IChemE celebrates 2023 Global Awards winners
30th November 2023
IChemE has announced the winners of its 2023 Global Awards at a ceremony held this evening at the Hilton Metropole, Birmingham, UK.
Widely recognised as the world's most prestigious chemical engineering awards, the event, hosted by television presenter Dallas Campbell, showcased organisations and teams from around the world that are demonstrating excellence in chemical, biochemical and process engineering.
A panel of 30 judges, representing diverse industries worldwide, selected from more than 100 excellent finalists across 19 award categories, to shine a spotlight on organisations and individuals that are leading the way in their fields, and deserve wide recognition for their exceptional contributions and innovations. Among the many distinguished winners was Kent, who won both the Best Consultancy Award, sponsored by Womble Bond Dickinson, and the Process Safety Award, sponsored by PM Group; PETRONAS and University Kebangsaan, Malaysia won the Industry Project Award, sponsored by adi Group.
The organisation winners were also in contention for IChemE’s top prize - the Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering Award, sponsored by ExxonMobil. This coveted trophy was won by the University of Oxford’s spin out, Oxsed, for their development of a rapid test for SARS-COV-2 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. The University chemical engineering team pooled their expertise in biochemical engineering, bioprocessing and product design to develop a test that was performed millions of times at major airports in the UK and in Hong Kong to enable international travel.
The IChemE judges considered that the significant social impact, economic returns, and clear demonstration of the direct contribution that chemical engineers made to combating the pandemic, meant that this entry was a very worthy winner. The Oxford University team stepped on stage three times during the evening, also collecting the Business Start-up Award sponsored by Sellafield, and the Innovative Product Award, sponsored by The Chemical Engineer.
There was global representation across the award categories with winners and highly commended finalists from Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Portugal, Australia and Malaysia.
IChemE President Nigel Hirst said: “This event is a highlight of the year for IChemE, and a fantastic opportunity to learn about the latest developments in our profession. The IChemE Global Awards showcase the enormous breadth of activity being undertaken by chemical and process engineers, and I warmly congratulate all our winners. I also extend my sincere appreciation to all our award sponsors, for their generous support.
“It’s very encouraging that many of tonight’s finalists are helping to make IChemE’s vision - engineering a sustainable world - a reality, with entries such as accelerating the adoption of green hydrogen, reinventing the way plastics are used and recycled, and developing energy-efficient ship hull coatings.
“Volunteering underpins all the Institution’s work and having served as Head Judge myself for many years, I know first-hand how much work goes into the judging process. On behalf of IChemE’s Board of Trustees, I thank all the members of the volunteer judging panel, led for the final time this year by Keith Batchelor. I was delighted to present Keith with the inaugural IChemE Judges’ Award this evening, in recognition of his tremendous dedication over many years.”
For more information on the IChemE Global Awards visit www.icheme.org/globalawards.
Full list of IChemE Global Awards 2023 winners
Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering sponsored by Exxon Mobil
Winner: University of Oxford; Oxsed
Best Consultancy sponsored by Womble Bond Dickinson
Winner: Kent
Highly commended:
AXIOM
Worley Group
Biochemical Engineering sponsored by DPS Group Ltd
Winner: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Virginia Commonwealth University
Highly commended: HiCOE
Business Start-up sponsored by Sellafield
Winner: University of Oxford; Oxsed
Highly commended:
Rolls-Royce SMR Limited
ReVentas
Diversity and Inclusion sponsored by Harbour Energy
Winner: PM Group
Highly commended:
PETRONAS
WSP
Energy sponsored by Rolls Royce
Winner: Rolls-Royce SMR
Highly commended:
University of Manchester; Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Melbourne
PETRONAS; Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia
Industry Project sponsored by adi Group
Winner: PETRONAS; Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia
Highly commended:
RJM International; Ince Bio Power
Johnson Matthey
Innovative Product sponsored by The Chemical Engineer
Winner: University of Oxford; Oxsed
Highly commended:
Dow
Nuada
Nuclear Engineering sponsored by the IChemE Safety Centre
Winner: Sellafield
Highly commended:
Rolls-Royce SMR
Michigan State University
Oil and Gas sponsored by the Loss Prevention Bulletin
Winner: Saudi Aramco
Highly commended:
PETROLIAM Nasional Berhad
Trinidad Petroleum Holdings
Pharma sponsored by Bouygues Energies & Services
Winner: Eli Lilly; Imperial College London; University College London; Queen Mary University London
Highly commended:
University of Strathclyde; National Physical Laboratory
Hovione Farmaciência
Process Automation and Digitalisation sponsored by Digital Chemical Engineering journal
Winner: British Bakels; Newcastle University; Teesside University
Highly commended:
ExxonMobil
Worley Group
Process Safety sponsored by PM Group
Winner: Kent
Highly commended:
Trinidad Petroleum Holdings
PETROLIAM Nasional Berhad
Research Project sponsored by Chemical Engineering Research & Design
Winner: HiCOE; Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Highly commended:
Cardiff University; UBE Corporation, Japan; Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
DOW Polyurethanes; Dow Chemical Company
Sustainability sponsored by Johnson Matthey
Winner: UKRI Interdisciplinary Centre for Circular Chemical Economy
Highly commended:
BP; Hempel, Denmark
PETRONAS
Team sponsored by Baker Hicks
Winner: WSP; Mace; HOK; Balfour Beatty
Highly commended:
WSP Canada
All Energy Pty
Training and Development sponsored by WSP
Winner: adi Group
Highly commended:
Saudi Aramco - NAHR Academy
Briggs of Burton
Water sponsored by IChemE Water Special Interest Group
Winner: Wessex Water Services; AECOM, UK
Highly commended:
BP; Solenis, Germany
All Energy
Young Industrialist supported by DiscoverChemEng
Winner: Matt Chadwick, ExxonMobil
Highly commended:
Mohamad Fakhrul Ridhwan Samsudin, PETRONAS
Charlotte Ransom, Sellafield
Young Researcher sponsored by Elsevier
Winner: Billie Hiew Yan Zhang, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia
Highly commended:
Zong Yang Kong, Sunway University Malaysia
Juan Bartolome García Martínez, Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters
Contact
For more information please contact:
Ann Baylis, Communications Executive & PR Lead, IChemE
t: +44 (0) 1788 534477
e: abaylis@icheme.org
Daniel Owens, Communication Executive, IChemE
t: +44 (0) 1788 534458
e: dowens@icheme.org
Links
https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/about/social-ventures/story-oxsed-limited/
www.flickr.com/photos/161950158@N03/albums
Image
Group photo of IChemE Global Awards winners. An image gallery of the awards evening will be available on Flickr.
Notes for editors
The winner of the Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering, sponsored by Exxon Mobil, is the University of Oxford and Oxsed. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the chemical engineering team at the University of Oxford pooled their expertise in biochemical engineering, bioprocessing and product design and developed a rapid test for SARS-COV-2. The test was clinically validated and successfully commercialised through a new University spinout company, Oxsed. Find out more about the story of Oxsed.
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 30,000 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.