New ethical guidance from the Engineering Council and Royal Academy of Engineering was published this week.

 

Published by the Engineering Council on 23/02/2026

The Engineering Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering have chosen Chartered Week (23–27 February) to publish an update of their joint Statement on Ethical Principles for the engineering profession, first published over 20 years ago.

Ethical commitments are at the heart of the role of a registered engineer or technician – and everyone who works in engineering. The refreshed Statement reflects the changing technology environment and the new challenges faced by engineering professionals today.

The Statement considers developments in professional practice, in the wider technology environment, and in society’s expectations more broadly. An important new fifth ethical principle has been added, focusing on engineering professionals’ responsibility for the future of technology, society, and the environment – particularly in an era of fast-moving technological change. Rapidly developing technologies such as AI have potentially transformative impacts, and ethical issues arise in their development and adoption. This new principle highlights the duty of engineers and technicians to develop these technologies responsibly, with awareness of the lasting system consequences for humankind, including intergenerational impacts.

The Statement’s five fundamental principles for ethical behaviour and decision-making are designed to apply to all engineering professionals and form the core of the specific codes of conduct set out by the individual professional engineering institutions.

The five ethical principles outlined are:

  1. Honesty and integrity, avoiding knowingly misleading others and taking steps to prevent corrupt practices, including plagiarism, misinformation and false representation.
  2. Responsibility to society, including reporting malpractice and irresponsible or unsafe practice, whether within the workplace or outside.
  3. Accuracy and rigour, actively maintaining and enhancing knowledge, skills and competence and supporting others to do the same.
  4. Leadership and communication, fostering a culture where concerns can be raised without fear of reprisal, and acting on well-founded concerns.
  5. Responsibility for the future of technology, society, and the environment, anticipating wider and emergent consequences, and potential for misuse of technologies, and applying precaution proportionately where potential harms are serious or irreversible.

To mark the updated guidance, a series of blog posts have been commissioned from sector experts to illustrate how the new principles apply in areas of engineering from fire safety to wastewater management, and therefore the role engineering ethics and culture play in critical outcomes such as building safety and protecting public health.

The Engineering Council also produces Guidance on Security, Sustainability, Risk and Whistleblowing. The complete Statement of Ethical Principles and related guidance are available on the Engineering Council Website.

The Academy and the Engineering Council have also launched a new phase of work on engineering ethics to build on the principles, led by a new cross-disciplinary working group chaired by Professor John McDermid OBE FREng, Lloyd’s Register Foundation Chair of Safety at the University of York.

Paul Bailey, CEO of the Engineering Council said: “The Engineering Council is responsible for setting and raising standards of competence and conduct for the engineering profession. This updated Statement of Ethical Principles supports those working in the profession to meet our standards, ensuring that ethical practice keeps pace with technological change. The introduction of a new fifth principle acknowledges this evolution by highlighting technicians and engineers’ responsibility towards the future of technology and the long-term impacts of engineering on society and the environment. As such, the Statement remains an essential source of guidance that helps engineering to be seen and recognised by the public as a trusted and ethical profession.”

Dame Tamara Finkelstein DCB, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: “The Royal Academy of Engineering is committed to supporting engineering in the service of society and ensuring that technology improves lives. Ethics and a commitment to public benefit must be at the heart of what we do. Growing an engineering community fit for the future means providing engineers with the vision, principles and guidance to bring ethics into the heart of the profession and inspiring a new generation of engineers to work in ways that have meaningful, positive impact and that reinforces the trust society places in us.”

A series of new How-To Guides have been developed by universities across the UK as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s (RAEng) Diversity Impact Programme (DIP)

Supported by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, this programme funds projects that inspire change within university engineering departments and tackle unequal outcomes experienced by students from underrepresented groups.

Over the past three years, the Diversity Impact Programme has provided grants of up to £100,000 to 22 university projects. The latest phase focuses on sharing what has been learned through practical, evidence-based How-To Guides that other universities can replicate to embed inclusive practices and strengthen outcomes for all engineering students.

 

Funded awardees and their guides

Seven awardees have produced user-friendly guides on inclusive approaches within engineering education:

 

Our guide

We’re proud that our recently published guide, Integrating the Engineering Professors’ Council’s Inclusive Employability Toolkit into the Higher Education Engineering Curriculum (featured in our Inclusive Employability Toolkit), was developed in collaboration with Wrexham University, one of our Toolkit supporters alongside Canterbury Christ Church University, Equal Engineers, and The Royal Academy of Engineering. Through DIP funding, Wrexham University collaborated with us to develop a How-To Guide demonstrating how to use the Toolkit in practice, featuring real-world case studies of students and educators applying it and detailed session plans. This collaboration has enabled us to share practical, scalable strategies that advance inclusive employability within engineering education. We’re delighted to be featured alongside other outstanding contributions from Swansea University, University of Plymouth, King’s College London, University of Dundee, University of Strathclyde, and University of the West of England.

 

Explore the guides

We encourage our members and partners to explore the other awardees’ guides to see how their insights and approaches could inform your own practice. Visit the RAEng website to view all the How-To Guides by clicking here.

 

This post is also available here.

“A new report from the National Engineering Policy Centre about resource efficiency and demand reduction for critical materials to support the UK’s existing Net Zero Strategy.

This report provides an overview of the underutilised policy options for achieving reductions in demands for critical materials and dependency on imports of scarce materials.

It presents a range of policy and engineering interventions around three main areas of demand-side resource management. These include: infrastructure and technology planning, design and design skills and circular economy.

The report concludes with 25 recommendations for policymakers which will help the UK cut its critical material footprint. Lead recommendations from the report call for: an integrated materials strategy, a National Materials Data Hub, infrastructure planning for material sustainability, and a new target to halve the UK’s material footprint.

The report also makes specific recommendations for targeted action, such as committing to the ban on single-use vapes, and improving repair and recycling of electronics to reduce e-waste.

Without intervention, the UK risks not achieving its Net Zero strategy and exposure to future economic uncertainty.” – The Royal Academy of Engineering

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Royal Academy of Engineering logo“In January 2022, GoodCorporation was tasked with undertaking a Review of Ethical Culture and Practices in UK engineering. The need for the review was one of several actions identified in a report by the Engineering Ethics Reference Group (EERG), whose remit is to provide leadership and advice to help develop an enhanced culture of ethical behaviour in UK engineering.

The overall objective was to develop a benchmark from which the UK engineering profession can periodically audit and report on ethical performance in UK engineering and identify areas for improvement in ethical culture and practice. The exercise would also allow benchmarking against other professions and identify relevant learnings from them.” – The Royal Academy of Engineering

 

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

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