Smeaton Lecture 2024: John Smeaton, mechanical engineer – rotating machinery, history and legacy

Prof. Anusha Shah

Anusha Shah is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and its president for the 2023-24 session. She’s the third woman and first person of colour to be elected as president in over 200 years of ICE history.

She’s a senior director for resilient cities and UK climate change adaptation lead at Arcadis, a global sustainability, design, engineering and management consulting firm.

She’s also a non-executive director at the Met Office, a trustee at the Green Alliance and a visiting professor at Edinburgh University. She was awarded honorary professorship by the University of Wolverhampton for knowledge transfer and an honorary doctorate of engineering by the University of East London for her services to address climate change.

Anusha specialises in water and environmental engineering and has over 22 years of experience in designing, managing and leading projects and programmes in the UK and internationally.

Anusha sits on various industry climate change groups. She represents Arcadis at the London Climate Change Partnership and the 50L Home Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. She’s a past chair of the Thames Estuary Partnership Board.

Anusha is the recipient of several awards, including the 2020 Top 50 UK Women Engineers Sustainability Award and the CECA Inspiring Change Award. She was recognised by Climate Reframe as one of the UK’s leading Black, Asian and minority ethnic voices on climate change.

Tony Roche

Tony Roche is a hugely experienced engineer and manager with a distinguished career in the railway sector.

He held several senior posts with British Rail, including engineering director for the InterCity fleet; director of mechanical and electrical engineering; chief executive of British Rail Maintenance; deputy managing director of Network South-East; and executive board member for engineering, safety and support services.

On leaving British Rail, he established a consultancy advising on railway management and engineering.

Professor Richard Parker

Ric Parker is an independent special adviser working with a range of organisations in the fields of technology strategy and technology transfer. 

He is a consultant to the Singapore government’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research. He chairs both the Singapore Aerospace Programme and the Singapore Low Carbon Energy Research Programme. He is a distinguished visitor at the UK National Physical Laboratory and a technical adviser to aviation company Boom Supersonic.

Parker retired from his post as director of research and technology at the Rolls-Royce Group in 2016 after 37 years with the company. In that role, he was responsible for research and technology programmes throughout the organisation. He’d held various posts before that, including managing director of the compressor systems business and chief of composites and ceramics. 

In 2013, Parker was honoured with a CBE in recognition of his services to engineering. He was named European CTO of the Year in 2014 by the European Industrial Research Management Association. The following year, he won the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal. In 2019, the Council of European Aerospace Societies recognised him as Engineer of the Year. In 2021, he was awarded the Singapore Public Service Medal.

Parker is a visiting professor in mechanical engineering at Imperial College London (ICL), a visiting professor in aerospace and transport technology at Loughborough University and an honorary professor in materials engineering at the University of Birmingham.

He holds honorary doctorates from ICL, Loughborough University, the University of Sheffield, Heriot-Watt University, the University of Edinburgh, Pusan National University (South Korea) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). 

He is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Institute of Physics, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the City & Guilds of London Institute. He is also a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers.