Professor Luis Miguel Madeira, Full Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering of FEUP participated, representing the Order of Engineers, on 28 April 2023 at the meeting of the Working Party on Education of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering as a Portuguese academic delegate.

The meeting held in Athens at the National Technical University of Athens was led by Hermann Feise (BASF), chairman of the WPE/EFCE, and was attended by about 16 elements from various countries in Europe. Among several issues debated, the following should be highlighted:

  • Tribute to John Edward Gillet, who died this year (1 Aug 1937 – 24 Feb 2023), and who was formerly chairman of this working group.
  • Information on some of the EFCE activities, in particular on the Student Mobility Award 2023 and on the ECCE&ECAB 2023 congress (https://ecce-ecab2023.eu/), which will take place from 17 to 21 September in Berlin, namely on the two sessions in the field of education (I1. Education of (bio)-chemical engineers and I2. Motivating high school students for STEM courses).
  • Discussion on the future activities of the WPE, namely: i) involvement of the new generation of lecturers in the activities of this working group, for example by inviting some younger colleagues; ii) approval (unanimously) of the proposal of Lajos Höfler, Associate Prof. from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, to be a guest member of the WPE; and iii) approval (unanimously) of the proposal of Martin Pitt, U. Sheffield (UK), former chair of the WPE (2010-2017), to be an honorary member of this working group.
  • Presentation by Christina Apel, Leuphana University of Luneburg, Germany, on “Skills for Safe-and-Sustainable-by-design materials, processes and products”.
  • Presentation of a summary of the results of the European survey on Engineering Ethics.
  • Presentation by Johannes Buyel, from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, entitled “Digitalization in Education”, followed by a wide-ranging discussion on this very relevant topic within the WPE.