Chris Jofeh, Director, Ove Arup & Partners will be presenting on Drivers of Change to an audience at the R&D Society – all welcome – Tuesday 25 April 2006, 6.00pm http://www.rdsoc.org/06L4notice.html

Chris is passionate about the role of engineers in dealing with the challenges posed by the consequences of human activities. Until a generation ago many of these consequences were unforeseen or poorly understood. Now they are becoming all too clear. Four major drivers of change of the built environment are climate, energy, water and demographics.

Arup’s R&D investments have traditionally been pushed by particular project needs or the enthusiasms of individuals. Chris will describe his expectation that in the future Arup’s R&D will be pulled by analysis of the drivers of change that will affect our future.

Chris Jofeh is a structural engineer and a director of Ove Arup & Partners, based in Arup’s Cardiff Bay office since 1991, following 3 years in Los Angeles , where he gained his US professional engineering qualification. His research interests are focused on climate change and the environmental physics of large volume enclosures in hot arid regions. Chris has also worked in Saudi Arabia , Qatar and Kuwait and has taught and lectured in the USA , Hong Kong and Australia . Chris has been responsible for leading multidisciplinary engineering design teams on a wide range of projects. He is currently designing the tallest building in Latin America.