Milton Keynes (UK)
Hybrid Event: Milton Keynes Member Group Annual Meeting and Panel Discussion - Transferring Sectors
- Date From 4th March 2026
- Date To 4th March 2026
- Price Free of charge.
- Location Leonardo Hotel, Suite 109, Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes, MK9 2HP, and online.
Overview
The annual meeting will begin with committee elections, offering members the opportunity to volunteer to influence the organisation’s leadership and direction for the coming year.
Following the elections, we will host a panel discussion on transferring sectors within chemical engineering. The panel will feature professionals with diverse industry experiences who will share their career journeys, strategies for making successful transitions, and tips for overcoming challenges in changing sectors.
Attendees will also have the chance to ask questions and engage directly with the panellists, making this a valuable opportunity for networking, learning, and career development.
Speakers
James Ferrie, Limited Company Contractor
James is a graduate of The Universities of Strathclyde and Teesside. No stranger to transitioning across industrial sectors and even across engineering disciplines, he has more than 30 years of experience working in EPC contracting in the chemicals, oil and gas, renewable energies and water industries in such capacities as instrument engineer, process design engineer, process systems engineer, mechanical package engineer, project engineer, project manager and reliability engineer.
For most of this experience, he has been a freelance contractor which has given him opportunities he might otherwise not have had. He now works in a staff role as a technical manager for a major water operations company.
Macsene Isles-Ahite, Process Engineering Consultant
Macsene currently works as a self-employed process engineering consultant in the energy sector. She provides technical oversight to process engineering design teams and analyses the feasibility of existing and emerging technologies.
On projects, she holds positions of senior responsibility and influences decisions on project viability and provides strategic advice to her clients. The value that Macsene adds is to ensure that the process design adheres to the appropriate safety standards, design parameters, environmental constraints, sustainability criteria and is within the budget.
Macsene has recently completed the TÜV Rheinland HAZOP leader course with Risktec. She intends to transition her limited company from providing solely engineering design services to also offering experienced, independent facilitator services as a HAZOP chair.
Santanu Talukdar, Independent consultant in innovation and technology transfer
Santanu is a chemical engineer with over 30 years of international experience across engineering, technology transfer, and business consulting. Currently an independent consultant in innovation and technology transfer, he develops SDG-focused projects in emerging markets, particularly in bioplastics, energy, and water applications.
He serves as a committee member of the Research & Innovation SIG at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), as well as an ACTS assessor, mentor, and contributor to the London & South East Coast network. From 2017 to 2024, he led a Frankfurt-based technology transfer consultancy, working across industrial and medical biotechnology sectors on licensing, fundraising, and business development.
Santanu began his career with 18 years in petrochemicals, oil, and refinery projects in India before successfully transitioning into pharmaceutical process improvement and international technology consulting—bringing first-hand insight into navigating sector shifts within the chemical engineering industry.
The material presented has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter’s own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Milton Keynes Member Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.
Time
18:00–20:00 GMT.
Software
The presentation will be delivered via Microsoft Teams. We recommend downloading the app from the Microsoft website, rather than using the web portal.
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