New IChemE President Jonathan Seville
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). Seville studied chemical engineering at Cambridge, and joined the research division of Courtaulds Ltd before returning to academia to complete a PhD at Surrey. He embarked on an academic career, which took him to the University of Birmingham, UK as the head of chemical engineering where he reportedly established the UK’s first research center in formulation engineering. He moved on to the University of Warwick, UK, where he served three years as dean of engineering, before returning to Surrey in 2011.Seville is 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 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 consumer goods industries. He is also active in energy-related projects, including biomass conversion and solar power, and a co-founder of Recycling Technologies.
“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,” says Seville. “But we have to demonstrate those skills in new ways and in new applications.”
For more information, visit: www.icheme.org
