Process and Chemical Engineering BE/ME Industry Advisory Board Meeting 2023.

IChemE President David Bogle paid a visit to UCC on 4 May 2023, meeting with both students and staff.

The UCC Process and Chemical Engineering team of Eli Lilly academics visited Eli Lilly, Dunderrow on 24 November 2022.

Dr Archishman Bose was appointed Eli Lilly lecturer in Process & Chemical Engineering from 1 August 2022.

The winning UCC student Macnab-Lacey design project team received their award at the UCC Process and Chemical Engineering Annual Awards evening in the Aula Max on 29^th March 2022 from IChemE All Ireland Chair Philip Healy of PM Group. The prize is awarded annually by the IChemE's Sustainability Subject Interest Group to the undergraduate student design project team whose design project submission best shows how chemical engineering practice can contribute to a more sustainable world.

The UCC team were joint winners for 2021 with the University of Manchester.

https://www.icheme.org/knowledge/medals-and-prizes/special-interest-groups/macnab-lacey-prize/

It’s not all theory in the ME programme.  In October, Mark Ivors, process safety director for Merck worldwide, led a half-day workshop as part of the Advanced Process Safety module. Under Mark’s guidance, the ME students worked through actual cases, identifying the hazards in a process and designing safeguards to address them.   How many safeguards do you need and how confident are you that they’ll all act correctly if called on in anger?  Such practical contributions from industry really enlivens the material for students and is much appreciated. 

Photo shows Dermot O'Sullivan and Mark Ivors (Merk Worldwide) with MEng students

Process and Chemical Engineering staff have been recognised with two professorial promotions; that of Professor Jorge Oliveira and Professor Maria de Sousa Gallagher. 

This brings to three the number of professors in the discipline for the first time since it was founded in 1927 (it has only had four to date). Professor Oliveria also leads UCC School of Engineering and Architecture as Head of School, and the first Chemical Engineer to do so. 

Warmly welcoming the news, Professor Ed Byrne reflected that it is testament to the hard work and commitment of the successful colleagues, while noting that it is serves to underline the strong growth of Process & Chemical Engineering in both student and staff numbers over the past number of years.

The UCC BE in Process & Chemical Engineering is delighted to be recognised as a fully accredited MEng (‘F−Standard’) programme by the Institution of Chemical Engineering, following a recent accreditation visit.

This follows an unsuccessful application in 2015, where programme deficiencies were highlighted, primarily around human resources.

A huge WELL DONE to the following 1st year Engineering students, who have been awarded UCC Quercus Entrance Scholarships at a ceremony which took place on 28th November 2017.

Grainne Donegan, Colaiste Na Sceilge, Cahirciveen, Co Kerry; Engineering.

Daragh Crowley, Beara Community School, Castletownbere, Co Cork; Electrical & Electronic Engineering.

Brian O'Callaghan, St Francis Capuchin College, Rochestown, Cork; Process & Chemical Engineering.

Andrew Cooke, Ballincollig Community School, Ballincollig, Co Cork; Electrical & Electronic Engineering.

Daniel Maguire, Gaelcholaiste Mhuire, An Mhainistir Thuaidh, Corcaigh; Process & Chemical Engineering.

Niamh Kelly, Mount Mercy College, Model Farm Road, Cork; Process & Chemical Engineering.

Adina-Elena Zagoneanu, Mount Mercy College, Model Farm Road, Cork; Process & Chemical Engineering.

The Process & Chemical Engineering Awards Night 2017 was held on Monday, 27th November 2017 from 6.30 pm in the Aula Maxima, UCC. PM Group, Eli Lilly, Abbvie and Janssen all presented awards on the night to some of our undergraduate students and graduates from the Class of 2017. Huge thanks go to all of the representatives from our industry award sponsors. We thank you all for taking the time from your busy schedules, to come and celebrate and reward excellence in engineering with us. We had a lovely mix of staff, students, parents, graduates and industry representatives. It was a truly enjoyable evening.

Dr. Jonathan O’Sullivan, PCE graduate from the Class of 2010 and now a Process Development Engineer with Unilever, delivered a lecturer on Process Scale Up to the PE4001 Advanced Process Design class in UCC today.

UCC/PCE students First Runners-Up in ESB Inter-Colleges Challenge

The team representing UCC at the ESB Inter-Colleges Challenge in the IMI, Sandyford recently included three Process & Chemical Engineers, and came first Runners-Up to a strong TCD outfit.

