~ IChemE to focus on industrial strategy, skills and AI ~
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) will explore how to engineer a sustainable world, provide skills and harness new technologies in a series of seminars and discussions at this year’s ChemUK show on May 21-22nd in Birmingham. Highlights include a keynote address from IChemE’s incoming president Professor Raffaella Ocone examining how chemical engineering contributes to a sustainable world, and chief executive Yvonne Baker OBE contributing to the Big Education Debate focused on the UK’s position on supporting its science skills and science-based requirements.
IChemE’s residency at ChemUK will include sessions on how to upskill and reskill the UK workforce, emerging technologies including AI and a roundtable discussion on the UK’s industrial strategy, which the UK government is due to publish in June.
“Our line-up of speakers and subjects at ChemUK 2025 will bring our vision of engineering a sustainable world to life, with examples of how chemical engineers are already shaping a sustainable future,” explains Claudia Flavell-While, Director, Learned Society at IChemE. “We will discuss some of the digital tools they are using to make this change, and how the training for chemical engineers needs to adapt to ensure we have the right skills to drive this change.”
Day One of IChemE’s programme will include sessions on how building a foundation of skills and continuous education is key to driving innovation and sustainability led by Kate Barclay OBE. IChemE will also share some leading examples of how rapidly evolving technologies such as AI are transforming the process industries – including recent winners of the IChemE Awards and Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability. They will be joined by industry speakers from BP and Siemens Automation Software, who will share how these digital tools are used on real processes at scale.
The first day’s roundtable discussion will involve participants from BP, EvoPhase and Siemens Automation Software discussing the potential for digital tools in the process industries. The first day of presentation will be rounded off by a presentation by IChemE’s incoming president. In addition to talking about sustainable practices, Professor Ocone will highlight some of the themes of her upcoming year as president of IChemE.
Alongside the Industrial Strategy roundtable, Day Two’s highlights include discussion around the sustainability challenge including case studies from 2024’s IChemE Young Engineer of the Year Rosie Meyer from Plastic Energy, who will provide insights on how to recycle plastics that were previously difficult to reuse; The Artemis Project which won both the Innovative Process and Industry Project Awards at the 2024 IChemE Global Awards, demonstrating how carbon capture can be retrofitted to existing process plants, and the UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Chemical Economy.
Also on Day Two, IChemE chief executive Yvonne Baker OBE will draw on her experience in education, both at IChemE and previously at STEM Learning, as part of the Big Education Debate, discussing the UK’s ability to meet future science and engineering skills requirements.
ChemUK takes place on May 21-22nd at the NEC, Birmingham. To find out more about IChemE’s participation across the two days, visit the event’s website and register to attend and participate in the discussions.
