Giles Hartill: 138th President, Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Giles joined the Institution as a Young Member in 1999, gaining a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from University College London in 2002. He has worked in the UK defence industry since 2003 and is currently Chief Technologist at AWE Plc, responsible for technology improvements, providing direction on R&D, innovation and experimentation and driving technology integration into capital investments. Giles obtained an MSc in Industrial Materials from Loughborough University in 2008 and became a Chartered Engineer the same year.
He has been volunteering for the Institution since 2004, focusing on supporting career development for members and promoting science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) to schools via various initiatives. Giles started as a Publicity Officer promoting activities and events to Young Members in the Greater London Region (GLR) and was then elected GLR Young Member Panel Chairman, where he greatly expanded the size and diversity of the panel, winning the Young Member Panel of the Year award in the process. Following this he represented Young Members on the Institution’s Young Members Board, Council and Trustee Board.
In 2008, Giles joined the GLR Committee, starting as Publicity Officer and was then elected Hon. Secretary for four years. He became a Fellow of the Institution in 2014 and was elected GLR Chairman, as well as representing members on the IMechE Council and Regional Strategy Board.
Giles served as a Trustee and Vice President (casual vacancy) in 2016-2017, and during this time sponsored the Institution’s digital transformation programme, as well as serving on the Audit & Risk Committee. He was elected as Vice President in 2018 initially chairing the Education and Skills Strategy Board (2018-2019), providing leadership to the profession and society at large by facilitating the inspiration and retention of young people in engineering.
Giles was a member of the team that delivered the 2019 Governance Review and was subsequently a member of the Implementation Group responsible for actioning the Review recommendations and helped the start-up of the refreshed Nominations Committee.
In May 2021, Giles took over as chair of the new Strategy Committee, responsible for developing the long-term vision for the Institution and leading strategic planning activities. Since becoming Deputy President in May 2022, he now also continues to support the Nominations Committee in its important work opening up volunteering opportunities and supporting the improvement of diversity and inclusion across the Institution.