Our history
Since we were formed over 200 years ago, we have attracted some of the most famous and influential civil engineers in history
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Our president promotes the institution and the civil engineering profession in the UK and around the world.
Professor Anusha Shah is the ICE's 159th president.
The role of the ICE president
Each year in November, a new ICE president begins their 12-month role.
Their role is to represent the civil engineering profession and the institution at the highest levels of government, business, and society.
They are considered an authoritative voice of the profession.
The president chairs the ICE Trustee Board and the Council, and has certain duties under the by-laws.
- Further detail on the president's responsibilities and duties are set out in the President's terms of reference.
- The president's calendar, including past and upcoming events, can be accessed online by ICE members.
Current ICE president
Professor Anusha Shah is the ICE president for the 2023/4 term.
She is the institution's 159th president.
Professor Anusha Shah is a senior director for resilient cities and the UK climate adaptation lead at Arcadis.
She’s currently seconded to Effiage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall joint venture on High Speed 2 as senior director of environmental consents.
Shah’s also a non-executive director at the Met Office, UK, and is a former Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) visiting professor at King’s College London on climate adaptation, sustainability and inclusive design.
In 2021, the University of Wolverhampton gave her an honorary professorship for knowledge transfer and the University of East London gave her a doctorate for her services to climate change in engineering.
Professor Shah is also a visiting professor at the University of Edinburgh and has been invited for lectures at Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge.
She specialises in water and environmental engineering with over 22 years’ experience in designing, managing and leading projects and programmes in the UK and internationally.
She's a past chair of the Thames Estuary Partnership Board (2017-20).
She has received several awards, including the 2020 Top 50 UK Women Engineers Sustainability Award and CECA FIR (Fairness, Inclusion and Respect) Inspiring Engineers Award 2019.
Climate Reframe recognised her as one of the UK’s leading BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) voices on climate change.
ICE past presidents
Before the standard length of term was established, Thomas Telford, the institution's first president, served the longest term of 14 years.
List of ICE past presidents
| Name | Year in office |
|---|---|
| Thomas Telford | 1820-1834 |
| James Walker | 1835-1845 |
| Sir John Rennie | 1845-1848 |
| Joshua Field | 1848-1849 |
| Sir William Cubitt | 1849-1851 |
| James Meadows Rendell | 1851-1853 |
| James Simpson | 1853-1855 |
| Robert Stephenson | 1855-1857 |
| Joseph Locke | 1857-1859 |
| George Parker Bidder | 1859-1861 |
| Sir John Hawkshaw | 1861-1863 |
| John Robinson McClean | 1863-1865 |
| Sir John Fowler | 1865-1867 |
| Sir Charles Hutton Gregory | 1867-1869 |
| Charles Blacker Vignoles | 1869-1871 |
| Thomas Hawklesley | 1871-1873 |
| Thomas Elliott Harrison | 1873-1875 |
| George Robert Stephenson | 1875-1877 |
| John Frederic La Trobe Bateman | 1877-1879 |
| William Henry Barlow | 1879-1880 |
| James Abernethy | 1880-1881 |
| Lord Armstrong | 1881-1882 |
| Sir James Brunlees | 1882-1883 |
| Sir Joseph Bazalgette | 1883-1884 |
| Sir Frederick Bramwell | 1884-1886 |
| Edward Woods | 1886-1887 |
| Sir George Barclay Bruce | 1887-1889 |
| Sir John Coode | 1889-1891 |
| Sir George Berkley | 1891-1892 |
| Harrison Hayter | 1892-1893 |
| Alfred Giles | 1893-1894 |
| Sir Robert Rawlinson | 1894-1895 |
| Sir Benjamin Baker | 1895-1896 |
| Sir John Wolfe-Barry | 1896-1898 |
| Sir William Henry Preece | 1898-1899 |
| Sir Douglas Fox | 1899-1900 |
| James Mansergh | 1900-1901 |
| Charles Hawksley | 1901-1902 |
| John Clarke Hawkshaw | 1902-1903 |
| Sir William Henry White | 1903-1904 |
| Sir Guildford Lindsey Molesworth | 1904-1905 |
