. This year the IChemE stand was transformed into a Harry Potter theme, with photo props, our own IChemE every-flavour-beans, and Quidditch Beaker Pong.
Students took it in turn to play, and with five ping-pong balls each had to get the highest score they could. The balls had to travel through a gold Quidditch hoop, bounce once, and land in one of the chemistry beakers to get points. Serena, part of our Member Communities team, was on-hand to spot any cheaters!
In the end, Assekan Bali from University of Wolverhampton got the high score with 45 points. She wins an Amazon voucher and coveted ‘Yer a Chemical Engineer, Harry’ T-Shirt.
We also had chance to visit some of the employer sponsors who were on-hand to provide practical advice and information about graduate placements to the 2,000 students who filled Sheffield’s Octagon Centre. They included 3M, AstraZeneca, Bechtel, GSK, Johnson Matthey, Phillips 66, Total, Unilever and Wood.
The Careers Fair precedes the Frank Morton Sports Day, an annual event for chemical engineering students where they compete against each other to be crowned champions of undergraduate chemical engineering. Competitions range from the more traditional, such as football and netball, to the more alternative, with this year including an Escape Room challenge.
The University of Newcastle came in third, winning the Netball and doing well at the Escape Room and Dodgeball. Sheffield, determined not to be embarrassed on their home turf, took home second prize after coming top in the Tug of War, Fun Run, Men’s Rowing.
But the University of Birmingham triumphed yet again and took home the coveted Frank Morton Trophy for the fifth time in a row. They had a number of successes on the day, winning in Ultimate Frisbee, Darts, Dodgeball and Pool.
Every year at Frank Morton students put their creative skills to the test and design special t-shirts for their teams. The University of Manchester won the T-Shirt Competition this year, with their clever chemical engineering take on Ariana Grande’s smash-hit single, ‘Thank U, Next’.
The evening then continued late into the night, with entertainment to suit all tastes.
Committee President, David Miller commented:
“Frank Morton returned to Sheffield for the first time since 2003 as a smashing success. The great variety of evening entertainments were of particular note with everything from cinema, jazz, gaming and mocktails through to a bar crawl, Scott Mills, Karaoke and our very own DJ Soc. On behalf of the committee I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone involved in ironing out the hiccups of the day, especially to our amazing Student Union.”
Of course, the special thing about Frank Morton is that it is organised by chemical engineering students, for chemical engineering students. It is a significant undertaking to balance around studying, but can be advantageous in the future in terms of boosting your CV. The students on the Sheffield Frank Morton Committee shined this year, putting on a great event for everyone to enjoy. Well done to them all:
David Miller – Committee President
Joel Kirk – ChemEngSoc Liaison
Alex Castling – Secretary
Dimitris Koutris – Treasurer
Zak Nicholls and Sophia Van Mourik – Sports Coordinators
Eve Rosser – Entertainment and Catering Coordinator
Yashodh Karunanayake – Sponsorship Coordinator
Greg Ouseley – External University Liaison
Ellie Langshaw – Transport and Logistics Coordinator
Usman Anwar – Ceremonies Coordinator:
…not forgetting the University of Sheffield Student’s Union which helped to ensure it all ran like clockwork.
Sheffield will soon be accepting bids from Universities looking to host the event in 2019. We’ll keep you posted on the result.
View the Frank Morton 2019 photo gallery here. Some of these photos were taken by Adam Harris, follow him on Instagram here.
This article was originally published in The Chemical Engineer.
In today’s blog, IChemE Director, Regions, Peter Slane explains the changes that are being made to legislation for engineers in Victoria, Australia and what this means for chemical engineers in the future.
Continue reading Introducing a new engineering registration in Victoria, Australia
After a successful campaign in 2017, the team behind International Women in Engineering Day, wanted to aim higher for 2018 and have created the theme #RaisingTheBar.
We felt this was a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women in engineering and how these successes are ‘Raising the Bar’ for aspiring female engineers.
We wanted to see what our members thought, so asked them: How do you feel female chemical engineers are raising the bar?
Thank you to all the responses we’ve had – it’s been great to see them.
We’ve collated the responses from the chemical engineers below. We’ll be sharing them on Twitter throughout International Women in Engineering Day. Continue reading How do you feel female chemical engineers are raising the bar?
All over the world today people will be celebrating World Water Day and reflecting on the current issues facing the world with regards to water scarcity, pollution, flooding and droughts. 2018 is also the Year of Engineering, and it’s clear that engineers will be integral to helping tackle these issues to ensure access to water is safe and sustainable in the years to come.
Chemical engineers working in the water sector are making a huge difference already. In today’s blog, our new Water Special Interest Group Chair, Dr Martin Currie talks about his vibrant water career – working all over the world, and using his engineering prowess to help make a difference in the developing world.
This month’s Year of Engineering theme is ‘Routes into Engineering’ – we hope Martin’s account inspires you to consider a career as a chemical engineer in the water industry.
Continue reading World Water Day: my chemical engineering career
There’s only one thing on your mind in February if you’re a UK chemical engineering student. Nope, not Pancake Day, not Valentine’s, not even your exams or Final Design Project (okay maybe that’s on your mind a little). It’s the Frank Morton Sports Day!
The annual gathering is special because it is just for them, chemical engineering students from up and down the UK. One day to get to know prospective employers, compete with rival Universities in sports from hockey to chess, all rounded off by a night of entertainment.
