Multiscale ambition: Ocone outlines plans to strengthen diversity and the status of the profession in IChemE presidential address

RAFFAELLA OCONE has said she will use her IChemE presidency to diversify the chemical engineering community, launch a conferring ceremony for engineers to help bolster the status of the profession, and work to help members embed professionalism in their everyday activities.

On Tuesday, Ocone became IChemE’s 84th president and the first Italian to hold the role. Yesterday evening at a meeting in London, she delivered her presidential address titled Tackling global challenges, delivering global impact: a multiscale approach.

Ocone said: “If we want to solve the global challenges that our profession and, indeed, the world is facing, we need a multiscale approach, where all the different scales involved are considered and, importantly, their complex upward and downward interactions are taken into account.”

Ocone, a professor at Heriot-Watt University who has more than 20 years’ experience in modelling complex systems, said it was helpful to view IChemE and its relationships and behaviours through the same multiscale lens. There are the individual members, the communities including the SIGs and Member Groups where they meet and interact, and then at the large-scale, the Institution itself. Success cannot be achieved by focusing on only one of these “levels” or prioritising a top-down or bottom-up approach to their interactions.

Noting it would be unrealistic to attempt to speak to every member, Ocone will focus on meeting members at the level they meet one another. This includes plans to visit member communities around the world.

“I believe that the mesoscale, that level that bridges single members with the Institution, is crucial and that is where I would like to concentrate my efforts during the next year. Alongside the staff team, I will work with regional groups, SIGs, departments, to facilitate interactions and collaborations towards common purposes.”

Ocone said she would like to see greater collaboration between SIGs and Member Groups to strengthen support for members.

Tending sheep, and avoiding chance

Reassuring the audience, including those watching live on YouTube, that she does not intend to revolutionise what previous presidents have done, Ocone said she will build on her predecessors’ achievements and meet the goals set out in IChemE’s Strategy 2028+.

Broadly, she identified three priorities: attracting and retaining a diverse range of talent; strengthening the status of engineering; and embedding a code of conduct and ethics.

Ocone shared how the experiences of her family offered lessons about aspirations and career choice.

She spoke of her younger brother who was laser-focused on becoming a writer, and as a young boy would practice by writing magazines that only their grandfather bought. And her father who had the skills and attitude of an engineer without the formal training, and whose love of fixing things and bringing happiness to others inspired Ocone.

“Looking back, I realise that he was my very first engineering role model.”

The audience laughed as Ocone revealed that her earliest aspiration was to simply find a job that would allow her to while away the working hours doing what she truly loved – voraciously reading books. Tending sheep seemed an ideal match. She could read beneath a tree while the flock grazed about her.

“I never managed to become a shepherd,” she said, “Instead, I ended up studying chemical engineering at the University of Napoli.”

Chemical engineering made sense: Ocone loved maths from an early age, and chemistry, its reactions governed by clear logical rules, felt like a simple extension.

“I did not know much about chemical engineering, I must confess. I really enjoyed chemical engineering, even when I discovered that there wasn’t as much chemistry as I expected.”

Luckily, Ocone still enjoyed the course, the challenge of transforming knowledge into practical solutions. She would go on to study for her PhD in Princeton, become a reader at the University of Nottingham and the first female professor of chemical engineering in Scotland.

But the chemical engineering profession cannot rely on luck – that schoolchildren might stumble into studying it and stick with it, even if they had a false impression of what it involves.

“I hope that for many others, their journey to ChemEng does not come by chance as it was for me.”

She said the profession must work harder to attract students.

“Attracting a diverse range of talent is key to the future of chemical engineering and ensuring we continue our ability to positively impact the world.”

This includes attracting a diversity of gender, socio-economic backgrounds, cultures and ideas to help IChemE achieve its potential.

To this end, Ocone announced an expansion of IChemE’s schools outreach programme, DiscoverChemEng which helped increase applications to UK courses by 17% last year.

The programme will pilot 60 school events in the UK and overseas. And IChemE will host larger DiscoverChemEng events in the process industry heartlands of Teesside, the northwest of England and close to Ocone’s home in Grangemouth where the closure of the town’s refinery might make the community think chemical engineering is not for them.

Ocone hopes the winners of IChemE’s Young Engineers’ Awards for Innovation and Sustainability will work with her to champion the campaign.

“Alongside graduate routes into chemical engineering, we will raise the understanding and profile of technician and apprenticeship options.”

To retain existing members, Ocone said IChemE will expand its continuous professional development offer and continue to support the Sustainability Hub which was founded following a donation from former president Ian Shott.

Status of engineering

To attract more students into chemical engineering and retain talent, Ocone said chemical engineers are obliged to safeguard the profession and maintain public trust. Ocone plans to introduce a conferring ceremony to enhance the title of engineer and improve public understanding and appreciation of the profession.

This will build on collaborations with other professional institutions – including Engineers Australia, AIChE, and Engineers Ireland – established by her predecessors Mark Apsey, Nigel Hirst and IChemE CEO Yvonne Baker, to share best practice and amplify the voice of chemical engineering.

“Medics take the Hippocratic oath. In Canada and US, engineers take an oath too. I do not see why we could not follow such an example and publicly commit ourselves to uphold ethical standards.

“We will introduce conferring ceremonies to recognise and celebrate individuals as they achieve professional registration and work with them and others to communicate their journeys and show how, in their work, they truly bring ethical and effective engineering to life.”

Conduct and ethics

With IChemE shortly set to launch a new Code of Conduct and Ethics, Ocone’s third goal is making the document relevant for everyone.

“I believe strongly, as I am sure you do, that ethics, professionalism, social responsibility are all inextricably linked and, once again, I invoke here a multi-scale approach. We must not embrace professionalism by simply conforming to the rules of the Code of Conduct; we must live it and ensure it is embedded in our everyday activities if it is to be truly meaningful.”

Ocone has long been an advocate for ethics in engineering, serving on a joint steering group for the Royal Academy of Engineering and Engineering Council that produced the 2022 report Maintaining Society’s Trust in the Engineering Profession; and coordinated a series on engineering ethics for TCE with then-IChemE president David Bogle.

Ocone said the code will be approachable and aspirational, and that IChemE will showcase and recognise great practice from individuals, businesses and sectors.

In closing

A recurring theme in Ocone’s address was how interactions at the mesoscale can shape a career – including the influence of many chemical engineers, some of whom went on to become IChemE presidents, who helped guide her own path.

While her brother achieved his ambition of becoming a published writer, Ocone said the advice she has for the next generation is, don’t be afraid if things do not work out as you expect, if the focus of your research or your work changes.

Her own career path, and the evolution of her research demonstrates the foundational strength and flexibility that a chemical engineering education provides.

“What you learn as a chemical engineer is not only highly transferable, but it is also so fundamental,” she said.

“This is the beauty of chemical engineering education: that ability to apply the mutatis mutandis concept – what works here, works there.”

In closing, Ocone thanked her friends, colleagues and students, noting that without their support and encouragement “I could not be here tonight”.

“The future of chemical engineering is bright. And the future of IChemE is even brighter: we possess great means, tools and skills that will strategically lead IChemE and the profession towards the future. I look forward to working with you all to ensure this future where our profession will thrive. Please do get involved, the Institution needs you, we need all kinds of people.”

You can watch Ocone’s address in full on YouTube, including an introduction by immediate past president Mark Apsey; a post-event question and answer session with Ocone hosted by Tegan King, chair of IChemE’s National Early Careers Group; and a closing message of thanks by former president Nigel Hirst.