| Sir Alexander Binnie | 1905-1906 |
| Sir Alexander Kennedy | 1906-1907 |
| Sir William Matthews | 1907-1908 |
| Sir James Charles Inglis | 1908-1910 |
| Sir Alexander Siemens | 1910-1911 |
| William Unwin | 1911-1912 |
| Sir Robert Elliott-Cooper | 1912-1913 |
| Anthony George Lyster | 1913-1914 |
| Benjamin Hall Blyth | 1914-1915 |
| Alexander Ross | 1915-1916 |
| Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice | 1916-1917 |
| Harry Edward Jones | 1917-1918 |
| Sir John Aspinall | 1918-1919 |
| Sir John Griffith | 1919-1920 |
| John Alexander Brodie | 1920-1921 |
| William Barton Worthington | 1921-1922 |
| William Maw | 1922-1923 |
| Sir Charles Langbridge Morgan | 1923-1924 |
| Sir Basil Mott | 1924-1925 |
| Sir William Henry Ellis | 1925-1926 |
| Sir Frederick Palmer | 1926-1927 |
| Ernest Crosbie Trench | 1927-1928 |
| Sir Brodie Henderson | 1928-1929 |
| William Grierson | 1929-1930 |
| Sir George William Humphreys | 1930-1931 |
| Sir Cyril Kirkpatrick | 1931-1932 |
| Sir Murdoch MacDonald | 1932-1933 |
| Sir Henry Maybury | 1933-1934 |
| Sir Richard Redmayne | 1934-1935 |
| John Duncan Watson | 1935-1936 |
| Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb | 1936-1937 |
| Sydney Donkin | 1937-1938 |
| William James Eames Binnie | 1938-1939 |
| Sir Clement Hindley | 1939-1940 |
| Sir Leopold Halliday Savile | 1940-1941 |
| Sir Charles Inglis | 1941-1942 |
| Sir John Edward Thornycroft | 1942-1943 |
| Sir David Anderson | 1943-1944 |
| Francis Wentworth-Shields | 1944-1945 |
| Sir Thomas Peirson Frank | 1945-1946 |
| Sir William Halcrow | 1946-1947 |
| Sir Roger Gaskell Hetherington | 1947-1948 |
| Sir Jonathan Davidson | 1948-1949 |
| Vernon Robertson | 1949-1950 |
| Sir William Glanville | 1950-1951 |
| Sir Allan Stephen Quartermaine | 1951-1952 |
| Henry Cronin | 1952-1953 |
| Wilfred Shepherd-Barron | 1953-1954 |
| David Mowat Watson | 1954-1955 |
| William Kelly Wallace | 1955-1956 |
| Harold Gourley | 1956-1957 |
| Sir Frederick Arthur Whitaker | 1957-1958 |
| Alfred Pippard | 1958-1959 |
| Arthur Hartley | 1959-1960 |
| Sir Herbert Manzoni | 1960-1961 |
| Sir George Matthew McNaughton | 1961-1962 |
| Reginald William Mountain | 1962-1963 |
| Sir Harold Harding | 1963-1964 |
| Sir Robert Wynne-Edwards | 1964-1965 |
| James Arthur Banks | 1965-1966 |
| Sir Ralph Freeman | 1966-1967 |
| Sir Hubert Shirley-Smith | 1967-1968 |
| John Holmes Jellett | 1968-1969 |
| Angus Fulton | 1969-1970 |
| Sir Angus Paton | 1970-1971 |
| George Ambler Wilson | 1971-1972 |
| Roger Le Geyt Hetherington | 1972-1973 |
| Sir Kirby Laing | 1973-1974 |
| Sir William Gordon Harris | 1974-1975 |
| Sir Norman Rowntree | 1975-1976 |
| John Walter Baxter | 1976-1977 |
| Sir Alan Muir Wood | 1977-1978 |
| Reginald Coates | 1978-1979 |
| William George Nicholson Geddes | 1979-1980 |
| Peter Arthur Cox | 1980-1981 |
| Ian MacDonald Campbell | 1981-1982 |
| John Vernon Bartlett | 1982-1983 |
| James Anthony Gaffney | 1983-1984 |
| John Anthony Derrington | 1984-1985 |
| Donald Reeve | 1985-1986 |
| David Gwilym Morris Roberts | 1986-1987 |
| Sir William Francis | 1987-1988 |
| Alastair Craig Paterson | 1988-1989 |
| Peter Frank Stott | 1989-1990 |
| Roy Thomas Severn | 1990-1991 |
| Robin Lee Wilson | 1991-1992 |
| Michael Norman Tizard Cottell | 1992-1993 |
| Stuart Mustow | 1993-1994 |
| Edmund Hambly | 1994-1995 |
| Tony Ridley | 1995-1996 |
| David Green | 1996-1997 |
| Alan Cockshaw | 1997-1998 |
| Roger Norman Sainsbury | 1998-1999 |
| George Fleming | 1999-2000 |
| Sir Joseph Dwyer | 2000-2001 |
| Mark Whitby | 2001-2002 |
| Adrian Long | 2002-2003 |
| Douglas Oakervee | 2003-2004 |
| Colin Clinton | 2004-2005 |
| Gordon Grier Thomson Masterton | 2005-2006 |
| Quentin John Leiper | 2006-2007 |
| David Malcolm Orr | 2007-2008 |
| Jean Venables | 2008-2009 |
| Paul William Jowitt | 2009-2010 |
| Peter Hansford | 2010-2011 |
| Richard Coackley | 2011-2012 |
| Barry Clarke | 2012-2013 |
| Geoff French | 2013-2014 |
| David Balmforth | 2014-2015 |
| Sir John Armitt | 2015-2016 |
| Tim Broyd | 2016-2017 |
| Professor Lord Robert Mair | 2017-2018 |
| Andrew Wyllie | 2018-2019 |
| Paul Sheffield | 2019-2020 |
| Rachel Skinner | 2020-2021 |
| Ed McCann | 2021-2022 |
| Keith Howells | 2022-2023 |
