ASHRAE Society President Mick Schwedler addresses Ireland Chapter

We were honoured to host ASHRAE President Mick Schwedler earlier today, for his Society address: “Personal Growth. Global Impact. Feed the Roots”. In his presentation, Mick emphasised the value of personal connections and the human element behind ASHRAE as a global voluntary organisation. He spoke about the need to leverage technology to re-embrace these personal connections across the ASHRAE network, referencing Alvin Toffler’s 1970 book “Future Shock“, which argues that accelerated rate of technological and social change leaves people feeling disconnected and suffering from “shattering stress and disorientation”.

ASHRAE was founded on the principles of member-to-member connections, giving people the opportunity of “forming acquaintances, exchanging theories and experiences… and consulting one another” (Harrie Crane, 1894). This is a founding principle which holds true today, and serves as a means of fostering personal growth, united effort, and ultimately a global impact on society. This could be seen in practice at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when ASHRAE volunteers quickly organised a multinational task-force of over 150 volunteers with professional expertise across a range of disciplines, providing detailed guidance on airborne infection control in buildings (ashrae.org/covid19). ASHRAE Ireland Chapter helped in the dissemination effort through our own COVID-19 technical mini-series, which brought together some of the volunteers from this task-force as well as national experts from across the industry (ashrae-ireland.org/covid-19/).

ASHRAE Ireland President, Daniel Coakley, highlighted a number of activities the Irish Chapter have organised for members related to this years societal theme, including the new Mentorship Programme, coordinated by our Young Engineers in ASHRAE (YEA) in collaboration with CIBSE Young Engineers Network (YEN). The aim of this programme is to provide career support and guidance to young engineers at the early stages of their careers by pairing them with experienced mentors in the industry. Students and graduates have been particularly affected by COVID restrictions, impacting a crucial phase of their education and career networking opportunities. Therefore, we hope that this programme, kindly sponsored by CIM, will provide some small support to these young engineers, as well as offering benefits to our panel of mentors. If you are interested in participating in the programme, are currently accepting applications from both mentors and participants on our website: ashrae-ireland.org/mentorship/

The ASHRAE Ireland Chapter board and members would once again like to thank Mick for taking the time to visit (virtually), and we look forward to welcoming you back in person in the near future.

In case you missed todays presentation, you can find the slides and recording below: