Boards, committees and panels

The strategy of the Institution is set by the Trustee Board with the advice of Council, as well as various standing committees that have been delegated authority to oversee an element of ICE business.

The Boards, Committees and Panels booklet contains a record of all of the members that make up ICE’s vast committees and panels structure.

A brief description of the role of each key standing committee, as well as their terms of reference, is listed below:

Trustee board

ICE is governed by a 12 strong Trustee Board, which is responsible for the Institution’s strategic decision making. The Trustee Board meets no fewer than five times a year to carry out its corporate governance responsibilities and to determine strategic direction.

More information can be found in the Royal Charter and By-laws and the Trustee Board’s Terms of Reference.

Council

The Council comprises 38 members who are directly elected by ICE members. As the pinnacle of the Learning Society, Council drives the agenda by being the key decision-making body with respect to the ICE’s learned society activity. The Council meets at least four times a year.

More information can be found in the Council Terms of Reference.

Nomination committee

The role of the ICE Nomination Committee is to make recommendations to the Trustee Board for the appointment of candidates for senior positions in the Institution. It also approves, on behalf of the Trustee Board, a number of specific appointments, such as Director General & Secretary and Group Finance Director.

In determining its recommendations, the Nomination Committee must ensure a balance of skills, demographics, diversity, sectoral knowledge and international membership. The Nomination Committee meets at least three times annually, as well as holding ad-hoc meetings where necessary.

More information can be found in the Nomination Committee Terms of Reference.

Each year, the Nomination Committee produce an Annual Report, detailing the committee’s composition and activities:

Membership

The Membership Committee is responsible to the Trustee Board for the role of the Institution as a qualifying body and for maintaining the professionalism element of membership. The Committee admits, on the Trustee Board’s behalf, persons to the Membership Roll at all grades in accordance with the Royal Charter and By-laws. The Membership Committee is also responsible for:

• ensuring that the Institution complies with, as appropriate, the registration requirements of Engineering Council, and the Society for the Environment (SocEnv).
• transfer between grades;
• reinstating former members where appropriate;
• providing the policy for, and guidance on matters pertaining to education and careers advice given to the pre-19 (school student) age group.

The Committee is supported by staff in the Membership Division. The staff work hard to deliver the strategy set by the Membership Committee and Trustee Board. ICE staff are assisted by a range of volunteers from experts advising on qualification standards, to reviewers carrying out professional reviews.

More information can be found in the Membership Committee Terms of Reference.

UK regions

The UK is split into 12 regions, each of which is governed by a regional constitution, agreed by ICE’s Trustee Board, with a regional committee of elected volunteers and supported by a staff regional support team (RST).

The regional committee and RST provide a range of local services supporting the recruitment and retention of members, as well as regional activities including support for professional qualifications, knowledge sharing and networking events.

Regional committee Chairs and regional Council members sit on the UK Regional Affairs Committee, which reports to the ICE Trustee Board to advise on the ICE’s UK regional strategy.

More information can be found in the UK Regional Affairs Committee Terms of Reference.

International

As a global organisation, ICE has members in over 160 countries. The International Committee oversees ICE’s strategy across the eight ICE international regions and reports to the Trustee Board.

The International Committee is supported by the ICE Regional team, which is based in offices in the UK, with satellite offices in Hong Kong, the UAE and Malaysia.

More information can be found in the International Committee Terms of Reference.

Learning society

The Learning Society Committee’s (LSC) role within ICE’s ‘learning society’ is to direct, monitor and fund the knowledge exchange process and communicate its outputs.

The LSC has delegated authority by Council to implement the ICE’s strategic knowledge campaigns as set out in the ICE Plan, create, monitor and fund task & finish groups to undertake specific knowledge projects as requested by Trustees, Council and the Policy and External Affairs Committee, and manage the funding distribution of the ICE Research and Development Enabling Fund.

The strategic direction is provided by collaboration between the committee and ICE Council, while the delivery of learning programmes is done through the ICE’s knowledge network. The networks are member-led and consist of volunteers from a range of disciplines who are all focused on solving issues that practising engineers and the wider community have.

The networks form into Project Groups that come together to deliver a range of products, such as tool kits, policy guidance, learning programmes or thought leadership to help engineers transform people’s lives.

More information can be found in the Learning Society Committee Terms of Reference.

Communications

The Communications Committee is responsible to the Trustee Board for ICE’s internal and external communications, press and media. The Committee leads on the Royal Charter’s requirement that the Institution promote[s] the art and science of Civil Engineering.

The committee contains various communications specialists from within the industry, who provide direction to the Trustee Board, to feed into the strategic vision for the Institution.

The Committee is supported by the Communications Division, which consists of staff from a variety of backgrounds including press, digital media, member engagement and social media.

More information can be found in the Communications Committee Terms of Reference.

Policy and external affairs

The Policy and External Affairs Committee is responsible to the Trustee Board providing strategic direction in matters of government relations and public The Committee is supported by the Policy and Public Affairs Division, to develop and provide actionable recommendations for governments, industry leaders and political decision makers (most notably ICE’s annual State of the Nation reports).

The aim of the committee and staff team’s work focuses on understanding what society needs from infrastructure and the built environment, using the knowledge of ICE members to ascertain potential solutions to that need and developing policy positions in response where applicable.

More information can be found in the Policy and External Affairs Committee Terms of Reference.

Ethics committee

The ICE's Ethics Committee is responsible for drafting and overseeing ethical policy for the institution.

Learn more about their work and meet the members of the committee.

Panel for Historical Engineering Works (PHEW)

The panel identifies historical engineering works that are worthy of recording, promoting, and in some cases, preserving for posterity.

Find out more about their work to raise the profile of civil engineering, and meet panel members.

Reservoir engineers hub

The ICE is the primary professional engineering institution supporting the work of reservoir engineers. We bring together experts and stakeholders to drive best practice and maintain high safety standards in the industry.

ICE members can log in to find out more.