New president for IChemE

Posted on 25 May 2016 by Victoria Fitzgerald

Professor Jonathan Seville, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Surrey, UK is the new President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE).

Professor Jonathan Seville, president IChemE - image courtesy of IChemE
Professor Jonathan Seville, president IChemE – image courtesy of IChemE.

Seville studied chemical engineering at Cambridge, and joined the research division of Courtaulds Ltd before returning to academia to complete a PhD at Surrey under the supervision of Professor Roland Clift.

He then embarked on a successful academic career which took him to the University of Birmingham, UK as the Head of chemical engineering where he established the UK’s first research centre in formulation engineering. He then moved to the University of Warwick, UK, where he served three years as Dean of Engineering, before returning to Surrey in 2011.

Seville is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a member of the board of the UK’s Engineering Council, where he chairs its Registration Standards Committee. He was handed the ceremonial chains of office by his immediate predecessor, Dr Andrew Jamieson OBE, at the Institution’s Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday May 24.

Throughout his career, Seville has championed the application of chemical engineering to the design and manufacture of products for the pharmaceutical, home care and fast-moving consumer goods industries. He is also active in energy-related projects, including biomass conversion and solar power, and a co-founder of the successful spin out company Recycling Technologies.

Seville’s presidential address,  Relevance in a Changing World offered some thought provoking answers to the challenging question: ‘How does chemical engineering stay relevant?’.

He outlined his thinking on the need for professional engineering institutions to work much harder to remain relevant in the 21 Century, both to their members and to the public at large.

He emphasised the obligations facing IChemE; including a duty to uphold public safety, the need to reflect the diversity of the community that the profession serves and the duty to support and encourage research in all of the areas where chemical engineering can make a big difference – notably; water; energy; food, and the design of sustainable processes to deliver effective healthcare and a wide range of consumer goods.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Seville said; “Major shocks such as the fall in the oil price make the discipline of chemical engineering more – not less – relevant to society, since chemical engineers have exactly the skills that are needed to achieve sustainable ways of living. But we have to demonstrate those skills in new ways and in new applications.”

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Serville outlined his thinking on the need for professional engineering institutions to work much harder to remain relevant in the 21 Century.

He continued: “As we look forward to 2022 and IChemE’s centenary, relevance must remain at the top of the agenda. I will use my presidential term to lead a thorough review of the Institution’s governance and strategic direction.

“Chemical engineering matters as much today as it did when we were founded. Let’s work together to shape an Institution that is relevant to its members, to our partners in industry and academia, and most importantly of all, to the community at large whose interests we are duty bound to protect.”

John McGagh, formerly the head of innovation at the multinational metals and mining corporation, Rio Tinto and currently chief digital officer at renewable energy supplier, Snowy Hydro, was confirmed as IChemE’s Deputy President.  He will succeed to the presidency at the end of Seville’s 12 month term, in May 2017.