James Duffin formally took over from Perry Hazell as 94th President of the ILP at the Lighting Live Annual Conference. Here is an abridged transcript of his presidential address.
By James Duffin
To start, I want to say that it is such an honour to be your 94th President and thank you all of those who have supported me to make it to this position.
I would love to share to share a little about why I why I am stood here today. Although originally I had thought this part of my speech would be about my career journey, this isn’t possible because this was all covered last in November’s Lighting Journal (‘We need to encourage change at company level’, vol 89 no 10).
Because of this I rethink I would like to share a little more on what inspired me to be standing here today as your President.
For those who knew me as a child it probably comes as no surprise for me to admit I was and still am a massive nerd. And, to be honest, anybody who knows me in this room won’t be shocked by that either!
As a child I loved engineering. I talked about it with my grandfathers, one whom designed radar for the Admiralty, while the other was a mechanic with a love for diesel engines. I also ‘helped’ my dad fix his car, although, given I was four years old, I’m not sure how much help I was. I volunteered at the Shuttleworth Collection, a museum of vintage aircraft.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ENGINEERING GREATS
I read about trains and planes, and how they were engineered, and who designed them – and I saw that many famous designers were presidents of their professional bodies.
Like Sir Sydney Camm of Hawker fame. He was president of the Royal Aeronautical Society and Sir Nigel Gresley who designed famous locomotives, such as the Flying Scotsman and Mallard. He was president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
I am of course in no way comparing myself with such engineering giants. Indeed, I never imagined that one day I would become president of any professional body, let alone the ILP. As at that time I had no idea that a career in street lighting actually existed.
Fast forward to 2008 and the financial crisis hit. This altered my career path substantially. I moved away from theatre and entertainment lightingandfound myself entering the world of street lighting as a trainee lighting engineer at Urbis.
Soon I nervously attended my first ILP regional event; it was a London and South East meeting near Victoria Station. I was accompanied – well, chaperoned – by Dave Long, who was one of my managers at Urbis at the time. And I still at that time never imagined becoming ILP President.
In 2013, I joined the YLP committee and by late 2015 I became YLP Chair. Still I never imagined being ILP president. However, in 2019 our former CEO Richard Frost sidled up me at the summit in Newcastle and asked me, ‘so when are you going to be President?’.
He ignited a spark and made me realise that I could do it. Over the next few weeks, I spoke with a number of past presidents and my employer and, with all their help, advice and support, I decided to go for it; to make that little boy in me happy and emulate my heroes in a small way – those engineering greats.
I also set myself the target of doing it by the age of 40. I’ve only just made it as it’s my birthday next week.
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS
I want to say to everyone here ‘follow your dreams because only you can make them come true’. Well, that’s not completely true because, without the support of my employer Enerveo and especially my manager Simon Bushell, me standing here today just wouldn’t be possible.
Nevertheless, work hard, ask for help, give time to people who ask for help, and you too can make your dreams come true.
Engineering is one of the most trusted professions in the UK and, despite the tragedies such as Grenfell that befell the engineering sector, that trust remains high, second only to nurses. It’s due to the hard work and dedication of people like you that this is the case
As an industry and an Institution, we need to stay trusted and great ways to do that through competency, training, knowledge-sharing and ethics. The ILP supports this through its training courses, regional CPD events and national events like this; through its rules and byelaws.
We need to work closely with our sister organisations, such as the HEA, IHE and many others across the sector to ensure that best practice, competence and ethics are at the forefront.
PROGRESS ON STRATEGY 2026
Over the last few years our focus as a Board has been the delivery of Strategy 2026. Let me talk briefly about how far we have come and where we are going to. My first update focuses on membership development, which Peter Raynham with support from Elizabeth Thomas has led on.
Following the changes to membership recommended by the SIP01 project, we have introduced new ways of working. This includes inviting new applicants to attend a short interview so that the application process can be explained and they can be advised which grade to apply for. This has proved to be very popular. In the trial period before Christmas, 50 interviews took place. Since January, there have been a further 100.
Whilst we have had the possibility of having members who are Engineering Council-registered for a little while now, in reality almost all applicants have been eligible for engineering registration. In fact, only one has chosen not to take that route.
The next area of progress has been ‘Pathways into Lighting’ led by Immediate Past President Perry Hazel. This, as members may be aware, is a headline a STEM project, with ‘Project Light Ville’ being the main focus.
With support from wider industry, Perry has led on and created a project for students to learn about our industry both in schools and colleges. We are now ready to see this project grow and see ever more students take part in Project Light Ville. I know this will help increase the profile of our industry and bring in the next generation of ILP members.
Next up, and where you will see big changes in the coming months, is the Industry Partner Recognition Scheme. This has taken a massive leap forward in the last few months, in the capable hands of Michala Medcalf (‘Partners with purpose’, June 2025, vol 90 no 6).
Starting with two workshops in March with our corporate and premier members, we are now working on how to deliver change that aligns with their needs and expectations along with our ILP mantra of ‘what does good corporate lighting citizenship look like?’.
We expect to have a trial up and running by the end of the year, in readiness for a full roll out in 2026.
‘DIGITAL FIRST’ TRANSFORMATION
Finally, a little on our ‘digital first’ transformation, that I personally led on. This is a project being driven by the need to replace our current membership database, which is now end of life and will soon no longer have support. But also to improve our members’ online experience.
We have engaged with an IT consultant to make sure the right solution has been found, and are working with a specialist in the membership software space, with a roll out expected towards the end of this year.
The biggest visible change for members will be a unified login on the website. There will be no more separate logins for booking sites or going to other areas; there will be one place, one tool. Everything ILP in one place, just where you need it.
As announced recently at our AGM [in May], we listened and have put the LDC name in room 101, how appropriate for our 101st year! We have changed back to Regions and all but one chose to go back to their pre-LDC name. After a Council meeting earlier this year, the committees all went off to decide on their new name and what they felt reflect them the best. I know the Western Region in particular debated for a long time, with many different names being suggested.
Our Regions and community groups are key to our organisation; they are the link between the members and the Institution itself, and vice versa. We need them to guide our industry, to guide our institution, to mentor the next generation, and to support career development. We need them to upgrade our membership, to deliver technical documents and to share best practice.
So I ask that, if you have the time, please volunteer. Help make the change that you want to see and that our industry needs.
To conclude I stand here as the 94th President of the ILP, a huge honour. Like all of all, I am metaphorically standing here on the shoulders of giants, of eminent past presidents who came before.
But this continues only with the commitment and energy from us, from you and your colleagues, and from the ILP staff and volunteers, who make this Institution what it is today and what it will be tomorrow
James Duffin BA (Hons) IEng MILP is President of the ILP as well as senior lighting designer at Enerveo
This is an abridged version of the article that appears in the September edition of Lighting Journal. To read the full article, simply click on the page-turner to your right.
