How did you get your professional qualifications in instrumentation and control? Would you like to help your peers get theirs? Would you like to participate in the Institute’s activities as a professional qualifying body? Would you like to join those members who volunteer their professional experience and expertise so that the currency of the professional qualifications which you hold is maintained? How could you do so?

First, there is an ongoing need for qualified members to evaluate individuals’ experience and competence. This process is the Professional Review and Interview and it is the key prerequisite to registration with the Engineering Council^UK and to direct entry for Fellowship of the Institute.

Secondly, the Institute is constantly looking for qualified members to participate in the accreditation of degree and diploma programmes and in the accreditation of employers’ training schemes. Whether in an academic or industry context, accreditation provides assured routes for individuals who are aspiring to become professionally qualified.

Finally, qualified members are needed to help with the assessments of technical reports that may be provided by individuals whose educational qualifications do not meet the standards required for professional standing. Whether for the Professional Review and Interview, for accreditation or for technical reports, all assessments are made against set criteria, in keeping with established procedures.

Becoming an Assessor in any one or all of these activities is neither difficult nor mysterious. All it takes is an enquiry to the Institute. Fresh faces, fresh approaches and fresh skills are always welcome.

The training of Assessors normally comprises a shadowing induction process – i.e. new Assessors observe, and increasingly participate in, assessment activities – and workshops, run by the Institute, other engineering institutions and EC^UK, which focus on best practices and sharing experiences. Most, if not all, workshops are informative but relaxed occasions, particularly those that are held in the evenings. All training is recorded by the Institute and, with the assessment activities themselves, is recognised as a significant area of members’ continuing professional development.

There is no financial remuneration for Assessors, the only payments by the Institute being those for any reasonable travel and subsistence costs that are incurred. That said, involvement with the activities described above brings other rewards. There is the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting the development of others who are aspiring to reach the same professional standing as you. Also, you become an ambassador for, and the face of, the Institute. In particular, through contact with new peers and ideas and through the exchange of knowledge and experience, your own professional development gains further dimension. Whatever the activity, Assessors invariably find their involvement fulfilling and stimulating.

If you are interested in supporting your profession by becoming an Assessor and would like to know more about this, please contact Peter Martindale, Assistant Secretary on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

At the end of the day, you are the profession, you are the Institute. And the value of the qualifications you hold will only ever be as current as the contribution you make towards sustaining them.