Ollie Folayan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Oluwole Olawale Folayan October 7, 1974 |
| Occupations | Chemical Engineer, Academic |
| Employer | Costain Group |
| Awards | Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) (2018) Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) (2023) Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) (2025) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Sheffield (BEng) University of Leeds (PhD) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Dundee |
Oluwole Olawale Folayan MBE FREng FIChemE is a British chartered engineer and academic. He serves as Head of Process Engineering at Costain Group and is 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 dedicated to improving diversity and inclusion within the engineering profession.
Folayan also serves as Deputy President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). [1]
Folayan graduated from the University of Sheffield in 1999 with a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) in Chemical Process Engineering with Fuel Technology. [2] He subsequently earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Fuels and Combustion from the University of Leeds in 2002. [3]
Folayan began his career as a research assistant at the Energy Research and Resources Institute at the University of Leeds. He later held process engineering roles at international engineering firms including Bechtel,SNC-Lavalin,Foster Wheeler,and Petrofac. [1]
From 2011 to 2016,he worked at TOTAL E&P UK as a process engineer specialising in gas lift and process safety,contributing to projects at facilities including the St Fergus Gas Plant. Between 2016 and 2019,he was employed by Px Limited in a technical engineering role on furnace redevelopment projects. He subsequently returned to TOTAL E&P UK as lead process engineer for the Glendronach project,where he led front-end engineering design (FEED) work for a major capital development. [4]
In February 2022,Folayan was appointed Head of Process and Safety Engineering at Optimus Plus Aberdeen. He also served as a non-executive director of Optimal Ltd between 2022 and 2023. [5] He later became Head of Process Engineering at Costain Group. [6]
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. [7]
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. [8] [9]
He is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion steering group of the Royal Academy of Engineering. [10]