Stephen Richardson is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. He was educated at Imperial and then, after working as a Research Assistant at Cambridge, he was appointed as a Lecturer back at Imperial in 1978 and promoted successively to Senior Lecturer, Reader and finally to Professor in 1994. In 1996, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy Engineering and, in 2015, he was awarded a CBE for services to chemical engineering education and safety. He was President of IChemE between 2019 and 2021.

Julia Higgins is a Senior Research Investigator (Emeritus Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in Imperial College, London where she worked for over 40 years. She is a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and has been involved in Diversity matters at both Academies. She was the founding Chair of the Athena Project from 1998 to 2003, and continues to support the careers of women in academic science as Patron of the Athena Swan awards.  She is a past President of the IChemE and a past President of the Institute of Physics.

Geoff Maitland is Professor of Energy Engineering at Imperial College London and a Past President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (2014-15).  Geoff is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Energy Institute. In 2006 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was awarded the Hutchison Medal by the Institution of Chemical Engineers in 1998 and was awarded the IChemE Chemical Engineering Envoy Award for 2010 for his media work explaining the engineering issues involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services to Chemical Engineering.

Dr John May MA, PhD, DMS, MCMI, CMRS is an experienced social and market researcher, local government and voluntary sector manager, and community engagement consultant with many years’ experience and a wide range of clients in the voluntary, public and private sectors.

Since retirement (from the position of Chief Executive of the London Communities Policing Partnership) in 2012 he has clocked up a total of 18 ‘Trustee-years’with three different charities, most recently with Evolve Counselling, where he was Chair of Trustees for 6 years.

He keeps the books for four local Methodist Churches and is doing an Open University degree in Data Science. John used to go canal boating two or three times a year, but has now retired from that, too.

If you see him on a video link the chances are that one of his cats will also appear.

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Dr Trish Melton is a chemical engineer by first degree, and completed a PhD in chemistry.  She also holds an MBA and a MA (Dance Education) with distinction.  She is a Chartered Chemical Engineer, a qualified Dance Teacher (RAD, BBO, ISTD, IDTA) and a project Manager working within the pharmaceutical industry, having also worked as an engineering lecturer and researcher. She is currently the IChemE Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Chair and Sustainability Hub Programme Director and a  former member of the IChemE Board of Trustees.

Paul leads on implementing the Benevolent Fund’s strategy, ensuring we reach as many chemical engineers and their families as possible and help them to meet the challenges they face. He manages the day-to-day operations of the charity and is the first point of contact to anyone approaching us for support, providing a friendly face and listening ear. He previously worked for caba (Chartered Accountants Benevolent Association) for 11 years where he was the Direct Support Manager, and started his career in the charity sector working as a debt adviser for his local Citizens Advice.