Making Singapore Proud: IES Emeritus President Er. Tan Seng Chuan is WFEO’s New President

SINGAPORE (December 07, 2023) – For the first time in its history, the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) has selected Singaporean Er. Tan Seng Chuan to be its President at the organisation’s general assembly, which was held in Prague, Czech Republic on October 14, 2023.

This is the first time a Singaporean national will assume the leadership in a global-level engineering body. WFEO is a high-level international organisation for the field of engineering, with more than 100 member nations representing over 30 million engineers across the world. Founded in 1968 as part of UNESCO, and is a co-leader of the scientific and technological community group of the United Nations.

Er. Tan Seng Chuan was selected to represent Singapore at the WFEO general assembly, where he received the majority of votes which secured his place as the next President of the organisation. He will take on his new role in Shanghai, China in 2025, for a period of two years.

“I am honoured to be elected as the President-Elect of WFEO and humbled by the support and trust of WFEO members and IES Council. In the face of global challenges facing the world, I am committed to advancing key fundamentals in engineering to ensure our profession remains forefront, relevant and vibrant. My top goals are to continue to raise engineering education standards in developing countries, enhance capacity building in creating career progression pathways to support the mobility of engineers, contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to build climate resilience, improve the financial health of WFEO and promote WFEO in the global network,” said Er. Tan.

“IES extends our heartiest congratulations to Er. Tan Seng Chuan for this laudable appointment. His extraordinary dedication to advance the engineering profession, coupled with his wealth of experience in the field, places him in a distinctive position to lead WFEO to drive positive change towards a sustainable future. IES looks forward to continuing working with Er. Tan to realise our green aspirations set in the international pillar of the IES Green Plan 2030,” said Dalson Chung, IES President.

A highly accomplished engineer himself, Er. Tan served in various capacities in the WFEO, the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (AFEO), the Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and the Pacific (FEIAP) as well as the International Engineering Alliance (IEA). He contributions to the field of engineering, especially in the areas of education, capacity building, environmental and climate change and sustainability is highly commendable.

Back home, he was the President of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) from 2006 – 2008 and is currently the chairman of the Chartered Engineering Board of Singapore, the chairman of PUB Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Professional Monitoring Committee, a member of the Industry Advisory Committee for Sustainability Education Committee at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and a member of the NTU Advisory Committee for their BSc programme.