Celebration of 30 years of environmental technology at Imperial College

VIP speakers, alumni, students and staff celebrate course's anniversary - News

By Danielle Reeves
22 October 2007

Staff, students, alumni, VIP speakers, and past and future Rectors of Imperial gathered at the College on Friday 19 October for an event to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the College's MSc in Environmental Technology.

Hosted by the College's Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), the evening event kicked off with a series of four brief talks on climate change and sustainable development. The talks were delivered by specially invited speakers James Cameron of Climate Change Capital, Tom Burke of Rio Tinto, Saleemul Huq from the International Institute for Environment and Development, and Michael Grubb from the Carbon Trust. Following the four talks, the panel took questions from the assembled audience which comprised over 400 former students and staff of the department, as well as the College's former Rector Lord Flowers and Professor Sir Roy Anderson, who will take over as Rector next summer when Sir Richard Sykes retires.

Professor Nigel Bell, Director of the MSc in Environmental Technology said: "This is a wonderful occasion and I am delighted to see so many of our 2300 alumni here. It makes all of us very proud to see them established in such highly successful environmental careers. Over the last 30 years environment has risen on the agenda of all sectors of employment and never has there been a greater need for well trained scientists and managers who can take a holistic interdisciplinary approach to the resolution of environmental problems."

Following short speeches in celebration of 30 years of environmental technology at the College by Professor Bell, Sir Roy and the CEP's Professor Gordon Conway, the CEP hosted a networking dinner and drinks reception at which staff and students, past and present, reminisced about their time at the college and looked forward to continuing their association with the CEP in the future.

James Cameron is one of the world's pre-eminent experts in developing market-based policy responses to climate change. He is Vice Chairman of Climate Change Capital – a leading investment banking group specialising in the commercial opportunities created by a low-carbon economy.

Tom Burke is currently an environmental policy adviser to Rio Tinto plc and a visiting professor at Imperial and UCL. He is a member of the London Sustainable Development Commission and serves on the advisory boards of a number of environmental and other organisations, and has been Specialist Adviser to three Secretaries of State for the Environment.

Saleemul Huq is head of the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development. He is working on research into vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in the least developed countries, and specialises in links between climate change and sustainable development.

The Carbon Trust's Michael Grubb is a leading international researcher on the economic dimensions of, and policy responses to, climate change and energy policy issues - including renewable energy sources. He is also a visiting professor in CEP.

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