Joe McGeough is the immediate past president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He chaired the Institution Taskforce on seeking mechanical engineering approaches to dealing with the Coronavirus from June 2020 to February 2021 and during his term of office as President he attended briefing sessions organised by the Government for providing information on how the virus was to be handled. He holds a BSc and a PhD degree from Glasgow University. He held research appointments at the Universities of Leicester, Queensland and Strathclyde. He has had industrial experience starting as an undergraduate vacation apprentice at ICI Nobel Division. He gained further postgraduate experience at International Research and Development Company Ltd at Newcastle upon Tyne. At Aberdeen University he was lecturer, senior lecturer, and reader in engineering; he was awarded a DSc. In 1983 he transferred to Edinburgh University as the 7th holder of the Regius Chair of Engineering. He served as Head of his Department of Mechanical Engineering for 8 years. His main field is electrochemical machining used in the aircraft engine, car, offshore, domestic products and electronics industries. He held a Royal Society-Science and Engineering Research Council Industrial Fellowship in order to transfer the results of his researches to industry. He has enjoyed a close working relationship with major companies in the UK and overseas over many years and with SMEs. At Edinburgh he developed close cooperation with clinicians investigating engineering solutions and approaches to dealing with the properties of bone, meniscus as they age. His books are Principles of Electrochemical Machining, Advanced Methods of Machining, Micromachining of Engineering Materials, The Engineering of Human Joint Replacements. He is a former holder of various Scottish Universities, county and, national athletics championships awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He is now an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Engineering at The University of Edinburgh.