A more diverse profession is essential to help us build resilience against future crises and better respond to the pandemic and climate change, Kevin Kelly, incoming President of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) said in his presidential address.
Mr Kelly pointed to the “warning shots” of the SARS, MERS and Ebola outbreaks that should have spurred an international effort to prepare for a pandemic. Instead, lulled into a false sense of security by the containment of these warning shots, the world was woefully unprepared to deal with the arrival of COVID-19.