Ollie Folayan


Oluwole Olawale Folayan is a British chartered engineer and academic. He serves as Head of Process Engineering at Costain Group and is an Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee. He co-founded the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers, a non-profit organisation.
Folayan also serves as Deputy President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Education

Folayan graduated from the University of Sheffield in 1999 with a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Process Engineering with Fuel Technology. He subsequently earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Fuels and Combustion from the University of Leeds in 2002.

Career

Engineering

Folayan began his career as a research assistant at the Energy Research and Resources Institute at the University of Leeds before holding process engineering roles at international firms including Bechtel, SNC-Lavalin, Foster Wheeler, and Petrofac. He later worked at TOTAL E&P UK on offshore gas projects and subsequently held senior engineering leadership roles at Optimus Plus Aberdeen and Costain Group.

Academic

Folayan has held an Honorary Professorship at the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Dundee since 2024. He previously held a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship from 2021 to 2024.

Advocacy

In 2007, Folayan co-founded the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers with his sister, Nike Folayan. The organization addresses the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the engineering workforce.
He is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion steering group of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Honors and awards