Oluwole Olawale Folayan is a British chartered engineer and academic. He is the 85th President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), Head of Process Engineering at Costain Group, and an Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee. He co-founded the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK), a non-profit organisation.
Education Folayan graduated from the University of Sheffield in 1999 with a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) in Chemical Process Engineering with Fuel Technology. He subsequently earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Fuels and Combustion from the University of Leeds in 2002.
Career
Engineering Folayan began his career as a research assistant at the Energy Research and Resources Institute at the University of Leeds before holding process engineering roles at international firms including Bechtel, SNC-Lavalin, Foster Wheeler, and Petrofac. He later worked at TOTAL E&P UK on offshore gas projects and subsequently held senior engineering leadership roles at Optimus Plus Aberdeen and Costain Group.
Academic Folayan has held an Honorary Professorship at the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Dundee since 2024. He previously held a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship from 2021 to 2024.
Institutional leadership and advocacy In 2007, Folayan co-founded the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK) with his sister, Nike Folayan. The organization addresses the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the engineering workforce. He is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion steering group of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Folayan served as Deputy President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) from June 2025 before becoming its 85th President in June 2026.
Honors and awards 2018: Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) 2021: Recipient of the Diversity and Inclusion Award by the Institution of Chemical Engineers 2023: Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to diversity and inclusion in engineering. 2023: Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, University of Dundee 2025: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng)
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