The team was made up of the following members:

Hannah Bredin, 2^nd Process & Chemical Engineering (Captain)

David Fogarty, 2^nd Process & Chemical Engineering

Fionn Roche, 2^nd Process & Chemical Engineering

Colin Maher, 2^nd Finance

The All-Ireland IChemE Chemical Engineering Sports Day 2017 was hosted by University of Limerick on Friday, 3rd November 2017. It was a hugely successful event with 4 out of the 5 Irish Chemical Engineering Departments, and almost 200 students in attendance. University of Limerick, University College Dublin, CIT and UCC all competed for the trophy (Queens didn't attend this year). And UCC won it again!

The team from second year Process & Chemical Engineering with their Business colleague that earlier in the month won the ESB Case Studies Competition have repeated their success with Climathon, a competition hosted by the Environmental Research Institute on October 27th and co-sponsored by ERI, UCC Blackstone and UCC Green Campus.  

Mr Matt Garvey of Simulation Solutions (USA) was guest lecturer with 4^th years Process & Chemical Engineering studying PE4001 Advanced Process Design on Monday 9^th of October 2017. 

On Friday October 6th, twelve second-year Process & Chemical Engineering students took part, with Finance students, in the ESB-sponsored Case Studies Challenge, run by Blackstone Launchpad in the Creative Zone of the Boole Library.  

Kevin Gibson from the BE(Hons) Process & Chemical class of 2011, now working with PM Group, came to UCC on Monday, 18th September 2017 with Peter O'Sullivan of PM Group to speak to our Final year class about Design Considerations for Buffer Solutions in Biopharmaceutical Design.  

Dr Elena Tsalaporta has been appointed as a Lecturer in Process & Chemical Engineering starting September 2017. Dr Tsalaporta completed degrees in Chemical Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and at University College Dublin, where she completed her PhD. She also has industrial process engineering experience and joins UCC from Trinity College Dublin where her work involved Carbon Capture and Sequestration.

A new Professor of Biopharmaceutical Engineering, funded through the generous support of Eli Lilly, has just been opened/advertised by UCC.
Closing date for applications is 12th October 2017.

BCD Engineering Links up with UCC to encourage hands-on learning

Building on a tradition of developing innovative award-winning teaching, Process & Chemical Engineering (PCE), School of Engineering has collaborated with BCD Engineering to develop a specialised hands-on learning toolkit.

2017 Eli Lilly PhD Research Scholarships: Process & Chemical Engineering Opportunities

The UCC BE degree in Process & Chemical Engineering was awarded the 2016 IChemE Sustainability Teaching Award by incoming IChemE President John McGagh at the IChemE AGM and Awards at the ICC Birmingham on 10^th May 2017.

On Monday, 8^th May 2017, the department of Process & Chemical Engineering, UCC were honoured by a visit from the current IChemE President, Professor Jonathan Seville.

Prof Seville delivered a lecture to Chemical Engineering faculty and students entitled “Why Chemical Engineers (Like You!) Need an Institution”. He was accompanied by Neil Atkinson, Director of Qualifications & International Development at IChemE and Neil Young, UK Membership and Marketing Development Manager.

To mark the historic occasion of the first time that an IChemE President had visited UCC, he and his colleagues were each presented a copy of the definitive history of UCC as a memento. 

Following from the success of previous events, which attracted hundreds of pupils from over 40 secondary schools across Munster, we are delighted to invite you to our Fifth School of Engineering Industry and Careers Day on Thursday, 30th March 2017 in Devere Hall, UCC. If you are interested in attending, please contact Anne-Marie McSweeney (Industry) at a.mcsweeney@ucc.ie or Ralph O'Flaherty (Schools) at r.oflaherty@ucc.ie to register. 

UCC’s Process & Chemical Engineering degree have just been announced as winners of the 2016 Institution of Chemical Engineering Sustainability Teaching Award.

This award, which was first awarded to University College London in 2015, is designed ‘to encourage the teaching of sustainability to undergraduate chemical engineers’.

UCC’s programme came out on top in 2016 following stiff international competition from what the adjudication panel described as ‘other excellent entries from Manchester University and Melbourne University’ (Manchester's entry was highly commended).

In the case of UCC’s Process & Chemical Engineering degree, the IChemE judges declared themselves ‘particularly impressed by your integration of sustainability teaching across the curriculum, with good examples of interdisciplinary projects and varied assessment with student comments indicating their appreciation of the approach.’

A huge WELL DONE to the following 1st year Engineering students, who have been awarded UCC Quercus Entrance Scholarships at a ceremony which took place on 7th December 2016.

