It is with deep regret that the Engineering Council has learned of the death of one of its former Chairs, Professor Patrick Dowling CBE CEng FREng FRS DL.

Professor Dowling, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey, became the first Chairman of the new EC(UK) in 2002, following a period of reform in the role and function of the organisation, to ensure the continuation of the essential central EC(UK) activities of Regulation and Registration.

He was a member of the ‘Engineering and Technology Board’ (ETB) which was responsible for modernising the role of the current Engineering Council to be more concerned with communicating and promoting engineering as well as working on behalf of, and for the benefit of, the whole of the wider engineering and technology community.

He took over as the Chair of the Board for Engineers’ Regulation (BER) before becoming the first Chairman of the new EC(UK) which was the replacement for the BER. He had also been an Engineering Council Senate member, Chair of the Engineering Council’s Nomination and Audit Committee and a past President of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE).

Professor Patrick Dowling CBE CEng FREng FRS DL died on 28 April 2023.