Society for the Environment (SocEnv) Update – September 2026

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2026 SocEnv Awards – the results 

Looping back to our most recent update in CIEEM’s In Practice where we announced the finalists for the Environmental Professional of the Year award. Here’s what happened.  

From what we witnessed and from delegate feedback, the event was a fantastic showcase of environmental professionalism and networking opportunity. For making it possible, we’d like to thank our wonderful hosts, Arup, and our equally wonderful sponsors, e3p and Burns McDonnell.  

We listened closely to an expect talk from Robbie Epsom CEnv on the challenging and fundamental need to embed sustainability into the economy and financial structures in the UK and globally, then revealed the newest Honorary Fellows of the Society for the Environment (HonFSE), as four were announced. The outstanding recipients were: 

  • CIEEM Fellow, Claire Wansbury CEnv
  • Alastair Taylor CEnv 
  • Carolyn Roberts CEnv 
  • Mark Kibblewhite CEnv 

Keep reading for more details about Claire’s HonFSE award. 

The formalities of the evening concluded with the announcements of the 2026 Rising Star and the 2026 Environmental Professional of the Year award. The winners and highly commended finalists were: 

2026 Environmental Professional of the Year: Richard Manton CEnv – Director of Sustainability at the University of Galway. 

Highly Commended Finalists: Geraldine Badura CEnv and Suzanne Dolan CEnv. 

 and

2026 Rising Star: Abigail Sheppard REnvP – Nature Advisory Consultant at WSP. 

Highly Commended Finalists: Tsz Kai Lam CEnv and Rhythima Shinde CEnv. 

Congratulations to all finalists and winners, and thank you for your continued leadership, efforts, and impact. To see the full event recap and find links to various recordings, please visit: socenv.org.uk/2026-socenv-awards-winners-announced 

CIEEM Fellow awarded SocEnv Honorary Fellowship (HonFSE) 

As you may have spotted above, one of the highly deserving recipients of the HonFSE award was CIEEM Fellow, Claire Wansbury CEnv. Through the award of HonFSE, the Society for the Environment recognises exceptional contributions made to protect and enhance our environment. 

Extracted from Claire’s HonFSE citation – “Claire is an award-winning ecologist with over 30 years of experience, bringing technical excellence to thinking on sustainability, particularly biodiversity, for decades. One of the UK’s top experts in biodiversity net gain and natural capital, she is critically acclaimed in this technical area and has, and continues to, greatly advance industry best practice in these newly emerging topics.  

Claire was elected a Fellow of CIEEM in 2011, which has seen her increasingly active in support of the institute. She represented CIEEM on the working group creating the “Biodiversity Net Gain good practice principles for development”, jointly produced by CIRIA, CIEEM and IEMA. She also represented CIEEM at a meeting on green infrastructure policy and the EU consultation roundtable on the ‘fitness’ of the Habitats Directive. Claire also promotes CIEEM through her engagement with other professional bodies, including the Landscape Institute, Institution of Civil Engineers and Society for the Environment.” 

In a short acceptance speech immediately following the announcement, Claire said: 

Thank you so much – it is an incredible honour… I love the Society for the Environment. I love its umbrella nature. I’m an ecologist with CIEEM – sustainability is the day job – obviously I would be a part of this [SocEnv]. But I love the fact that it covers institutes like ICE [the Institution of Civil Engineers] and brings in people like engineers – it provides a place for those who are passionate about the environment across sectors, but it also challenges all of the others to say – this should be a part of your day job as well. Why isn’t it? 

To watch Claire’s speech in full, visit our YouTube channel, here. 

Upon announcing the new HonFSEs, Dr Emma Wilcox, Chief Executive of the Society for the Environment, said:  

We are delighted to welcome Alastair Taylor, Carolyn Roberts, Claire Wansbury and Mark Kibblewhite as newly awarded recipients of our Honorary Fellowship. They have joined an esteemed list of professionals and public champions that have demonstrated true leadership when it comes to championing the environment and sustainability. We are proud to recognise them with this Fellowship and look forward to continuing our work to achieve our collective goals.

A full list of our Honorary Fellows can be explored, here.

Upcoming HonFSE Lectures 

As is now tradition, we encourage our new HonFSE recipients to share some insights, inspiration and/or good practice from their outstanding careers to date. We have two new HonFSE Lectures lined up in 2026 – now available for you to register to attend online for free by following the relevant links:  

Working with Nature 
  • By Claire Wansbury HonFSE CEnv. 
  • 27.10.2026 12:00 – 13:00 GMT 
  • Register for free, here. 
Reconciling human timescales and infrastructure with soil time and space 
  • By Mark Kibblewhite HonFSE CEnv. 
  • 30.11.2026 12:00 – 13:00 GMT 
  • Register for free, here. 

Becoming a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv) with CIEEM 

Numerous opportunities are still available between now and the end of the year to learn more about achieving your CEnv goal. Join a session or two, for free: 

Stay up to date 

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