Matt is a chartered engineer and Fellow of the Institution. Matt read mechanical engineering at De Montfort University, graduating with a BEng (Hons) first class degree in 2003. Matt is married and resides in Mickleton, Gloucestershire.
Matt joined the Institution as an Affiliate in 1999. In 2001, as part of his degree, Matt undertook a year in industry; it was at this point that Matt become more actively involved in the Institution. Between 2001 and 2006, Matt helped to rejuvenate, and chaired, the Leicester Young Members Panel, before chairing the Leicester Area Committee, representing the East Midlands on the Young Members Board, eventually joining the Young Members Board Executive Team. During this time, Matt regularly attended meetings with the East Midlands Region.
Matt gained Chartered Engineer status in 2006 at the age of 25 and in 2007 accepted an opportunity through the Young Member Board to represent the voice of the Young Members, in a co-opted capacity, on the Trustee Board. Matt was subsequently successful in being elected to the Trustee Board in 2008, as the Ordinary Member Under 30, and in 2011 as an Ordinary Member. During his time on the Trustee Board, Matt championed education and Young Member activities, and is particularly proud of the involvement and benefits that the Institution has had with the Bloodhound Project. Matt held the role of Vice Chair on the Qualification and Membership Board and the Regional Strategy Board during his time on the Trustee Board. From 2013 to 2014, Matt was a Director of Professional Engineering Publishing.
In 2014, Matt was successfully elected a Member of Council, and was re-elected in 2018. Matt joined the Council Co-ordinating Committee in 2014.
In 2017, Matt accepted an invitation from the President to chair the Council Co-ordinating Committee; Matt was re-elected into this role in 2018.
In 2019, Matt became a Fellow and in the same year was elected to Trustee Board, serving a full term as Vice-President. In 2022, Matt was elected a Fellow of Council and joined the Council Leadership Committee.
In 2023, Matt was elected to Trustee Board as Deputy President; in this role Matt has chaired the Audit and Risk Committee, provided extensive support and advice to the Nominations Committee, Council Leadership Committee and the Executive team.
The start of Matt’s Presidential Year coincides with the beginning of his 25th year of active volunteering with the Institution; of the last 18 years, 12 years have been on Trustee Board and 6 years on Council.
Following graduation in 2003, Matt’s passion for mechanical engineering has enabled him to successfully forge a career within the nuclear defence and civil nuclear industry. He has worked with a number of companies, including Alstec Ltd, Rolls-Royce (Submarines), Babcock (BNS Nuclear Services Limited), Assystem UK Ltd, AWE, Wood Plc (formerly Amec and Amec Foster Wheeler), Nuvia Ltd and Costain.
During his career, Matt has worked on a wide range of projects ranging from nuclear safety justifications (to support the Continuous At Sea Deterrent) to technical substantiation assessments, as part of a periodic review of safety for a major defence contractor. Matt has also successfully led multi-disciplinary engineering teams on nuclear decommissioning, high precision tooling and test rig installation projects.
In 2014, Matt set up Garside Design Services Limited, where he initially operated as a Principal Mechanical Engineer for Wood Plc (formerly Amec Foster Wheeler and Amec) and Nuvia Ltd.
In his current role as Senior Engineering Manager at Costain, Matt is part of the AWE Intelligent Client team for AWE Capital Projects.
Follow Matt on LinkedIn
Watch Matt Garside's interview
IMechE Presidential Address 2025: Trust Me, I’m an Engineer