PRC Meeting Update
In March, we had a virtual PRC meeting with observers from both IMechE staff and those involved with PRI assessment.
Observing PRC Meetings
As mentioned before, those interested in observing a PRC meeting are welcome to attend the September virtual meeting. Contact Kevin Murphy at HQ (kevin.murphy@imeche.org) or Matthew Gentle (matthew.gentle@imeche.org) for more information. If you do attend, we ask that you write a short piece about your experience of the meeting.
PRC Vice Chair (VC) Changes
Rebecca Broadbent is stepping down as EngTech VC at the end of April. Rebecca has put a lot of work into the role, including involvement in developing new application forms that mirror those for other membership grades. These forms will be out soon and should make life easier for applicants and PRC assessors. Ben McDonald is stepping up as EngTech VC, and he will be working alongside the other EngTech VC, Steven Prescott.
Dormant PRI Assessors
Of those who have received training in the last two years, almost 50% have not attended a PRI since training. This means that those who are attending PRIs are doing more than they need to. If you are trained and have not attended a PRI, could you please attempt to attend a few? This will reduce the burden on those who do. Evening, weekend, and half- day sessions are available.
As always, contributions from volunteers are greatly appreciated. IMechE could not function without your ongoing support.
Tim Bagnall
PRC Chair
Editorial
Welcome to this Newsletter, Number 20. In this edition we have some feedback from observers who participated in the last PRC meeting, held last month. We also have an interim report from Tim about the visit made the Engineering Council to HQ in early March, this year. This edition sees the return of our “Meet the Staff” report. Tom Owen returns this month with a review of Professional Review Interviews in the first quarter of 2026.
Matthew Waterhouse
VC, Communications
IMechE Volunteer Onboarding Experience Survey
If you have not already done so, please fill in a short survey to help us to improve how our volunteers are introduced to volunteering with IMechE.
We want to make this a better experience for all IMechE volunteers and to ensure our volunteers are provided with the tools they need to get the best out of their volunteering with IMechE.
IMechE Volunteer Onboarding Experience Survey – Fill in form
Engineering Council Licence Audit
The Engineering Council (EngC) is the UK’s regulatory authority for registration of Chartered and Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technician. They delegate this authority to the various professional engineering institutions including IMechE.
Every five years IMechE is assessed by the Engineering Council to ensure that we are keeping to the quality standards when assessing potential members. 2026 is one of these years.
So, on 11 March, the interim CEO of IMechE (Jo Passingham) and other members of senior management met at HQ along with several volunteers (I was one of them) to meet with a team from the Engineering Council (Eng C) to go through the five-yearly audit of our licence.
IMechE were prepared with a team led by Graham Taylor (Chair of the Qualifications and Membership Board - QMB) and Claire Maycock (Associate Director, Recognition) who had prepared a comprehensive pack answering the advance questions from EngC. There were several presentations by HQ staff to support our response.
The Engineering Council commended IMechE for a united approach and recognised the value of the Institution’s culture review. The licence was renewed with minimal actions. Later, Graham Taylor mentioned the approach to how staff and volunteers worked together to produce the material for the audit and answered questions in the audit. The collaborative approach was held up as an example of the culture and ways of working IMechE should champion and embrace.
Tim Bagnall,
PRC Chair
A Strong Start to the Year for Professional Review Interviews
Between January and March 2026, a total of 409 Professional Review Interviews were scheduled, making Q1 a successful start to the year. Of particular note was the exceptionally high number of Armed Forces PRIs, which reached 99 interviews in Q1 alone. This is more than the total number of Armed Forces interviews completed across the whole of 2025, highlighting growing engagement from service personnel and the effectiveness of our targeted support.
Delivery and Capacity: Reflecting on Q1 Performance
In terms of delivery, 70% of panels went ahead as planned, meaning that seven out of ten available PRI opportunities were successfully completed. This outcome closely reflects interviewer engagement during the quarter, with around 50% of registered and trained interviewers completing at least one interview session in 2025.
However, the data also reinforces the importance of wider and more consistent engagement across the interviewer pool. Increasing the proportion of interviewers who attend sessions will be key to raising panel completion rates closer to 100% in future quarters, ensuring that available PRI dates are fully utilised and that applicants experience minimal delay.
A Collective Effort
The volume and quality of PRI activity in Q1 would not be possible without the dedication of our trained interviewers and Interview Facilitators who give their time and expertise to support applicants, often alongside demanding professional roles. Your contribution is critical not only to maintaining standards, but also to developing procedural resilience, as we continue to receive strong numbers of new applications.
If you are a registered and trained interviewer, please look out for an email and feedback survey shortly. Your responses will help us better understand availability, identify barriers to participation, and support increased engagement across the interviewer community.
Looking Ahead
Q1 2026 sets a positive foundation for the year ahead. The focus for the next quarters will be on broadening interviewer participation, strengthening panel availability, and continuing to provide a high quality, professional experience for all applicants.
Thank you to everyone involved for contributing to another successful and informative quarter of Professional Review Interviews.
