The Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers

Initial Professional Development (IPD)

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Initial Professional Development (IPD) is part of your journey towards professional membership of the Institution.

IPD is a record of your working life that demonstrates you have acquired the experience, knowledge and skills that are needed to practice as a structural engineer.

All candidates applying for professional membership should be preparing their application documents in accordance with the new New IPD Regulations. The full IPD Guidance documents for all grades are available to download lower on this page. Applications are accepted twice a year on 1 April and 1 September (Technician-Membership applications are accepted at any time of the year).

Register for your PRI  

What’s involved?

IPD Forms - The forms are available to download below. These are used to provide an overview of how you have satisfied the appropriate core objectives.

Portfolio - This illustrates how your work and experience have helped you meet your core objectives. Full portfolio guidance is available within the IPD Guidance document below.

Please note that all documents submitted must be in English.

We will then assess your IPD through a Professional Review interview (an Interview may not be required if you are applying for Technician-Membership).

There is no set time period in which you should expect to complete your IPD, but most members do so after at least four years’ workplace experience.
 

Our IPD core objectives:

You need to demonstrate the following standards for the relevant objective:

Appreciation - understanding of how the subject may affect, or integrate, with other subjects (Technician-Member IPD only)

Knowledge – understanding of the subject and its application

Experience – able to perform independently or under supervision

Ability – able to perform independently and competence to advise others
 

Our three IPD routes:

Retrospectively collated

You demonstrate that you have satisfied our core objectives by completing and submitting IPD final report forms along with a portfolio of work.


Individually managed:

You’re responsible for managing your own training with the assistance of a mentor. 

You keep records of your training and experience using our IPD quarterly report form and progress summary record. You have regular meetings with your mentor to review your progress.

Once you have satisfied our objectives you complete and submit your final report forms, your quarterly report forms, your progress summary records and your portfolio of work.

Candidates applying via this route may continue to update and submit the old format of the Quarterly Report Form and Progress Summary Record if they have previously begun to use them. All other IPD documents must be completed using the correct core objectives.


Accredited training scheme:

You are already following a comparable professional development scheme accredited by ICE or HKIE

You submit your full training records and portfolio of work to demonstrate how you satisfy our core objectives.


Incorporated-Member and Technician IPD

Candidates applying for either Incorporated-Member or Technician-Member will soon begin to use the new IPD Guidance, available to download below. The IPD Core Objectives have been updated to reflect the latest industry requirements and priorities so as to ensure that members competence is assessed against world-leading standards, and are being phased in for 2026 with the following schedule:

Incorporated-Member - applications received by 1 September 2025 will use the previous IPD. All applications after that must use the new IPD Core Objectives. The first application deadline for the new IPD is 1 April 2026.

Technician-Member - all applications received after 1 January 2026 must use the new IPD. Applications received prior to this deadline can still use the previous IPD Core Objectives.

Anyone needing to re-sit their PRI in 2026 should contact the Institution to discuss this further.
 

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Contribute to your IPD and get closer to professional registration. "The certificate helped me improve my skills in approximate analysis and drawing force diagrams." Hemant Gor, Graduate Member

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