Huddersfield Production Graduate Awarded Chartered Chemist Status

Congratulations to Jonathan Chua on achieving the award of Chartered Chemist.

Jonathan joined Syngenta in July 2015 on the Production Graduate scheme, whereby Process Chemists and Process Engineers are given the required development opportunities to become Production and Supply professionals. Jonathan entered the scheme working in Process Technology and will exit as a Production Manager.

The Production Graduate scheme uses the framework of the Syngenta Process Chemistry Graduate Training Scheme, which is accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry who award Chartered status for professional Chemists. Jonathan received his Chartership certificate from Dr Jonelle Harvey from the RSC on a recent visit, proudly accompanied by Jonathan’s current line manager Mick Brooks, Area Production Manager.

Of his time on the scheme, Jonathan commented: “The chemistry graduate scheme has provided me with wide-ranging opportunities that I had never anticipated. If I could distil it down, the key lesson learnt in Process Technology while on the scheme was that safety should always be at the fore of my daily work. I am currently based on Diquat as a production manager and have thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone there. There's never a dull moment in production and each day brings fresh lessons and challenges! The flexibility embedded in the scheme has allowed me to develop key competencies using different working platforms over the years and I will cherish the experiences the scheme has provided”.

Process Chemistry Graduate Training Scheme manager Graham McDougald also commented on Jonathan and the scheme itself. “Well done to Jonathan for achieving this important external validation of his professionalism. Jonathan is the first graduate of the scheme to achieve Chartership and his commitment and flexibility have been first class throughout, especially as we were feeling our way to begin with. The scheme is an important part of our recruitment, retention and development strategy, and to have our first graduate recognised by the RSC is an important validation for the scheme itself.” Graham went on to thank those who have been involved in Jonathan’s development so far. “Developing new talent requires the efforts of everyone around them – I am very grateful for the support of the line managers, mentors and colleagues that Jonathan has worked with in his time here.”

Both the Process Graduate Chemistry Scheme and the Production Graduate Scheme continue to play an important part of the Huddersfield site’s vision of “Jobs on our site in 50 years” and we look forward to their further successes.