Tom Owen
Head of Membership Growth and Services
Meet the Staff - Danielle Marchant
I have worked at IMechE for 19 years within the MGPD (Membership Growth and Professional Development) department. I would say that engineering is in my blood.
Apparently, one of my ancestors was involved in the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable back in the 19th century. Also, my dad worked in civil engineering and had always encouraged me from an early age to become an engineer myself. Despite this, however, I first aspired to become a journalist instead, doing unpaid student stints for various magazines and newspapers. I even met Piers Morgan when he was editor of the Mirror Newspaper. I also gained a bachelor’s degree in modern history and sociology. However, after graduation and two full-time non-journalistic jobs, I then applied to work at IMechE in 2007. So, I finally did end up in engineering, and my life had come full circle. I do still enjoy writing outside of work though and have self-published four books.
In my role, I deal with various areas of IPD (initial professional development), helping developing engineers on the path to becoming CEng and IEng, such as through the MPDS (Monitored Professional Development Scheme), SRS (Supported Registration Scheme), and associate membership, as well as guidance for scheme administrators and mentors. I am the editor of MPDS News which is sent to all developing engineers, mentors and scheme administrators three times a year. I am the staff manager of QMAC (Qualifications and Membership Audit Committee) which provides oversight of IMechE’s audit processes. I am also part of IMechE’s wellbeing group, helping to promote awareness of health and wellbeing to all staff.
I do take pride in my role as I do feel that in my own way I have helped many developing engineers over the years reach their full potential and achieve full membership. I have watched them grow! It’s also great to see those same developing engineers then register as mentors and start the same journey again with other developing engineers. In my own little way, I have helped to improve the world through engineering!
Outside work, as well as writing, I am a history nerd and like to visit lots of places of historical interest. Back in 2011, I was a National Trust volunteer at Sutton House in Hackney. I also love cruising and have visited many parts of Europe and the USA over the years!
Danielle Marchant,
Membership Professional Development Executive
Observing a PRC meeting - 1
I have been both a Co-Panellist and a Chair of PRIs for nearly 15 years, so it was good to be able to join the March PRC meeting as an Observer to get some insight into what this committee does with the recommendations from professional registration interviews.
Interestingly, on this occasion, the PRC did not have any specific cases to discuss, however it was still a worthwhile opportunity for the following reasons:
I received a copy of the minutes of the previous PRC meeting and these included summaries of the PRC discussions and outcomes of the cases that had been considered at that time. This provided some insight into how the PRC handles discussions about individual PRIs.
The PRC Quality Team report that was presented during the meeting gave more insights into the types of issues that are encountered with PRI reports and the actions that need to be taken to resolve these. An interesting and very positive observation from the Quality Team is that they are finding fewer issues with PRI reports – perhaps a good indication of the effectiveness of the training that is being given to Chairs and Co- Panellists!
When there are significant concerns about the performance, or the conduct, of a Chair or Co-Panellist during a PRI, it was reassuring to hear that action is taken. On these very few occasions, this action is normally to provide some coaching and guidance to help the individual improve how they should fulfil this important role.
There was an agenda item to review the data and feedback from the Applicant surveys. As an interviewer, I found the (anonymised) Applicant comments to be helpful reminders about what should and should not happen during PRIs, reinforcing the messages that are given during the periodic Interviewer training.
There was a brief discussion about the use of AI by Applicants when they are writing their applications. AI is here to stay, and people are likely to use it increasingly to help with tasks like filling in applications. So, the key message that I took away was that the interview remains the key step in validating that what has been written actually reflects the experience and competence of the Applicant! This is clearly a subject that will continue to be discussed by the PRC, and as an Interviewer, I look forward to receiving more guidance about this in the future.
It was clear that all the members of the PRC (all volunteers) devote a lot of time and energy to fulfilling these roles. I would like to thank them all for this, as I know that finding time for these critically important activities is not easy when this must be done alongside a job and/or other non-IMechE commitments!
Angus Sanderson
Professional Review Interviewer
Observing a PRC meeting - 2
As a reasonably long-standing PRI panel member and a very recent Interview Facilitator it was of great interest to observe the most recent PRC meeting. Immediately apparent was the scope and scale of the PRC - in terms of the number of areas being covered and the extensive experience of the committee members. The meeting was very formally conducted, via many linked in screens, a challenge the chair very adeptly managed. On this occasion there were no PRI 'arising cases' or decisions to be made, an unusual occurrence it seems, so the discussions focussed on other agenda items; outstanding actions, Eng Tech process forms, AI as relevant to the CEng process, application to election (or otherwise) timescales, a PRI feedback review.
The whole committee is obviously very engaged and a strong process oversight was evident, along with the desire to maintain standards, learn lessons, and drive continuous improvement - from both people and documentation perspectives.
From my position of starting to facilitate PRIs from the Australian / Oceania region it was interesting and useful to be able to be present for the meeting, with the analysis of recent PRI feedback of particular interest.
James Logan
Interview Facilitator
Contacts
Coordinator
Matthew Waterhouse - matthew.waterhouse@member.imeche.org
Chair
Tim Bagnall - tim.bagnall@member.imeche.org
PRC Staff Manager
Kevin Murphy - kevin.murphy@imeche.org