David Moloney, John The Baptist Community School, Hospital, Co Limerick; Engineering.
Conor Healy, Colaiste An Chraoibhin, Fermoy, Co Cork; Electrical & Electronic.
Conor Steele, Colaiste An Chraoibhin, Fermoy, Co Cork; Process & Chemical.
David Murphy, St Fachtna's De La Salle, Skibbereen, Co Cork; Process & Chemical.
Alannah Hill, Kinsale Community School, Kinsale, Co Cork; Process & Chemical.
William Hennessy, Christian Brothers College, Sidney Hill, Cork; Engineering.
Timothy O'Sullivan, Christian Brothers College, Sidney Hill, Cork; Process & Chemical.
Colm Power, Christian Brothers College, Sidney Hill, Cork; Process & Chemical.

UCC wishes to appoint a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Process & Chemical Engineering.  Reporting to the Head of the School of Engineering, the successful candidate will undertake research and teaching in fundamental or applied chemical engineering with particular applications in the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical or bioprocessing sectors, or relating to research in sustainability, the environment or energy.

Professor Edmond Byrne and fellow book Editors Dr Ger Mullally and Dr Colin Sage were invited to Áras an Uachtaráin on Wednesday 14^th December to present a copy of 'Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Transitions to Sustainability' to President Michael D. Higgins. 

The inaugural Process & Chemical Engineering Awards Night was held on Wednesday, 23^rd November from 6.30 pm in the Aula Maxima, UCC. PM Group, Eli Lilly, Abbvie and Janssen all presented awards on the night to some of our undergraduate students and graduates from the Class of 2016. Huge thanks go to Professor Liam Marnane, Head of the School of Engineering, Neil Young, UK Membership & Market Development Manager for the IChemE and all of the representatives from our industry award sponsors. We thank you all for taking the time from your busy schedules, to come and celebrate and reward excellence in engineering with us. We had a lovely mix of staff, students, parents, graduates and industry representatives. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Congratulations to BEP1 student, Ciara Leonard who was awarded a coveted Intel Women in Technology Scholarship 2016 at a special ceremony held on Friday, November 4th 2016 in Dublin.

The second IChemE All-Ireland Chemical Engineering Sports Day was hosted by Queens University Belfast on Friday, 7th October 2016. Similar to the Frank Morton Sports Day organised by chemical engineering students in IChemE-accredited UK and Irish Universities, it was a hugely successful event held in Queens University Sports Center with 4 out of the 5 Irish Chemical Engineering Departments, and almost 200 students, in attendance; University of Limerick, University College Dublin, Queens and UCC (our neighbors CIT didn't attend). 

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PM Group was established in 1973 and has grown to become one of the most respected engineering design, architecture, project and construction management firms in the world.

As can be seen from our Alumni page, they employ a large amount of graduates from the BE (Hons) Process & Chemical Engineering. They employed 8 of the 22 graduates from the Class of 2016 alone!

A new book on ‘Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Transitions to Sustainability’ was launched on Monday evening 19 Sept. in the Aula Max.

This Routledge publication involves four authors from the School of Engineering (Prof. Edmond Byrne (editor), Prof. Brian Ó Gallachóir, Dr Paul Deane and Dr Alessandro Chiodi) as well as authors from across the Colleges of SEFS, CACSS and B&L at UCC.

Well what a day! We are delighted to report that the 4th School of Engineering Industry and Open Day, held on Friday 11th March 2016 in Devere Hall, UCC was another huge success. With over 320 captivated students from secondary schools across Munster, a brilliant display of Final Year Research Project posters, and a stellar lineup of speakers, we are looking forward to next year already.

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Following from the success of last year's event, which attracted 420 pupils from over 40 secondary schools in Munster, we are delighted to invite you to our Fourth School of Engineering Industry and Open Day on 11^th March 2016 in Devere Hall, UCC. If you are interested in attending, please contact Anne-Marie McSweeney (Industry) at a.mcsweeney@ucc.ie or Ralph O'Flaherty (Schools) at r.oflaherty@ucc.ie to register. 

The Frank Morton Sports Day (abbreviated to FM) is an annual sporting competition between the students of chemical engineering departments from UK and Irish Universities.

On Tuesday 9^th of February, Mr Jerry Larkin Plant Reliability Engineer and Mr Edward Kelly Project Manager from GE Healthcare gave a guest lecture entitled “Engineering at Work” to the 77 students studying PE1003 Introduction to Process & Chemical Engineering with lecturer Dr. Denis Ring. 

