It’s hard to believe that this is my final column – my two years as President seem to have passed by in the blink of an eye! I guess this is testament to how much I’ve enjoyed the role. I’ve been privileged to learn so much more about the many and varied activities that the Institute offers, meet lots of amazing people and get to do some pretty cool things along the way! The Institute of Corrosion is a fantastic organisation and I feel honoured and humbled to have served as its President.
The undoubted strength of the Institute is its people. We are a tight knit community and it has been great to see how everyone has come together during the pandemic to support each other and ensure that the battle against corrosion can continue. Some of our activities have been more challenging over the past few months, without being able to meet in person, but I have been very encouraged by the level of participation in our online activities and the development of our social media platforms.
My sincere thanks are due to the Trustees, Council members, committee members, volunteers and paid staff who organise the activities of the Institute and ensure its continued growth and success. It’s inspiring to witness the passion and enthusiasm you bring to the table – this is key to the impact of these activities in driving improvements in the fundamental understanding and practical implementation of corrosion protection across a range of sectors.
In particular I would like to thank Denise Aldous, our office manager, for her incredible support and dedication during my time as President. Denise is the heartbeat of our operation and has forgotten more about how the Institute works than the rest of us will ever know! She is one of the most competent and dependable people you could wish to meet and we are very fortunate to have her. It’s also good to see that Becky is settling in well at Corrosion House, following the departures of Gwynneth and Sue due to retirement and relocation, respectively.
I’m sure you will all join me in welcoming our new President, Bill Hedges. Bill brings a wealth of experience from his role as Chief Engineer, Materials & Integrity Management at BP. He has already made a significant contribution to the Institute through the ICorr Young Engineer Programme, the negotiation of our new Engineering Council registration agreement and the establishment of our Digital Strategy Committee. I’m delighted to extend a warm welcome to Bill, and his Vice President Stephen Tate, and am very much looking forward to supporting them going forward.
Thank you all for your support and I look forward to seeing you in person again when circumstances allow. Wishing you continued health and strength.
The Trustees and Council of the Institute would like to invite members to the 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held via Microsoft Teams from 14.00 – 16.00 (UK time) on Thursday 19 November 2020. 2020 ICorr Award Presentations 14:00 Welcome and Introduction of...
Welcome to another jam-packed edition of Corrosion Management! I’ve had to content myself with reading the online version of the magazine in recent months as the printed version is delivered to my office at NPL and I’m still not permitted to access the site. The online version is fantastic but I have to say I do miss having a printed copy to leaf through. There has been debate for many years within Council about whether the magazine should transition to electronic format – at the moment the consensus is that most members still prefer to receive the printed version. However, this may change in the future, particularly as the demographic of the Institute continues to shift, and we are continuously reviewing the options. It may be that we decide to distribute the magazine by email to those who wish to receive it in electronic format, while keeping the printed version for those who prefer this option. If you have any views or suggestions on this please do not hesitate to contact our Editor, Brian Goldie.
As the world cautiously emerges from the Covid-19 lockdown, I’m pleased to say that our operations are returning to something like normal. Our Head Office at Corrosion House in Northampton has been open for several weeks now, with appropriate social distancing, protective equipment and sanitisation arrangements in place. I would like to thank Denise Aldous for her sterling work in coordinating working arrangements in the office during the lockdown to ensure that any disruption in our service to members was minimised.
This gives me great confidence that we will be able to transition smoothly back to lockdown again in the event of a second wave of the virus. Our classroom-based training courses have also restarted, both at our main training provider IMechE AR in Sheffield and at our international training facilities. Like many organisations and businesses, we expect to see a dip in revenue in 2020 but I’m encouraged by the fact that the preliminary accounts for the financial year to the end of June suggest that our finances are still holding up well, despite the recent significant investment in the upgrade of our training course offering. This bodes well for the longer term and I and the other Trustees are cautiously optimistic that we can ride out any temporary downturn arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
One thing you can do to help is to renew your annual membership! These are difficult times but we rely on your subscriptions to deliver the services, activities and events that you expect and deserve as members of a professional society. I greatly value the sense of community and professional pride that membership of ICorr entails and I know that this is reflected across the entire breadth of our membership.
