How can engineers better integrate nature-based solutions within their design and projects for the benefit of communities?

Prof. Anusha Shah

Anusha Shah is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and its president for the 2023-24 session. She’s the third woman and first person of colour to be elected as president in over 200 years of ICE history.

She’s a senior director for resilient cities and UK climate change adaptation lead at Arcadis, a global sustainability, design, engineering and management consulting firm.

She’s also a non-executive director at the Met Office, a trustee at the Green Alliance and a visiting professor at Edinburgh University. She was awarded honorary professorship by the University of Wolverhampton for knowledge transfer and an honorary doctorate of engineering by the University of East London for her services to address climate change.

Anusha specialises in water and environmental engineering and has over 22 years of experience in designing, managing and leading projects and programmes in the UK and internationally.

Anusha sits on various industry climate change groups. She represents Arcadis at the London Climate Change Partnership and the 50L Home Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. She’s a past chair of the Thames Estuary Partnership Board.

Anusha is the recipient of several awards, including the 2020 Top 50 UK Women Engineers Sustainability Award and the CECA Inspiring Change Award. She was recognised by Climate Reframe as one of the UK’s leading Black, Asian and minority ethnic voices on climate change.

James Kirkham

James is chair of the East Midlands Committee as well as chair of the East Midlands Education and Inspiration Committee.

James studied an MEng degree in Civil Engineering with Architecture at Leeds University (1996-2000). After completing his degree, James began working for Building Design Partnership as a graduate structural engineer gaining valuable experience in building design and coordination.

In 2004 he moved to Mott MacDonald and became chartered with the IStructE in 2005. Since then he has managed a wide variety of multidisciplinary civil and structural design projects in various sectors, including commercial, healthcare, education, leisure, security and defence.

Ian Nicholson

ICE East Midlands vice-chair Ian Nicholson (MSc, FICE, PIEMA) trained originally as a civil engineer and has worked in the construction industry for over 35 years. He currently works for Stantec as senior sustainability leader.

Ian initially worked in frontline project roles for the first 10 years, but in the early 1990’s he moved to Anglian Water where he focused on business improvement activities, initially with responsibilities for quality assurance but increasingly from the late 1990’s looking at environmental management and sustainable development within the construction industry. 

Since, leaving Anglian Water in 2003 Ian has gathered extensive experience of environmental and sustainability issues within the construction industry as a consultant on topics such as environmental management systems; life cycle assessment techniques; carbon reduction; responsible and ethical sourcing of construction products; and learning and development of sustainability skills.

Janice Bradley

Janice Bradley MBE is a Chartered Environmentalist and full Member of CIEEM with over two decades of experience as a professional ecologist in the public, commercial and third sectors. Janice leads on Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s species recovery work and major landscape-scale conservation programmes in the north of the county.

She has a wealth of experience in managing multi-partner projects and also leads on the Trust’s minerals planning responses and negotiations with mineral extraction organisations in regards to the restoration of sites after the cessation of commercial operations.

Bryony Harrison

Bryony has worked for Severn Trent for over four years and works as a senior biodiversity project manager in the Biodiversity and Ecology team.

Bryony has managed Severn Trent’s portfolio of biodiversity projects and how they contribute to regulatory targets and commitments to customers. Particularly focusing on partnership working and has created over 100 partnerships with the support of her team and Severn Trent’s funding mechanisms. This portfolio currently covers over 11,500ha of biodiversity improvements. 

Alex McDonald

Alex McDonald is Full Member of Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) and has worked at the Environment Agency for 12 years. With a background in ecology, she is experienced in environmental assessment on major flood risk capital schemes and how to integrate environmental enhancements into scheme design.

Alex project managed a number of Natural Flood Management schemes on Defra’s Natural flood management (NFM) Pilot programme. She currently works on flood risk strategy and developing partnership projects in the East Midlands many of which incorporate nature based solutions.