Prof. Anusha Shah is the current President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. She is only the third woman and first person of colour to hold this post in over 205 years of the Institution’s history. She is a Senior Director for Resilient Cities and UK Climate Adaptation Lead for Arcadis in London. She is also a Non-Executive Director for UK’s Meteorological Office and a Visiting Professor at University of Edinburgh and lectures widely in many universities, including University of Cambridge. Anusha has over 24 years’ experience in designing, managing and leading water, environment and wider infrastructure projects in the UK and globally. She was  honoured with Doctor of Engineering by University of East London for her services to climate change and with Honorary Professorship by  University of Wolverhampton for Knowledge exchange. She has contributed to several national and international articles and reports on water, climate change, equity and inclusion topics and has won multiple awards including UK’s Top 50 Women Engineers in Sustainability and CECA Inspiring Engineers Award.

In November 2023, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) President Professor Anusha Shah put her lifelong passion for nature, social equity climate resilience and sustainability at the forefront of her vision for the infrastructure industry. Humanity has taken from nature for many years. But we cannot continue to do so with impunity, Globally, we’re off-track to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Global warming is likely to surpass 1.5C in the next  decade,  despite decades of warnings. We are losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. The problem is getting worse and we’re running out of time.

In this lecture, Professor Shah will highlight the interdependence of climate and  nature,  of  ecosystems and human societies. She will call on the engineers and infrastructure professionals of today and tomorrow to focus not on building assets, but connections: leading a collaborative, transdisciplinary, ethics-based movement towards system wide  interventions  that  provide humanity with multiple benefits and restore and rejuvenate nature, rather than just do less harm to it. She will share best practice on how engineers can build sustainable, climate resilient and inclusive infrastructure.