Professor Simons, CEng FIChemE, is Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCL and Director of the Centre for CO2 Technology (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/centre-for-co2-technology/), a multidisciplinary research Centre focused on the development of innovative low carbon technologies. Since 1994 he has been working with universities in Kazakhstan developing modern chemical engineering degree curricula. This work has now been extended to include several universities in Russia. Professor Simons is also UCL’s Special Advisor on Kazakhstan (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/global/kazakhstan). In April 2011 Prof. Simons was appointed as the first Dean of the School of Engineering at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, a new university aiming to be the leading institution of its kind in Central Asia. The School opened its doors to students on the 31st August and is offering degrees in chemical, mechanical and civil engineering, with a common "engineering systems" theme.