Use this material to examine your own work. Confirm current requirements, forms and dates with IStructE before applying.
Reviewers expect ethical practice across all ten objectives, shown in your forms, portfolio and answers. Ethics is considered throughout the assessment.
What the Code asks of members
The Code of Conduct requires members to act with integrity and fairness; to have regard to the public interest and to those affected by their work; to uphold the reputation of the profession; to maintain and broaden their competence and help others do so; to undertake only tasks for which they are competent; to exercise appropriate skill and judgement; not to injure another's reputation maliciously or recklessly; and to avoid conflicts of interest.
Read that list against the ten objectives and the overlap is obvious. *Undertake only those tasks for which you are competent* is the same instinct as recognising the limits of your technical competency. *Have regard to the public interest* is most of health, safety and risk. *Maintain and broaden your competence* is CPD.
Evidencing it without a section for it
Because there is no ethics objective, there is no ethics section in the portfolio. Ethics shows up where it occurred:
- The time you said a design was outside your competence and asked for it to be reviewed.
- The conflict of interest you declared.
- The error you found in your own work, and reported.
- The buildability or safety concern you raised when it was inconvenient.
- The point where you refused to sign something off.
These are strong evidence precisely because they are uncomfortable, and candidates leave them out because they read as failures. Reviewers read them as judgement.
AI tools
The Institution's position on the interview itself is unambiguous, and it is a rule rather than a matter of taste.
Beyond that specific rule, the honest position for a candidate is this: the Professional Review assesses your competence, and everything you submit is a declaration that the work is yours. A form written for you does not evidence your ability to communicate, and you will be questioned on the content of what you submit by two experienced engineers.
Questions to ask yourself
- Describe a time you worked at the limit of your competence. What did you do?
It tests the Code directly, and a candidate who has never encountered the limit has either not been stretched or is not noticing.
- Have you ever had to raise a concern that was unwelcome?
Reviewers are looking for judgement under pressure, not for a record of never having been in that position.
- How do you keep your competence current?
Maintaining and broadening competence is a Code obligation, and CPD is separately assessed at the interview.
Official sources
Selected publisher pages were rechecked in September 2026. Other source records were last checked in July 2026. Open the latest official document before relying on a requirement.