IChemE Matters – October 2025 - News

The Profession
2nd October 2025

Welcoming the next generation

Raffaella Ocone, IChemE president

STUDENTS have been a constant and central part of my professional journey in chemical engineering. With a career in academia, I have come to value their potentials and their role in shaping the future of our discipline.

I have always approached education as a two-way dialogue where students learn from academics, and academics gain insight and inspiration from their students. This reciprocal exchange is what makes education truly impactful and it’s a philosophy I actively advocate for and observe within IChemE.

The Institution must serve as a welcoming and forward-looking home for the next generation of chemical engineers, just as it supports today’s professionals. By empowering students and integrating their voices into our community, we can ensure the Institution remains relevant, inclusive and future-focused.

Being educated outside the UK, I had no interaction with a professional institution during my undergraduate years. In fact, I do not think I was even aware of what a professional body was at the time. Looking back, I now realise how much I missed out on – not just in terms of professional development, but in being part of a wider community.

In the UK, things are different and in IChemE we now have around 6,700 student members and 77 Student Ambassadors across 32 universities in the UK. We are also actively expanding our Student Ambassador network in Malaysia and Australasia. This presents an incredible opportunity for students worldwide who are passionate about shaping their Institution. If this sounds like you, I encourage you to connect with our current ambassadors – hear their stories, get inspired and carry their legacy forward.

(Left to right) Students volunteering on a local school visit; a recent NXplorers workshop

As I pledged in my Presidential Address in June, the DiscoverChemEng platform is now up and running, and in November we are hosting DiscoverChemEngLIVE, a day of in-person activities and exhibits for local schoolchildren to learn more about chemical engineering. This initiative wouldn’t be possible without the dedication of around 30 student volunteers, to whom I am personally very grateful. Their involvement has also been essential in delivering flagship events like 2024’s Big Bang On Location at our Rugby office, Hazards 2024 in Manchester, and many others.

But supporting students is not just about asking them to contribute – it is also about giving back.

That is why we are so proud of our public speaking workshops, where 30 students and early-career members have gained vital presentation skills to support their ongoing CPD. These workshops not only build confidence but also open doors to high-profile speaking opportunities at IChemE events. I have benefited from them myself – my own Presidential Address was introduced and hosted by a student and an early career member.

I am also particularly proud of our Shell NXplorers Workshops, which introduced 90 students to systems thinking – a skill that lies at the very heart of modern engineering.

Our student members are living proof of the Institution’s vitality. Their contributions – both technical and voluntary – speak volumes. This year alone, we received over 100 submissions to the YEAIS Awards 2025 from students and early career professionals. That level of engagement and excellence is something we should all celebrate.

I’m looking forward to continuing my work with our students, and to meeting many more in the months ahead.

If you would like to discuss any of the points raised or have ideas you would like to share, you can contact me at president@icheme.org

What you've been saying: A Nobel intervention

I HAVE been following the history of chemical engineering features by my great friend Martin Pitt in recent issues of TCE.

In part one of Old King Coal, he refers to Rosalind Franklin and her work with the former British Coal Utilisation Research Association. Martin then moves on to the work for which Franklin was most noted, her crystallographic work on DNA. A great deal has been written about that, and there have been TV programmes about it as well as a stage production, Photograph 51, in which the part of Rosalind Franklin is played by Nicole Kidman.

Martin states that Rosalind “found the structure of DNA but did not share in the Nobel Prize which resulted”. The Nobel Prize to which he refers was the 1962 Physiology or Medicine Prize, which went to James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. Rosalind Franklin died in 1958, and Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.

Clifford Jones FIChemE,
University of Chester

Strategic thinking

Duncan Lugton, head of policy and impact

ONE OF the most important recent developments in UK policy has been the publication of the government’s Industrial Strategy. This document sets out a ten-year vision for how the government will steer economic growth and innovation. The plan is 160 pages long, and it’s supported by eight additional “sector plans” covering each of the key areas of the economy that the government wants to prioritise to drive growth and innovation, ranging from clean energy to life sciences. There’s a lot of ambition in these documents and it’s welcome to see this kind of long-term policy vision from the government. The challenge now is in following through on these good intentions and getting the detail and implementation right.