Janssen is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical organisations, and is part of the Johnson & Johnson Group of companies, the largest diversified healthcare group in the world. Janssen Pharmaceutical has been manufacturing bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients in Cork since 1981. Janssen Biologics established its operation in Ringaskiddy in 2005 on a 100 acre site producing biomedicines for the treatment of immune related diseases and also new and innovative cancer treatments. 

Cait Burns (BEP1) and Vera O'Riordan (BEG1) are among the 17 female students awarded the INTEL Women in Technology Scholarships for 2015. The scholars were celebrated at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, 18th November 2015 in Dublin. 

Well done to you both, we are very proud of you.

Each recipient will receive €2,000 per year for their studies, work placements on campus in Intel’s Leixlip plant and a mentor throughout their academic career.

The 17 ladies join a programme that has seen €160,000 invested in the past three years and which aims to encourage women to start careers in science and technology.

The Inaugural IChemE All-Ireland Chemical Engineering Sports Day was hosted by University of Limerick on Friday, 6th November 2015. Similar to the Frank Morton Sports Day organised by chemical engineering students in IChemE-accredited UK and Irish Universities, it was well supported by students in Ireland, who would find it difficult to raise the necessary funds to travel to the UK.

Congratulations to all of the UCC Quercus Scholars 2015, and especially to our own Final year student Calvin O'Callaghan - back row and third from left hand side :-)

On Monday, 19th October 2015, the AbbVie Award for Excellence in Engineering was presented for the first time. The award is based on the combined total of marks in the following modules:

PE3009 Pharmaceutical Engineering

PE3013 Process Validation and Quality

PE4002 Optimisation and Continuous Process Improvement

PE4006 Design Project

The graduating student with the highest marks in these four modules was Aibhín O'Brien. She was presented with a commemorative medal to the value of €150 and a cheque to the value of €300 by Dr Philip O'Connell of AbbVie in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, himself a UCC graduate.

On Monday, 19th October 2015 at 10.00, another class of the brightest and the best were conferred with their BE (Hons) Process & Chemical Engineering degrees. 

We have enjoyed getting to know you all, and we hope that you will always keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on and where your careers take you. 

Congratulations! Be brilliant and have fun :-)

4^th Year Process & Chemical Engineering Students who attended a “Continuous Processing in the Pharmaceutical Industry” workshop/seminar at Eli Lilly. 

School of Engineering academic Dr Edmond Byrne has just been awarded the Richard Trevithick Memorial Prize (2015) by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Pictured above is the award being presented at the Institution of Civil Engineers headquarters at One Great George Street, London by the President of the Institution, Professor David Balmforth.

PM Group, Engineers Ireland Young Engineers Society (Cork Region) and the All Ireland Member Group of the IChemE will host an information evening of interest to engineers of all disciplines.

On the 28^th of September Mr Adrian Dennehy presented a lecture on “Due Diligence In Engineering” to Process & Chemical Engineering students at University College Cork as part of their Final Year Degree,  Advanced Process Design Module.  

The lecture highlighted the engineering considerations for a biomass project which is complicated by a number of technical factors associated with the biomass fuel sources, fuel availability and fuel quality and their impacts on plant design e.g. boiler design and abatement systems.  Non-technical issues include complex contractual arrangements to ensure a reliable, homogenous fuel supply, interface agreements between respective contracting parties, and conditions relating to environmental requirements.

On Monday,14th of September Mr Peter O'Sullivan, Process Group Manager with Project Management Group (PMG) along with colleagues Mr Sean Tully (Dublin Office) and Mr Conor Barry, a recent UCC Process & Chemical Engineering Graduate, gave a presentation to final year degree students on their experience and expertise in the field of Scheduling Optimisation.

A paper entitled ‘Educating engineers to embrace complexity and context’ by Dr Edmond Byrne, co-authored with Dr Gerard Mullally, has been chosen as winner of the Richard Trevithick Memorial Prize (2015) for best paper in the ‘Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability’ journal (167(6), 241-248). 

We are delighted to announce our Third School of Engineering Industry and Open Day on 20^th March 2015 in Devere Hall, UCC. If you are interested in attending, please contact Anne-Marie McSweeney in the SOE at A.McSweeney@ucc.ie to register. As noted below we will have speakers with expertise across the engineering spectrum from buildings to energy to IT to medical technology and pharmaceuticals to global project delivery. We look forward to interesting and informative presentations and some lively debate to follow.

