Tanya de Hoog is the 2024 president of iStructE

We were incredibly proud to attend the inaugural address of friend and fellow EQN steering group member, Tanya de Hoog last night. Her first address as 2024 President of the Institute of Structural Engineers was truly inspiring, with a clear call to action that we can all get behind to make a positive change for people and the planet.

Tanya calls on her profession, and those in the wider built environment, to harness their collective expertise to accelerate meaningful, scalable, and positive change towards the environment and humanity. She spoke compellingly about her vision and theme for the year, ‘Engineering with purpose: aligning our values for global impact’. This focuses on the important role of structural engineers to drive climate action, uphold public safety, and positively impact people.

“My vision and call to action for our members – and colleagues in other professions that work with structural engineers – is to commit to evolving and expanding our mindset and skills now, acknowledging the global challenges before us, and our responsibility to contribute as individuals with unique professional skills”

Tanya is a Principal at Thornton Tomasetti, and succeeds Matthew Byatt as the 103rd President of IStructE. She is the Institution’s fourth female President in its 116-year history, and its second President from Australia.

Speaking of Tanya’s Presidency, Yasmin Becker, Chief Executive Officer of IStructE says: “Tanya’s been involved with this Institution since 2014, proactively collaborating across the industry. She’s a passionate advocate for her profession, with a distinguished global career. She’s committed to industry-wide collaboration, and has a vision that truly inspires. I look forward to working with her further in 2024.”

To start her inaugural lecture and Tanya’s presidential year, a film was shown of over 60 IStructE members making commitments for the benefit of People and Planet. They use statement cards that define the actions they will take, such as championing inclusivity by mentoring, enhancing their own engineering competence, or reducing embodied carbon compared to their previous projects by at least 10% in 2024.

“I’m incredibly grateful to our engineers and supporting professions globally for making commitments so willingly – it’s a very positive start to 2024 on which we can build. The aim here is to make the Engineering with purpose vision come to life, by building an engineering cohort for change using commitments aligned for the benefit of People and Planet.”

Congratulations Tanya and we all look forward to seeing the amazing things you will achieve within your presidency.

You can watch the film, followed by her inaugural address below.