The policy team has been working to understand how all this will work, and to help the government develop its thinking and plans to ensure the strategy is a success. As part of this, we’ve been speaking to members, industry, peers, civil servants and MPs. A few key themes have kept coming up in these conversations. First, there are high expectations for the delivery of the plan which carries weighty agendas – from economic growth to innovation and decarbonisation. It’s going to be crucial for the government to deliver them. Second, it’s clear that chemical and process engineers are central to achieving these ambitions. Decisive action is needed now to ensure we have a skilled workforce large enough to deliver them. Third, concerns persist around industrial energy costs, which remain high in the UK compared to other countries. The government plans to consult on relief measures, and we’ll be working to understand how these will operate – and whether any gaps remain.

We’ll keep these conversations going and continue engaging with decision-makers to help make the plans a success. That includes feeding into government consultation, such as those on energy support measures and post-16 skills strategy. We will continue making the case to government to ensure that courses like chemical engineering are financially sustainable, to underpin all this work. We’re also exploring how local implementation plays out, bringing together members and politicians to get their views, while this October we’ll discuss how chemical engineers can help deliver the Industrial Strategy at an event with the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.

For more on our work: www.icheme.org/policy

Correction: The Cornwall lithium revival powering UK’s green future

THE feature on the Cornwall lithium revival in issue 1,011contained several inaccuracies. After consultation with Cornish Lithium we have published a full list of corrections and clarifications on the online version of the article. We regret the errors and apologise for any confusion caused. The updated article can be read here: https://bit.ly/tce-cornish-mining-revival

New fellows announced

EIGHT members were elected Fellows of IChemE in June and July:

Udeme Ekpo, Oil and Pipelines Agency, UK
Amiya Kumar Jana, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Azhar Ashfaq, Fulton Hogan Utilities
Carolyn Nicholls, RAS Limited
Ian Cook, SSE Thermal
Jennie McGrath, Jacobs
Williams Olughu, Ipsen Biopharm
Bilainu Oboirien, University of Johannesburg

The next meeting to elect new Fellows takes place in October.

What you've been saying: Time to revamp MEng courses?

IT WAS very interesting to read Tony Heynen’s article How Place-based Learning is Changing the Way We Teach the Energy Transition in TCE 1,011. Of particular interest was the suggestion that the global energy transition issue is related to social, economic and cultural issues as well as the technical ones. The initiative taken by the University of Queensland, regarding the introduction of a place-based assessment in the postgraduate course, is to be applauded.

Currently (as I see it), society (as reflected by the media) feels that most of our current climate-related problems can be solved by developing new technologies. In fact, the general feeling is that many societal issues can be solved by developing technical solutions. Most chemical engineering courses mainly concentrate on core engineering principles. Engineers then progress their careers and undertake additional training in areas such as finance, management etc. All-in-all, we are content to be detached from political and economic issues, despite the fact these factors determine the implementation of the very solutions we develop. And, engineers therefore play second fiddle to the financial and political masters.

What if we engineers became bolder? I feel that most engineers are passionate to ensure that their efforts result in the greater good of the society, too. To do this, we must get involved in the politics and the economics of the solutions we are developing, rather than just the financial justification of what we do.

To this end, we need to change our mindset. One way to achieve this would be to revamp (all) engineering courses – here is an opportunity for chemical engineering departments to be trailblazers.

Among the most prestigious courses to pursue in the UK are the PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) degrees from Oxbridge. But there isn’t an equivalent for those who wish to pursue engineering. It would be highly desirable to develop a (new) PEE degree – Politics, Economics and Engineering. Such a course would create engineers who would understand the impact of politics and economics on engineering solutions being developed and implemented. Hopefully, it will also elevate the status of engineers.

I am aware that a paradigm shift is required to achieve this. We can start by assembling a working group.

I am happy to give my time to turn this vision into reality and provide the initial secretariat support.

You can connect with me through IChemE Connect to continue the discussion.

Utkarsha Joshi CEng FIChemE