University of Leeds took on the monumental task of hosting this year, with a committee of eight students. The Frank Morton Sports Day is a huge undertaking for the students, who find time to organise a sports competition, careers fair, and night out for more than 2,000 students – all whilst studying.
The event was generously supported by Essar Oil, Total Lindsey Oil Refinery, AstraZeneca, Essar, GSK, Pfizer, Phillips 66 and TeachFirst. IChemE was also there to support the event, and invited students to participate in I’m a Chemical Engineer, Get Me Out of Here!
Continue reading A fourth win in a row for Birmingham at Frank Morton 2018
Tea, coffee, ice cream, chocolate, pizza – just some of our favourite foods and drinks that have been around for hundreds of years. Nearly all of them involve a process, and that process was probably refined and scaled-up by chemical engineers.
Horlicks is no different. It’s associated with bedtime in the UK, but in South Asia it’s the country’s number one health food drink.
GSK Consumer Healthcare are responsible for producing more than 150,000 tonnes of Horlicks every year, and up until recently were continuing to use the original 135-year-old process.
GSK’s small technical team were tasked to fundamentally re-think the process, considering energy, water usage, and cost.
Previously only incremental changes had been made, due to concerns about negative consumer feedback. As a result, the team of chemical engineering put the consumer first – and through reverse-engineering took the product back to the fundamental flavour, protein and carbohydrate chemistry.
From there, the process could be re-assembled to optimise every step – from converting starch to sugar, to drying the product in to a powder. The results are astounding – with the team eliminating any water usage and reducing the amount of energy used by 80%. Both factors are extremely advantageous to Horlicks’ main market of India, and the energy saved in the process alone could power 400,000 homes in the region. What’s more, the cycle time has been reduced from 18 hours to just 10 minutes.
And that’s what our profession is all about isn’t it? Or, as GSK’s Ben Jones puts it: “Chemical engineering matters because it is the bedrock of how we’re going to improve physical and chemical processes for the next generation.”
Ben was joined by Paul Heath at the IChemE Global Awards in November 2017 where they collected the Food and Drink Award for this project. The Award was presented by Nigel Hirst, on behalf of category sponsor – IChemE’s Food and Drink Special Interest Group.
Check out their reaction below:
The original team took five years to take this project from concept to pilot plant. Now the very same team is leading the construction of a full-scale commercial plant. What a fantastic achievement for all involved.
We’re delving into the pharmaceutical industry in our next ‘Spotlight’ piece, so don’t forget to swing by the IChemE blog tomorrow.
Are you feeling inspired to apply for the IChemE Global Awards 2018? Whether you would like to enter your own project, sponsor a category, or just attend to support your fellow professionals – register your interest here.
The IChemE Global Awards 2017 were held in Birmingham, UK on Thursday 2 November, held in partnership with Johnson Matthey and Wood.
Read the IChemE Global Awards 2017 Review
IChemE’s offices close from today until 2 January 2018. It’s been a busy year, and in today’s blog post we take a look at some of the highlights in numbers.
Remember, our Annual Review is published in May 2018 – giving a comprehensive overview of IChemE’s 2017 activities and achievements. Check out the Annual Review archive here.
We look forward to working with you in 2018. If you are a volunteer, thank you for your support. If you have engaged with us, if you have attended our events, if you have joined the conversation via this blog or social media – thanks for helping us to advance chemical engineering worldwide.
Season’s Greetings and best wishes for 2018.
For many years, IChemE was a stand-alone publisher of chemical engineering books and had a small but dedicated team of staff administering the process. More recently, we have conducted our publishing activities in partnership with Elsevier. This has seen the introduction of many new titles, while other successful titles with Elsevier have been adopted by the joint programme.
However, there is still a lengthy back catalogue of titles which were published by IChemE prior to our Elsevier partnership. They are unfortunately at the stage where they are getting a little out of date. But just like a dog isn’t just for Christmas, neither is chemical engineering knowledge! That is why we would like to work with our members to develop new and updated editions for some of these titles.
Initial feedback is that some of the books below are still incredibly useful to our members, and new editions would be a good initiative. But which titles do you think need updating first? Which are the best of the bunch?
Please see below all the books currently on the IChemE back catalogue. We would value your feedback on which titles you would most like to see a new edition of, and why.
To tell us, simply comment below or send an email to communications@icheme.org
We are looking to collate the feedback at the end of January 2018.
By day, Chartered Chemical Engineer Madeleine Jones works as Deputy Operations Manager, Legacy Ponds & Silos at Sellafield, and is responsible for three nuclear facilities.
In her spare time, she is a passionate advocate of chemical engineering – promoting engineering to primary and secondary school children, and mentoring new engineering graduates at the nuclear reprocessing and decommissioning company, to inspire the next generation of chemical engineers.
She also actively volunteers for her professional engineering institution, IChemE, with roles including Student Representative on the Midlands Member Group Committee, and Webmaster for IChemE’s North West Member Group Committee.
For all of this – and more – she was recently awarded the Karen Burt Award, after being nominated by IChemE. The annual award is presented by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to a top Chartered Engineer or Chartered Physicist in memory of Dr Karen Burt.
Why do we need female engineers?
It’s a simple, in some ways controversial question, that we put out to IChemE members a couple of weeks ago to mark today’s International Women In Engineering Day.
We received a fantastic response from chemical engineers working all over the world – take a look at them below and stay tuned on Twitter where we will be sharing them throughout the day.
How will you or your organisation be celebrating gender diversity today?
IChemE 
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