Chair of Redhills CIO Trustees, Chris McDonald, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the profession.
Chris, who is from Blackhall, has been part of the region’s brass band movement since childhood, including as a member of the Durham Miners’ Association Brass Band.
He has a long association with the Durham Miners’ Gala. He describes Redhills as a place with a strong emotional attachment, where ordinary working people, including members of his own family, worked to improve their communities.
What does Chris do as well as being Chair of Redhills?
Chris is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Materials Processing Institute, a not-for-profit steel research centre based in Teesside, which he rescued from closure in 2014. He holds several national roles associated with industry and decarbonisation. Chris’s background is in the steel industry, which he joined upon leaving school before studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Having benefited from these opportunities himself, Chris recently established a scholarship programme to provide support for students from the region studying at a UK university.
We are honoured and delighted that Chris brings the benefit of his experience in establishing and running an organisation with a strong ethical focus to support the success of Redhills and re-establish it as a force for good in the region for generations to come.
A fellowship is one of the highest honours an engineer can receive in the UK; the Fellowship brings together the most successful and talented people to use their expertise to advance and promote excellence in science, engineering, and technology.
This year’s new Fellows include Sir Patrick Valance, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser.
Nominated and elected by existing Fellows, Chris McDonald joins a community of almost 1,700 eminent engineers dedicated to building a sustainable society and an inclusive economy.
Watch the video below to see Chris talk about the exciting future for Redhills at the 2021 Bright Ideas Gathering