Volunteer Spotlight: Francesco Del Giudice

Volunteer roles: Committee chair, South Wales Member Group; UKU and professional reviewer; Congress committee and education subcommittee member; university accreditation assessor; young people’s engagement volunteer.  Job title: Associate professor in chemical engineering at Swansea University

Tell us a bit about yourself/what inspired you to become a chemical engineer?
I got into chemical engineering by accident. I attended a secondary school in Italy specialising in ancient Latin and Greek, and Italian literature, with only a little in the way of STEM subjects. This is because, at the time, I wanted to study ancient languages and cultures, even though I was also good at maths. During my studies, I began studying chemistry and that was a subject I really liked. So, I asked myself: what can I do that contains chemistry and maths? And the answer came to be chemical engineering! I was also very passionate about fluids in general, but especially those that behave “oddly” such as cornflour and Silly Putty (try searching YouTube for “non-Newtonian swimming pool” to see just how strange cornflour can be!). Chemical engineering has helped me study these fluids – and then make them my everyday job.

What do your volunteer roles entail?
I have been a volunteer for IChemE since 2021, just after I became a Chartered chemical engineer. I began volunteering for my local member group (South Wales) as a committee member and I was also trained as an Individual Case Procedure (ICP, now known as UKU) assessor. I really liked volunteering, so I began to take on more roles. I was a panel member for the ICP process until last October. I have been a Congress representative since 2021. I became a university volunteering assessor in 2023. I was elected chair of the South Wales Member Group in 2024 and I have recently joined the education sub-committee, while also being trained on assessing Chartered chemical engineering applications. I have also been formally and informally a mentor to members applying for Chartered chemical engineering status. Finally, I am very passionate about outreach and I have contributed to several DiscoverChemEng initiatives to inspire pupils in pursuing chemical engineering.