Top Cork engineering consultant to lead UK industry group

David McHugh, COO of Fehily Timoney engineering consultants in Cork, has been named as the new president of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management.

UK-based CIWEM is the chartered professional body dedicated to sustainable management of the environment globally. Fehily Timoney celebrates 30 years in business this year.

David leads the energy and planning department at Fehily Timoney, while he is also responsible for operations across the company.

He will be inducted as president in an open event at UCC on September 12, with an address by Prof Jerry D Murphy, chair and Professor of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering at UCC and Director of MaREI.

Prof Patrick O’Shea, president of UCC, said:

As one of the world’s leading universities in sustainability, we at UCC are delighted and proud of our alumnus David for this recognition of his accomplishments.

David McHugh says he looks forward to being the 33rd president of 10,000-member CIWEM. He will focus on mobilising the technical community to take action on the climate crisis and become effective change agents.

“This is an expanded role for us in the technical community, he said.

“The scientific disciplines have traditionally focused on establishing facts and analyses, which are in turn used by policymakers to inform their work.

“However, we need to become more vocal in promoting the most appropriate policy responses; indeed, we need to create champions of our members, as CIWEM noted in its declaration of a climate and ecological emergency in July 2019.

"In taking on this new advocacy role, we will need a new skill set.”