‘Being an ICE Fellow is a key part of my identity’

I decided to apply to become an ICE Fellow when I was appointed SEPA’s chief executive.

SEPA is the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, a non-departmental public body accountable to Scottish ministers and the Scottish parliament.

The agency has statutory responsibility for protecting and enhancing Scotland’s environment with a focus on effective regulation and flood risk warning.

My role draws in my civil engineering background as well as so many other professional attributes.

A diverse career as a civil engineer

I’m a senior public sector leader in the UK. But that’s always allied with the fact that I’m a Chartered Civil Engineer, with a focus on key areas that impact on our environment.

I became chartered aged 25, but my career has been diverse with a range of important opportunities.

I’ve managed housing and waste authorities, led on facilities management, risk and resilience, as well as highways, structures, land and many other critical areas for public service.

Gaining ICE Fellowship has been an important part of my career journey, which I value.

It underpins my commitment to support the importance of civil engineering as a profession.

Yes, women can be civil engineers

The thing that struck me right from the start of my career was that for people to be able to aspire to something, they must be able to see it.

Therefore, for me, being a female ICE Fellow is another facet that I’m able to talk about and I’m able to show that, yes, women can be civil engineers.

And that that here is a fabulous career, with all its twists and turns, different routes and experiences that my initial training has enabled me to have.

It’s still the core civil engineer training that’s important to me.

When I applied for the CEO role at SEPA, many people saw it as a sea change for me.

I saw it as gathering up several strands from a quarter of a century of experience and leadership.

Straightforward – but rigorous

Having been through the chartership journey, I had expected the Fellowship application process to be similar. In fact, it was very straightforward.

It was rigorous and required a great deal of thought, but it wasn’t the three to four years I’d spent preparing for my Chartered Professional Review. It was a succinct reflection on 25 years of experience.

Applying at the same time as taking on my role at SEPA enabled me to take stock of my skills and experience.

That brought with it an awful lot more benefits than just the application process itself.

I had the opportunity to reflect upon the key components that would hopefully lead to my being able call myself an ICE Fellow.

How I prepared for my Fellowship application

It’s a different kind of example that you are trying to give as a Fellow.

Chartership is about quarterly reports, a very deep dive and an intense burst focused on the self.

The Fellowship application is more of an observation of the value of your career across a great number of years.

I attended some of the ICE’s online seminars, which are hosted from all over the world.

Having great sponsors makes a difference

I also had two great sponsors who had been through the process some years before and they were surprised that I had taken so long to apply.

My sponsors helped me to spotlight the right experiences and do it succinctly.

Neither had known me all my working life, so they were able to stand back, give perspective, and ask the right questions at the right times.

Just go for it

My advice to anyone thinking about applying is, just go for it.

Make sure you find sponsors who are interested beyond the point of just putting their names to your application.

Find those who are truly interested – the rich conversations about their career paths are also a part of the journey.

The online sessions are especially useful in terms of hearing about people’s journeys and learning about the process.

Finally, be mindful of the submission dates. There are five a year so be sure that you are aiming for one of those.

A new perspective

The outcome is a different perspective.

Time, experience and seniority have given me an opportunity to positively impact my and other people’s careers as a leader.

I lead on the environmental regulation for a whole country, an incredible privilege.

It’s the degree of professional standing of being a Fellow that supports me when I go out and speak at conferences and universities to share the story of the institution.

Tell people what civil engineering is all about

A large part of the benefit that we can bring is to lift our vision and tell people what civil engineering is all about.

Yes, it can be muddy or exciting out onsite but it’s also a whole breadth of other things.

It pains me when I see people not considering careers in civil engineering, particularly women, because they perceive it to be one thing when in fact it's so much more.

More Fellows, please

People owe it to themselves and their profession to apply for Fellowships.

I think we need to recognise the breadth and diversity of our profession.

I think that’s why I took so long to apply: because even I was struggling to recognise that the path I’d taken was allied to civil engineering in its greatest sense.

I’m very proud to be a civil engineer, to be a Chartered Engineer and an ICE Fellow.

I hope it changes views in terms of attracting more good people to the profession.

Learn more about becoming a Fellow