Today marks a significant moment in my professional journey: I am honoured to have been awarded Fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Becoming a Fellow is not simply a recognition of experience. It is also a call to continued leadership, integrity, and impact. As I reflect on what this means to me personally and professionally, I’m struck by how closely my values align with those of ICE: sustainability, public benefit, technical excellence, and ethical leadership.

“The ICE works to improve lives by ensuring the world has the engineering capacity and infrastructure systems it needs to enable our planet and our people to thrive.”

Resonating with ICE’s Vision for Infrastructure

This alignment feels especially timely given the ICE’s recent blog post reflecting on the 2025 Climate Change Committee (CCC) Progress Report. The post highlights five key takeaways, all of which underscore the urgent need for civil engineers to step forward with clarity, courage, and conviction.

From infrastructure adaptation to the critical importance of systems thinking, the ICE’s reflections on the 2025 CCC Progress Report make one thing clear: we must move beyond technical delivery to embrace ethical stewardship of both the built and natural environments. This is a message that resonates deeply with me.

As a newly appointed Fellow, I see part of my role as championing and supporting the Institution’s vision. But that also means being willing to challenge, constructively, when something vital is missing from the conversation.

For example, while the ICE rightly highlights electric vehicles in its response to the CCC report, there is a noticeable absence of any reference to active travel or public transport. In a truly integrated and sustainable infrastructure future, these modes are not peripheral; they are central. I believe this is a critical oversight. I hope that my voice as a Fellow will help the ICE prioritise nature and the environment within discussions about engineering and social good!

In my own practice, I have always held that engineering is not solely about building, but also about connecting: people to places, communities to opportunity, and today’s choices to tomorrow’s consequences. The responsibility to embed resilience, equity, and coherence into our infrastructure systems is one I carry with deep conviction.

Fellowship: A Platform to Contribute More

Earning this Fellowship isn’t the end of a journey of learning and professional dedication; for me it’s a platform to mentor, to advocate, to collaborate, and to help shape the profession’s response to some of the most complex systemic challenges of our time.

As ICE rightly emphasises in their post, infrastructure must not only be decarbonised, it must be future-proofed, people-centred, and guided by long-term thinking. These are the very themes I’ve worked to integrate into my own approach, whether through innovative project design, stakeholder engagement, or cross-sector collaboration.

Looking Ahead

I’m proud to stand among peers who are not only technically accomplished but also committed to societal impact. The ICE Fellowship is both an honour and a responsibility that I embrace with humility and determination.

To those in our profession who are striving to align impact with integrity, and engineering with empathy: let’s continue this vital work together. There has never been a more important time for civil engineers to lead with vision and values.