Tanguy awarded Honorary Fellowship

Philippe Tanguy, vice president of scientific development at international oil and gas company Total has been awarded a certificate of IChemE Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his contributions to chemical engineering.

The presentation took place on Sunday in Prague, Czech Republic at the 7th European Congress of Chemical Engineering. Tanguy was presented with his Honorary Fellowship certificate by past IChemE president and current European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) president Richard Darton.

Tanguy was recognised for his contributions to both academia and industry. Before joining Total earlier this year, Tanguy was based in Canada as a professor of chemical engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal where he is now an adjunct professor. The Honorary Fellowship also recognised Tanguy’s leading role in the successful 2009 World Congress of Chemical Engineering in Montreal.

ICheme ceo David Brown paid tribute to Tanguy at the presentation and says that chemical engineering would benefit from more chemical engineers acquiring Tanguy’s breadth of experience: “Philippe is one of few people in chemical engineering who can really cross the interface between academia and industry at the highest level. If the process industries are to emerge from the recession stronger, better equipped and more resilient, having more chemical engineers with experience like Philippe can only be a good thing.”

Roland Andersson, executive director at the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering worked closely with Tanguy in the build to World Congress and offered his congratulations: “Philippe’s commitment, managerial and sales skills served the international chemical engineering community well as he travelled an estimated 800,000 kilometres around the world for five years to champion World Congress in English, French and Spanish. Philippe is a strong role model for all chemical engineers and is most deserving of the IChemE honorary fellowship.”

Tanguy is the second person to be awarded Honorary Fellowship of IChemE this year. In May, retiring Member of UK Parliament Brian Iddon was recognised for his longstanding support of the chemistry-using industries.

Past recipients of Honorary Fellowship – the highest honour awarded by IChemE – include former UK science minister Lord David Sainsbury, the billionaire chairman of India’s Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani, and Chinese Academy of Science VP, Professor Jinghai Li.