Is your membership about to lapse? Don’t miss out on the new member benefits we will launch during my presidency

Nigel Hirst reminds IChemE members to safeguard their membership and their access to IChemE’s resources for professional development

SINCE becoming IChemE President in June, I have been working with Trustees and the IChemE team on plans to significantly improve your membership experience, support your professional development, and ensure that we celebrate the profession and its achievements. I want to update you on our plans and remind you to please renew your membership by the end of August. Thank you if you have already paid your 2023 subscription. If you have forgotten or not yet had an opportunity to do so we are really keen to keep you, to ensure you maintain both your professional standing and your access to existing resources and those we will launch soon. IChemE is its members, and I hope you’ll continue to be part of this essential community.

So, what do we have planned to help support you and our chemical engineering community? Firstly, we are developing an exciting new digital community where members can interact together, exchange information and ideas, and seek and provide careers advice and mentoring. This new online platform is coming soon and we’ll let you know more as we get closer to launch.

We are engaging much more closely with employers of all sizes to support them and their process engineering staff including through membership, accredited company training schemes (ACTS), and corporate partnerships.

This strengthening of our community forms part of our wider plans to re-engage with audiences including students and young people to ensure we continue to attract great talent into the profession. We must work together to build a truly diverse and inclusive group of people all committed to improving lives through engineering. We are working closely with universities and others to help students see that membership of IChemE can support them through their studies and beyond, including development of their professional and personal as well as technical skills.

We know that a great many members are eager to support the next generation and help to grow it through STEM outreach activities. We will be providing resources for those members that are keen to engage, and help teachers to help their students understand the opportunities available when they choose to study chemical engineering. A new campaign is under development and we’ll have more to share with you on this very shortly.

We also know how keen members are that IChemE is heard as the voice of the profession with policymakers and other influencers, creating better understanding of the huge contribution that chemical and process engineering and engineers have to make to the economy, society and lives of us all. We are developing a greater focus on the pivotal role that chemical and process engineers play in addressing the great challenges of our time, including climate issues. Engineering a sustainable future will be at the heart of IChemE’s Strategy 2028+. And we are collaborating with other professional engineering institutions and membership bodies with interests and values aligned to ours so that together we can share knowledge and expertise, support engineers, and make our collective voices heard.

As I’ve said, IChemE is its members. We have now been around for 101 years and I want to ensure the next 101 years are even better. I hope very much that you will stay with us on this journey by renewing your membership subscription for 2023. The easiest way to pay is to log into your MyIChemE account for more information.

If you need additional help and advice, including information on reduced rates for members who are retired, unemployed or taking career breaks, please ask. You can contact us at membersupport@icheme.org or give us a call on +44 (0)1788 578214

There is also the Chemical Engineers Benevolent Fund, which was set up by members of IChemE to offer support to all chemical engineers and their dependants in times of hardship and distress. While the fund is unable to cover IChemE membership costs, it is able to offer one-off gifts, grants and loans for those in distress. To find out more visit: www.benevolentface.org

For a list of the existing resources you have access to as an IChemE member including free training on IChemE’s Sustainability Hub; membership of IChemE’s special interest groups and member groups for networking and professional development; and free access to publications including The Chemical Engineer, Loss Prevention Bulletin, peer-reviewed journals, and Knovel, visit: https://www.icheme.org/membership/resources/

Thank you for your continued support of IChemE. We appreciate everything you do to support us and help put chemical engineering on the map.