Welcome to the latest edition of Corrosion Management. I have had a lot of positive feedback on the magazine from members recently, particularly regarding the quality of the technical articles, so congratulations to our Editor Brian Goldie on the improvements he has been making. He assures me there is more to come!
This is an exciting time for the Institute, with the recent move to the new Corrosion House at 5 St Peters Gardens in Northampton. Our dedicated office team of Denise, Gwynneth and Sue are now safely installed in the building and the final touches are being made to the furnishings under the watchful eye of Trevor Osborne. On the evening of Thursday 6th June we held a Grand Opening event to celebrate the move to our new home, and all members were warmly invited to attend.
I’m also delighted to announce that Bill Hedges has agreed to take up the vacant position of Vice President of the Institute, subject to a formal vote at the next Council meeting. Bill has been prominent in London Branch activities for many years now, most notably in the development of the Young Engineers Programme, and he brings a wealth of experience and insight from his role as Chief Engineer – Materials at BP. I’m excited about the contribution he can make, and the higher profile he will be able to bring to the Institute during his Presidency.
We have a number of important initiatives coming to the boil at the moment, including a new agreement for provision of ICorr training courses worldwide, a complete overhaul of the Institute brand, a position paper on recruitment and retention of student members, and a proposal for a discounted subscription scheme for retired members. You will be hearing more details about these over the coming months.
In other news, I would like to congratulate one of our members, Liane Smith, who has recently been elected an Honorary Fellow of the European Federation of Corrosion (EFC). This is a significant honour and recognises her impressive contribution to the establishment and continued success of EFC Working Party 13 – Corrosion in Oil & Gas Production. Liane will receive her award at the next EuroCorr conference, which will be held in Seville in September.
Finally, I was privileged to be invited to present the President’s talk at the London branch meeting at Imperial College in March. I chose to discuss the future of the Institute and how we might formulate a longer term strategy to adapt to external drivers, such as the transition to low carbon energy, the digital revolution, the growing generational gap and the UK Industrial Strategy. I was very encouraged by the level of audience engagement throughout the discussion and picked up a lot of great ideas from the members who were there. I plan to repeat the process at the other five branches over the rest of the year and would encourage you all to attend your local branch if you can. Your input is very important to the future of the Institute!
ICorr President, Gareth Hinds.
