Phase 5 · Write and submit
Sponsors
Who can sponsor you, what the lead sponsor's role actually involves, and how to approach both without leaving it late.
Who this is for:Candidates at any stage ·Sponsors
You need two sponsors, and one of them has a substantial mentoring role. Finding a lead sponsor is the single most common cause of a delayed application.
What ICE requires
Institution of Civil Engineers
- You must select two sponsors to support your application and confirm your suitability for membership.
- You nominate one as lead sponsor. This person has additional responsibilities and plays a particularly important role in the success of your application.
- Your lead sponsor must be an ICE Member or Fellow and registered with the Engineering Council at the same grade as, or higher than, the one you are applying for; has a duty to act as your mentor during the application process; and should be familiar with the current ICE Professional Review process and the standards you must meet.
- ICE gives examples of what the lead sponsor should do: provide constructive criticism of your report, provide advice on the presentation, and arrange practice interviews.
- ICE recommends that your lead sponsor is someone who was involved in your initial professional development — if you used IPD Online, that could be your SCE, delegated engineer or IPD Online Mentor.
- Your second sponsor must be professionally qualified at the same grade as, or higher than, the one you are applying for, with one of the organisations listed in the table on the statement of support.
- Both must complete a statement of support and upload it to the sponsors portal by the appropriate deadline and before you submit your application. You must ensure this has been done.
- Number of sponsors
- 2sponsorsOne of the two is nominated as lead sponsor.
- Lead sponsor eligibility
- ICE Member or Fellow, registered with the Engineering Council at the same grade as you are applying for, or higherThe lead sponsor also has a duty to act as your mentor through the application, and should know the current review process.
- Second sponsor eligibility
- professionally qualified at the same grade as you are applying for, or higher, with one of the organisations listed on the statement of supportThe second sponsor does not have to be an ICE member. The list of acceptable organisations is on the statement of support form itself, which must be read.
From Incorporated and Chartered Professional Review Guidance, Institution of Civil Engineers.
Finding a lead sponsor
ICE's Career Appraisal guidance is unusually candid about this: it is your personal responsibility to identify suitable sponsors, and it can be a challenge, particularly for the lead sponsor, if you do not work directly with ICE members. Its suggestions, in order:
- 01Check your colleagues and contacts. Someone you already work with may be a member, and they will already know your work — which is worth more than a formally suitable stranger.
- 02Use the ICE members' directory to search by name, grade, location or employer.
- 03Network. Attend ICE events in your region.
- 04Ask ICE. If none of that works, contact ICE for advice.
The same guidance adds the point that matters most for timing: if you do not have suitable sponsors ready, your Professional Review application will be delayed considerably. Decide who they will be long before you need them — ICE suggests deciding at Career Appraisal stage, which for many candidates is a year or more ahead.
How to ask, and what to give them
- 01
Ask early, in person, and be specific
Explain that being lead sponsor carries a duty to mentor you, review your report, advise on the presentation and arrange practice interviews. Someone who agrees without knowing that will be an unhappy sponsor in four months.
- 02
Send them the current statement of support
Not last year's copy, and not your description of it. The form carries the eligibility criteria and tells them what they are being asked to confirm.
- 03
Give them your dates
Your target session, the sponsor deadline, and when you will send your draft. Their deadline is before yours.
- 04
Give them something to react to
A CV and a report draft. Asking a sponsor for feedback with nothing written puts the work back on them.
- 05
Confirm they have uploaded
Before you upload your own application. ICE makes this your responsibility explicitly.
- 06
Keep them informed afterwards
They will want to know the result, and if it goes badly they are the person ICE expects you to discuss the reviewers' comments with.
Questions to ask yourself
Is my lead sponsor registered at the right grade?
ICE Member or Fellow **and** Engineering Council registered at your grade or above. Both parts. A very senior colleague who is not registered does not qualify.
Does my lead sponsor actually know the current process?
Someone who qualified fifteen years ago may be advising you on the Written Exercise, which no longer exists — the written element is now the Communication Task, with its own current rules.
Will my sponsors say the same things about me as my report does?
Sponsors give their own account. Inconsistency between it and your report is noticed.
Have I asked too late?
If the answer is possibly, ask today. It is the one part of the application that depends entirely on someone else's diary.
Related pages and tools
- Sponsor trackerKeep track of who you have approached, what they still need to confirm, and what you have sent them.
- Lead sponsorsWhat you are agreeing to, what ICE expects you to do, and how to do it without writing the report.
- The applicationWhat goes in, in what order, and the administrative details that hold applications up.
- The report5,000 words in which two strangers have to see your competence: what ICE asks for, how to structure it, and how to edit it.
- Mock reviewRun a practice sequence of questions and follow-ups, in coaching mode or under timed conditions.