Last week we had a visit by Peter Slane, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and a former graduate of our department. In 2012, Peter joined IChemE as Director of Australasia to oversee the operations of both the Australia and New Zealand offices. He is now responsible for IChemE regions. Before this, Peter had gathered over 30 years industry and technical experience in New Zealand and Australia, and he has also worked with government and public entities on projects such as recycling initiatives and conversion of a waste stream into a valuable saleable product.

Mostly working out of Australia and the UK, what brought Peter to NZ was the recently held IChemE Kennedy Wunsch lecture, which this year was awarded to Prof John Chen of our department. The Kennedy-Wunsch flagship lecture recognises the role that Miles Kennedy and Donald Sandys Wunsch have played in chemical engineering in New Zealand. Annually the Kennedy-Wunsch lecturer is selected based on the individual’s significant lifetime contribution to Chemical Engineering in New Zealand. A big congratulations to John on this worthy recognition!