National Volunteering Week (15 – 21 May 2023), Ireland’s largest annual celebration of volunteering, is currently underway.

At Engineers Ireland, we are incredibly proud to participate in this week-long campaign. Our volunteers are the lifeblood of our organisation and play a pivotal role in Engineers Ireland’s community.  The scale and reach of our work is only possible through the enormous contribution of our member-volunteers who give so much to our organisation through a variety of initiatives, such as supporting our STEPS outreach programme, involvement in our Regional branches, Engineering divisions and Societies, by conducting assessments or by participating on committees and boards.

As part of this national campaign, Engineers Ireland will recognise and celebrate the work of members whose volunteering efforts have positively contributed to Ireland’s engineering community. Clyde Road staff were encouraged to put forward members to celebrate as part of this campaign and we are proud to share their stories, achievements, and the impact of their volunteering work throughout this celebratory campaign. 

Beatriz Gilli 

Brazilian native and Civil Engineer Beatriz Gilli is a Site Inspector and Quality Control Manager at PMG Civil & Structural Consulting Engineers, here in Ireland.   

Beatriz is an advocate for the recognition and support of professionals from Brazil, with her work recognized by the Ambassador of the Brazilian Embassy in Ireland.    

Prior to becoming a member of Engineers Ireland in 2020, Beatriz was actively engaged with Engineers Ireland’s Global Engineers Series, supporting and promoting the series among the Brazilian community.  

Beatriz is committed to supporting the Global Engineering community to achieve their career goals in Europe. She founded the EU.engineer project, an online channel that aims to help Brazilian engineers and architects to understand the European market. The channel currently has over 8,000 followers and over 135 videos have been published, highlighting success stories of Brazilian engineers who are working in Europe.  

Beatriz has also participated in numerous events organised by Engineers Ireland, including professional networking events, CPD training, and workshops. 

Denis Hardi 

Denis Hardi is a Renewable and Electrical Energy Engineering student at TUS Limerick and is an active volunteer and supporter of our STEPS, Sectors, Global Engineers and Student Membership programmes and events. 

Denis joined Engineers Ireland in 2020 as a student member. Currently, he is Chair of the Thomond region’s Young Engineers Society and a member of the Cork region’s Young Engineers Society committee. Denis is also a Student Ambassador and formed the Engineering Society at TUS Limerick. He is also working on the expansion of the Young Engineers Society to the Midlands region.  

As an active volunteer and student member, Denis has helped to host events and activities across the Thomond region for YES members. He also proposed and helped organise the first Croatia Global Engineers event to support and engage Croatian engineers living, studying, and working in Ireland. Additionally, Denis helped to form relationships between Tyndall National Institute, Cork and Engineers Ireland. 

Denis was also involved in the Explore Engineering Showcase at Shannon Airport, with Denis encouraging his peers and other YES members to attend the event where they engaged and inspired young people about studies and careers in STEM. 

Professor Edward Jones  

Professor Edward Jones is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of Engineers Ireland. He is a Professor in Electrical & Electronic Engineering at the University of Galway, where he has also served as Head of the School of Engineering, and as Vice-Dean for Planning, Performance and Strategy in the College of Engineering & Informatics.  

Professor Jones is a long-standing member of Engineers Ireland and has volunteered his time as a member of the Accreditation Board, and as an active accreditation volunteer and Panel Chair over many years. He has also served as a member of the Engineers Ireland West Region Committee. Internationally, he represents Engineers Ireland on the EUR-ACE Label Committee, which makes recommendations to the Administrative Council of the European Network for the Accreditation of Engineering Education. He has also served as a Washington Accord reviewer for the International Engineering Alliance. 

Professor Barry McMullin 

Professor Barry McMullin is Chair of the Energy, Environment and Climate Action division of Engineers Ireland. He is a full Professor of Engineering at the School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University and a member of the Board of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). His recent research has focused on the application of multi-gas greenhouse gas budgets in national climate action scenarios. 

Barry has previously also served as a member of Engineers Ireland accreditation panels. With his knowledge, insights and clear-thinking capability, Barry has provided his time and expertise to support the development of Government submissions and policy papers within Engineers Ireland. He has also invested his time and efforts to expand the Energy, Environment and Climate Action division and learning opportunities for our members. 

April Mangan 

Chartered Engineer April Mangan is a Project Manager with Uisce Éireann and is a member of the Council of Engineers Ireland, the Executive and Business Society committee and a supporter of our Cork Regional Branch.  

As a long-standing member of Engineers Ireland, April has generously donated her skills, expertise and time for the benefit of our engineering community and has been integral in supporting our members and promoting the standing of the profession and its practitioners.  

April is an advocate for our STEPS programme and is also incredibly supportive of our communications and advocacy work. Within Uisce Éireann, April also encourages her engineering colleagues to actively partake in our engineering community, by presenting at CPD or Sector events or by hosting site visits to various Uisce Éireann sites across Ireland, encouraging them to tell the story of why and how engineers work to make all our lives better and through that work help our communities to thrive.  

Sean Mason  

Sean Mason is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland, a Director of Arup, Chair of the International Advisory Group and former Board member of the Irish Red Cross, and a lifelong supporter of community engagement. 

In 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Engineers Ireland was approached by the Irish Red Cross seeking help with the assessment of vacant properties for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the crisis.   

Sean has played a pivotal role in leading Engineers Ireland’s response, chairing information webinars for volunteers and developing an online accommodation assessment survey form for volunteer assessors. Some 380 members have signed-up for assessment of properties throughout the country, with the project now in its second year.  Sean provides strategic advice to IRC’s Secretary General, and has also led an Arup team supporting the IRC migration team in Dublin deal with the massive increase in workload. 

Back in 2004/2007 Sean chaired Engineers Ireland’s Developing World Protocol, providing remote engineering support from Irish companies and public sector organisations to NGOs in the field. Sean has also led Arup in the voluntary design and construction of a secondary school in Pajule, northern Uganda. 

Stephen Seymour  

Stephen Seymour is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of Engineers Ireland. He has 38 years’ experience in the construction industry and has worked for a contractor in the UK and Hong Kong, for Kildare County Council and for TJ O’Connor & Associates in Ireland. He currently works as Head of Portfolio Office for Uisce Éireann on the delivery of a circa €1 billion per year capital investment plan. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. 

As a long-standing member of Engineers Ireland, Stephen has made a significant impact on our engineering community by investing considerable time as a volunteer over many years to help foster high standards and champion excellence within our organisation.  

Stephen has played a significant role on the Board of Examiners, which does vital work in supervising and quality assuring our professional review procedures leading to the award of our Registered Professional Titles, from 2012 to his current position as Chair. He has been involved as a regular contributor to professional interview panels and is an adjudicator for the Chartered Engineer of the Year award. 

Stephen has been a member of the Ethics and Disciplinary Board for several years, a standing committee of Council responsible for promoting, monitoring and enforcing the Code of Ethics in 2009. He is also an active member of the Engineers Ireland Council and Executive Board. 

Get Involved

Members are encouraged to follow our nominees’ stories on Twitter and LinkedIn throughout National Volunteering Week and to share their own volunteering stories and achievements using the official campaign hashtags #ConnectingCommunities

To find out more about volunteering opportunities with Engineers Ireland,  visit: https://www.engineersireland.ie/Professionals/Communities-Groups/Volunteer