John Douglas Perkins (born 18 March 1950) is a retired academic, engineering scientist, and government adviser. He held professorships at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, served as President of the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

and was Chief Scientific Adviser to the

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Gordon Brown premiership on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Uni ...

Career

Born on 18 March 1950, Perkins was educated at

, graduating with a first-class

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

in 1971; he was awarded the Hinchley Memorial Medal. He then spent two years studying for a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at Imperial, supported by a studentship from Salters' Institute of Industrial Chemistry, before becoming a demonstrator in chemical engineering at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. In 1977, his PhD was awarded, and in the same year, he returned to Imperial as a lecturer. He was promoted to a senior lectureship in 1983 and then moved to the

in 1985, where for three years he was ICI Professor of Systems Engineering. He then returned to Imperial once more, as Professor of Chemical Engineering in 1988; in 2000, he was promoted to a named chair, the Courtaulds Professorship in Chemical Engineering; he was principal of the Faculty of Engineering from 2001 to 2004. While at Imperial, he was one of a number of people responsible for the start-up and spinning out of PSE Ltd and ParOS. In 2004, he moved to the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, where he was Vice President and Dean of Engineering and Physical Sciences from 2004 to 2009; Manchester then made him an honorary professor on retirement. Between 2012 and 2015, Perkins was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the United Kingdom government's

and authored the Perkins Review of engineering skills. He has since been a director of JP2 Consulting."Perkins, Prof. John Douglas"
''Who's Who'' (online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 27 October 2018.
''University of Manchester''. Retrieved 27 October 2018. Perkins's research relates to

process systems engineering Process engineering is a field of study focused on the development and optimization of industrial processes. It consists of the understanding and application of the fundamental principles and laws of nature to allow humans to transform raw ma ...

Honours and awards

Perkins was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

2007 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2007 were appointments made by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year cele ...

. He is a Fellow of: the

(since 1986), the

Institute of Mathematics and its Applications The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) is the UK's chartered professional body for mathematicians and one of the UK's learned societies for mathematics (another being the London Mathematical Society). The IMA aims to advance ...

(since 1993), the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

(since 1993), the

City and Guilds of London Institute The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has be ...

(since 1996), the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(since 2004), and the

Institute of Engineering and Technology Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow (IET, Lucknow) is a state government-funded technical institute in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is a constituent college of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (erstwhile Utta ...

(since 2015)."John Douglas Perkins"
''Institute of Chemical Engineers''. Retrieved 27 October 2018. He was President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers for the 2000–01 year, and was Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2007 to 2010."Professor John Perkins, CBE, FREng"
''Engineering Professors Council''. Retrieved 27 October 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, John 1950 births British chemical engineers Alumni of Imperial College London Academics of Imperial College London Academic staff of the University of Sydney Academics of the University of Manchester Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Chemical engineering academics Fellows of the Institution of Chemical Engineers