IMechE President Giles Hartill's 5-Day Visit to India and Sri Lanka: A Recap

President of IMechE, Giles Hartill, visited India and Sri Lanka between 27 November and 1 December 2023 for a 5-day visit. Many activities were organised by the IMechE Southern Asia Region (SAR) Committee in welcoming Giles to the region.

On Day 1, IMechE President and Farah Baksh, Global Relationship Manager visited the statue of IMechE Member Sir Ganga Ram and the hospital that was named after him. Sir Ganga Ram was one of our first Indian members. Find out more about him via our archives here.

Next was a visit to key account, WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering and professional services firms. IMechE and WSP work in partnership to support its engineers with professional registration Eng Tech, Ieng, and CEng. The president attended the India Branch committee meeting in the evening.

On Day 2, a visit to Atkinsrealis was made and a presentation on the IMechE strategy and Professional Registration was delivered. Further, four Engineering Heritage awards were awarded by the IMechE President at the National Rail Museum, India. On Day 3 the delegates made a tour of the key account JCB, India, and the India visit was concluded. Giles continued his visit to Sri Lanka, participating in an official meeting with representatives of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) and the Engineering Council, Sri Lanka (ECSL) on extending the MoU.  On the Same afternoon, he participated in the IMechE Southern Asia Region (SAR) meeting at the Hotel Galadari, Colombo, Sri Lanka with delegates from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. In the evening Giles delivered the George Stephenson Lecture during the IMechE Sri Lanka Group annual dinner event at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo.

On the last day of the visit, Giles visited the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He delivered the keynote speech at the Student Chapter AGM and gave away the IMechE annual awards and awarded projects with the best entrepreneurship potential to the student members. In the afternoon, he visited the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka and witnessed student projects supported by IMechE. Further, Giles met the Student Chapter representatives and participated in a gathering sharing his experience of volunteering for IMechE.