The 117th Annual SLTC Conference was a fitting venue to award the most recent IUT Continuing Professional Development certificates. The conference was held at the University of Northampton, UK onApril 26. Chair of the IULTCS Training Commission (Dr Jeffry Guthrie-Strachan) was present to recognise four individuals who have made the effort to advance their leather industry knowledge and skills. They join a number of internationally recognisable individuals who have committed to the IULTCS Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme.
The CPD Programme aims to encourage leather technicians, technologists, and scientists to engage with the leather industry as a whole. Applicants are required to submit a record of their leather industry activities based on five categories over the previous four-year period. Points are awarded for each completed activity and if the required threshold is met, they are then certified for a four-year period. This process needs to be repeated every four years to maintain certification. Successful candidates have commented that this is a useful process to help document ones career progression and engagement with the industry. The tool is also useful when planning career goals and future leather industry endeavours.
The most recent IULTCS-IUT Leather Professionals recognised in Northampton are Dr Addis Duki (Ethiopia), Adrian Leja (Poland), Limin Wang (China), and Karl Flowers (UK).