Meanwhile, the success of our online events continues apace, with the Aberdeen Branch holding its second Week of Webinars in conjunction with the Marine Corrosion Forum, and delegates on the Young Engineer Programme attending informative lectures on Cathodic Protection (by Trevor Osborne) and Fire Protection (by Simon Thurlbeck). I would also like to draw your attention to two major conferences coming up in September that will be held online for the first time, the Corrosion Science Symposium (Sept 14-17) and EuroCorr (Sept 7-11). Registration for the CSS is free and I would encourage you to attend as this will be a unique opportunity to catch up on the latest cutting-edge research in corrosion presented by informed and enthusiastic PhD students (see news item later in this magazine – editor).
Two prestigious awards will be presented at these conferences. The first is the U.R. Evans Award, the premier scientific award of the Institute of Corrosion, which will be presented at the CSS to Prof. Robert Cottis of the University of Manchester. The second is the European Corrosion Medal, the major scientific award of the European Federation of Corrosion, which will be presented at EuroCorr to Prof. Stuart Lyon of the University of Manchester. This represents a very impressive double for the university and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Bob and Stuart for these significant achievements.
It’s impossible for me to open this column without mentioning the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The situation is unprecedented in the history of the Institute and is clearly going to dominate the activities and priorities of our members for many months. We have put in place policies, working arrangements and contingency plans where possible but of course there is still a lot of uncertainty. Our main priority is the wellbeing and safety of our members, officers and staff and our thoughts go out to all those who have been affected in any way. I trust that you are all are all following the official government guidelines and looking after each other where possible.
It has been a very difficult time for everyone and the Institute is no exception. Cancellations have hit local branch and division events, committee meetings and training courses. However, it has been great to see our tight knit community rally round and show a positive spirit in the face of adversity. This makes me very proud and I would like to commend you all for your kindness and solidarity!
In other news, now that the rebranding of the Institute has been completed attention has turned to our Digital Strategy, which is racing ahead under the guidance of Bill Hedges and David Horrocks. You will have noticed the weekly blogs that we have been publishing on our website and sharing on our social media platforms. These have been enormously successful in driving traffic to our website and raising awareness of who we are and what we do. We are keen to build on this in the coming months and I would strongly encourage you all to share the blogs as widely as possible, comment on them and stimulate discussion to maximise their impact. We are also planning to hold more of our events online going forward, which should enable us all to stay connected in these challenging circumstances
We are always striving to improve the quality of service we provide to our members and a recent useful addition has been the facility for free download of papers from every EuroCorr conference since 2004, which can now be found in the Members Area of the ICorr website. Credit goes to the eagle eye of Brian Wyatt, who spotted on the EFC website that Member Societies are entitled to this facility. If you are aware of any other benefits that we should be offering to our members, or would like to make any suggestions, please let us know.
One significant change at Corrosion House in the past few weeks has been the retirement of Gwynneth Moore. I would like to thank Gwynneth sincerely for the outstanding job she has done over the past few years, particularly in keeping on top of membership administration, which is by no means an easy task. In fact, such was her dedication to the Institute that she postponed her planned retirement at the end of 2019 to cover a temporary staff shortage in the office, which was very much appreciated by Denise and the Trustees. Her proof reading skills will also be sorely missed. We wish Gwynneth all the best in her retirement – although I wouldn’t be surprised to see her helping out in the office again from time to time!
As one chapter closes another one begins and I am pleased to announce the two latest additions to our office team; Dorota Maliszewska and 
Rebecca Hurst. I’m sure you will join me in offering them a very warm 
welcome to the Institute.
Please keep an eye on the Institute of Corrosion website for updates on our response to the ongoing coronavirus situation. Stay safe and look after 
each other.
Dear Member The Trustees and Council of the Institute would like to invite you to the 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on Thursday 31st October 2019 at the Council Chambers, Chamberlain Room, Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham B1 1BB in conjunction...
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