IChemE’s new President Raffaella Ocone champions multiscale engineering to tackle global challenges
11th June 2025
IChemE is proud to announce the inauguration of Professor Raffaella Ocone as its 84th President, a historic milestone celebrated on 11 June 2025 at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London. This momentous occasion not only honours Professor Ocone’s pioneering contributions to chemical engineering but also marks a ground breaking first for IChemE – the organisation’s first-ever female President and CEO partnership.
In her Presidential Address, titled “Tackling Global Challenges, Delivering Global Impact: A Multiscale Approach,” Professor Ocone inspired those working in, and contributing to chemical, biochemical and process engineering worldwide to drive meaningful change, both locally and globally, through a multiscale chemical engineering approach.
Professor Ocone, a distinguished academic and the first female Professor of Chemical Engineering in Scotland, brings a wealth of experience in complex reactive systems and a commitment to ethical engineering. She has taken the lead in promoting the teaching of engineering ethics and the role of responsible technologies for the energy transition.
Her address highlighted how chemical engineers can drive real change by applying a multiscale approach, using local insights and global systems to solve pressing global issues. She focused on how chemical engineering can be used to turn ideas into impactful, scalable solutions that can benefit not only the profession, but entire communities.
Professor Ocone also spoke on routes of entry to the profession, and the socio-economic factors that can impact education and career choices for young people.
She recognised the need to attract an increasing number and diversity of people coming into the sector through both traditional and non-traditional routes, and the importance of ensuring adequate support for young people, and early career professionals, as well as returners and those who have taken career breaks.
Professor Ocone’s call to action to IChemE members and beyond encouraged people to get involved with volunteering and mentoring to inspire the next generation of chemical engineers, as well as supporting IChemE’s work with students and young people through DiscoverChemEng and the Young Engineers Awards for Innovation and Sustainability (YEAIS).
Looking ahead, Professor Ocone is expected to continue this momentum by promoting ethical leadership and the practical application of IChemE’s Code of Conduct and Ethics. She urged members to lead by example in upholding ethical principles and keeping them visible in practice by sharing experiences with ethical challenges – especially around emerging technologies like AI – and active participation in IChemE’s range of Special Interest Groups, Member Groups, events, and conferences to amplify the voice of our professional community.
The event was hosted by two of IChemE’s young members: Khalid Sayed, Student Member and Tegan King, Associate Member, who also led a Q&A with Professor Ocone.
To conclude her address, Raffaella emphasised her commitment to engaging in discussions on engineering as a regulated profession and pledged to ensure our collective voice is heard by the right audiences.
The 2025 Presidential Address was live streamed via IChemE’s YouTube channel, and a recording is available here.
Links
Presidential Address
How I Did It
YEAIS
DiscoverChemEng
IChemE Connect Mentor Match
Special Interest Groups
Member Groups
Training and events
IChemE’s YouTube Channel
Notes for editors
Professor Raffaella Ocone - Biography
Professor Raffaella Ocone graduated in chemical engineering from the Università di Napoli, Italy and obtained her MA and PhD from Princeton University, US. She has held the Chair of Chemical Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, UK, since 1999. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2007 she was appointed Cavaliere of the Italian Republic. In The Queen’s 2019 New Year Honours she was appointed Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for services to engineering. She was named as one of the top 100 Most Influential Women in the Engineering Sector in 2019 in the list produced by the board appointments firm Inclusive Boards in partnership with the Financial Times.
Raffaella was appointed the first Caroline Herschel Visiting Professor in Engineering at RUHR Universität, Germany in recognition of her work in ethics and is currently Guest Professor of Engineering there. She has demonstrated her strategic thinking in chemical engineering and promoted interdisciplinary research and industrial collaboration. In her own institution, Heriot-Watt University, she has contributed to re-aligning the teaching and research as the field was changing. Raffaella's involvement in research goes beyond her own research interests: she served on the RAE 2008, REF 2014 and 2022 panels. She undertook the Chemical Engineering Research Review of the Czech Republic in 2015. She has chaired the IChemE UK Research Committee, aiming to establish an agreed view on chemical engineering research needs for addressing key global challenges. She has twice chaired the National Research Committee in Portugal.
Raffaella has served on a large number of committees for various professional bodies including the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
What is chemical engineering?
Chemical, biochemical and process engineering is the application of science, mathematics and economics in the process of turning raw materials into everyday, and more specialist, products. Professional chemical engineers design, construct and manage process operations all over the world. Energy, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, synthetic fibres and clean drinking water are just some of the industry sectors and products where chemical engineering plays a central role.
IChemE
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) advances chemical engineering's contribution for the benefit of society. We facilitate the development of chemical engineering professionals and provide connections to a powerful network of around 32,000 members in more than 100 countries.
We support our members in applying their expertise and experience to make an influential contribution to solving major global challenges, and are the only organisation permitted to award Chartered Chemical Engineer status and Professional Process Safety Engineer registration.