ICE Strategy Session: reflections on COP28

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.

Davide Stronati

Corporate sustainability executive with more than 20 years’ experience of working alongside boards of directors and CEOs in the private and public sectors in the UK, Europe and Worldwide.

Past global head of Sustainability and climate change at Mott MacDonald, currently leading the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Group in embedding sustainability in the organisation purpose, strategy and operations.

Board member of the UN Global Compact UK Network. He is the chair of the Committee on Engineering and the Environment at the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) representing the engineering voice on climate change with United Nations agencies (UNFCC, UNESCO) and bringing my experience of international cooperation.

Recognised leader in sustainability, leadership and change management.

Prof Priti Parikh

Priti Parikh is a professor in Engineering Infrastructure and International Development at director of UCL’s Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction.

She is the founder director of UCL’s Engineering for International Development Centre. This centre focuses on engineering solutions for human development and wellbeing; and researches locally acceptable water-sanitation-energy solutions in low-middle income countries.

She has over 15 years of engineering industry experience in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the UK with consultancies to include hands-on experience of designing infrastructure for slums in partnership with local communities. She was awarded the prestigious BBOXX/Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair fellowship that focuses on energy access in sub-Sahara Africa through smart solar solutions.

Priti was the editor-in-chief of ICE’s Engineering Sustainability journal for three years. She then went on to get elected to ICE Council and is a member of the Learned Society Committee. She also sits on the board of Happold Foundation and Engineers Against Poverty to influence strategy on engineering and development.

Priti was named as one of the 100 most influential academics in the UK Government for her work in climate and sustainability by Apolitical and as the top 50 women in engineering in 2022. Priti’s research has influenced policy and practice especially the work around evidencing links between infrastructure and Sustainable Development Goals with governments and charities.

Savina Carluccio

Savina is the executive director of the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) and a fervent advocate of the role of civil engineers in tackling our society’s biggest challenges. She is an experienced civil engineer and infrastructure practitioner with almost two decades of experience advising government, infrastructure owners and operators, multilateral development banks and NGOs to develop and implement inclusive, sustainable and resilient infrastructure that is fit for the future.

Prior to taking her role at ICSI, she worked as an associate director and infrastructure advisor at Arup and she was the head of guidance and standards at the Resilience Shift. She also serves a member of Institution of Civil Engineers’ advisory board on sustainable and resilient infrastructure.

Micheala Chan

Micheala Chan holds a BA and MEng in civil, structural, and environmental engineering from the University of Cambridge and is a civil engineer at Arcadis specialising in water and resilience.

Driven by a strong belief in the importance of meaningful youth engagement, Micheala served as a UK Youth Delegate to the G20 Indonesia 2022, advocating for policies to ensure a sustainable and liveable planet.

Currently, she leads the National Policy workstream for the Engineering Organization's Future Leaders/Young Engineers Working Group on Climate Action and co-leads the Commonwealth Sustainable Energy Transition Youth Action Group. Throughout this work, her objective is to empower young engineers to take climate action, building their capacity and influence.

Mark Hansford

Mark Hansford is the director of engineering knowledge at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). He plays a crucial role in shaping the knowledge content for civil engineering professionals.

With over 20 years of experience in the civil engineering industry, Mark began his career as a practicing engineer with Atkins, where he worked on water supply and distribution projects both in the UK and internationally, including a major study in Ghana.

At ICE, Mark is actively involved in strategic initiatives like Project 13, which aims to promote collaborative and sustainable approaches to infrastructure delivery.