A science of professional engineering practice: our next step towards a safer engineering industry

This keynote takes the author’s 44-year career history as a civil & structural engineer as its frame. This began with hands-on work ‘at the sharp end’ of construction, then led to senior roles in industry and in the professional institutions. The narrative is presented, however, in terms of the author’s journey of reflection and deduction about engineering as a practice, and about management and leadership in the profession.