"It is well documented that we simply are not producing the numbers of engineers the market requires. This has been exacerbated by a bias in the early part of the century towards other industries. There is now a real shortage of qualified engineers with 5-10 years experience in manufacturing operations."

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in London has shared a list of celebrities with MailOnline to highlight the breadth of appeal of engineering.

Active Engagement with Industry and Tomorrow’s Process Engineers

PM Group believe that engaging the engineers of tomorrow is vital to their future and the Cork Office has been reaching out to local engineering courses, showing students the impact and challenges that their careers can bring. 

On Monday the 24^th of November, representatives from Eli Lilly and each of the Chemical Engineering degrees across the island of Ireland (UCC , QUB, CIT, UL, UCD) gathered in University College Cork along with 1^st year students from CIT and UCC  to launch the 5 years IChemE student membership sponsorship.

Our BE (Hons) Process & Chemical Engineering Class of 2014 were conferred with their degree parchments on Tuesday, 28th October 2014. The Irish Examiner printed this great photo of a few of the class on Wednesday, 29th October. What a fantastic looking group of Engineers they all are!

Kevin Gibson Nominated for IChemE Young Engineer of the Year Award YET AGAIN!

Kevin Gibson (Class of 2011) has been shortlisted for the IChemE Young Chemical Engineer of the Year Award for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW!!!

The late Joe Gantly, who was a Civil Engineering graduate of Trinity College Dublin, made a significant contribution to industry and education in the Cork area. He served as Director of European Operations at Apple Computers, President of Cork Chamber, Chairman of the Cork Airport Authority and as a Governor of UCC.

In order to commemorate his contribution to Cork’s business community (and to UCC), Cork Chamber has kindly donated a sum of €1,500 per annum to establish the Joe Gantly Prize in Engineering. The prize will be awarded each year to the Best Student(s) on the Work Placement module in the BE (Hons) programmes at UCC.

PhD Position Available - Innovative process technologies for the fresh produce industry "innoFresh"

MEng Position Available - Development of risk assessment tools of package/product systems for a safe and sustainable food chain "RISKTOOLS"

Applications are now being taken for the part-time PG Diploma / MEngSc in Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Engineering via www.ucc.ie/apply. The course is designed as a formal educational qualification in areas of particular concern to the bio/pharmaceutical industry, such as product containment, powder/particle technology, design of API and secondary production facilities, current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP), design of classified facilities, aseptic processing facility design and validation.

Listen to what Engineers say about careers in Engineering! Great job prospects, fantastic salaries, interesting and varied careers, and a chance to make the world a better place ... what are you waiting for? Choose CK601 for Process & Chemical; CK602 for Civil & Environmental; CK603 for Energy and CK605 for Electrical & Electronic and start your future TODAY!

There will be an expected 2.74 million job openings in engineering companies in the years up to 2020, with 1.86 million of those needing people with engineering skills...

Some of the School of Engineering students from Process & Chemical, Civil, Energy, and Electrical & Electronic Engineering, who are taking PE1003 Introduction to Process & Chemical Engineering, visited Eli Lilly's plant in Dunderrow, Kinsale, Co Cork with their lecturer Dr Denis Ring, on Tuesday 4^th March 2014.

With a distinguished speaker line-up and poster presentations from our final year students in Electrical & Electronic, Energy and Process & Chemical Engineering, the Second Engineering and Industry Open Day will be well worth a visit. To register, please email Anne-Marie McSweeney on a.mcsweeney@ucc.ie

James McBrien of Shell will speak to staff and students of the School of Engineering, UCC on Friday, 7th March at 12:00 in Boole 3. He will talk about the Oil & Gas/Petrochemical industry and conduct a workshop on Natural Gas Field Development Considerations.

Recruitment consultants Morgan McKinley have just published an Engineering salary survey for 2014. Read on for more ...

The UCC Postgraduate Open Day 2014 will take place in Devere Hall, Student Centre on Tuesday, 4th February from 11.00 am until 3.00 pm. 

UCC President Dr. Michael Murphy (Photo: Right) has appointed Nabeel Riza, UCC Chair Professor of Electrical & Electronic  Engineering (EEE) & former EEE Dept Head 2011-2013, as the new Head of the School of Engineering (SoE) effective June 2013.

UCC President Michael Murphy with Prof Nabeel Riza marking the occassion of the Publication of Prof Riza's new text book. 

Dr Vivek Verma appointed UCC Futures Pharmaceuticals Lecturer in Process and Chemical Engineering within the School of Engineering and Architecture (May 2024).