ÂÒÂ×Ðã

The King’s Birthday Honours List 2023 marks the incredible public service of individuals from across the UK in a range of sectors, and this year includes ÂÒÂ×Ðã staff, alumni and members of our wider community.

Prof Eva Sorensen, Head of Department at ÂÒÂ×Ðã Chemical Engineering has been awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to Education and Chemical Engineering. Prof Eva Sorensen will be invited to attend an Investiture by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood to collect her award later this year.

Prof Sorensen has been a valued member of ÂÒÂ×Ðã staff for over two decades. Her highlighted achievements include winning the ÂÒÂ×Ðã Faculty of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002, becoming an ExxonMobil Teaching Fellow in 2013, winning the PROSE Award for Chemistry & Physics in 2015, as well as winning the IChemE's Frank Morton Medal in 2017 and a SEFI Fellowship Award in 2018. In 2020 she was appointed Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, becoming the first female to hold this position since the department opened 100 years ago.

Commenting on her award, Prof Sorensen, said: "It is a tremendous honour for me to have received an MBE, particularly as an immigrant. I have been in the UK for nearly 30 years, but only became a British citizen quite recently.

"I became an academic because I enjoy working with the sort of brilliant young people we have at ÂÒÂ×Ðã. Over the years, I have taken great satisfaction from seeing thousands of graduates going through our chemical engineering programmes and becoming professional engineers, working in a wide range of sectors.

"Throughout this time, I have been proud to work with the Institution of Chemical Engineers to promote the discipline. I hope that in that time I have made some contribution to the vital work that Chemical Engineers have been doing in solving some of the pressing global challenges that we are currently facing, particularly on sustainability, climate change and global health.

"I am especially indebted to the Faculty of Engineering Sciences here at ÂÒÂ×Ðã, which has enabled and encouraged me throughout this time and has allowed me to do the work for which I am now receiving this award."

Prof Nigel Titchener-Hooker, Dean of ÂÒÂ×Ðã Engineering, added: "Eva has been a devoted professional giving huge energy and vision to the IChemE and to chemical engineers both at ÂÒÂ×Ðã, nationally and internationally. This national honour is a brilliant recognition of her transformative inputs and the impact that these have made."

Links:

• ÂÒÂ×Ðã staff and alumni recognised in King’s Birthday Honours

Image credit:

Prof Eva Sorensen