Benchmarking Engineering Capacity and Capability across the Commonwealth


Funder: Lloyds Register Foundation – Engineering a Safer World Grant
Project Lead: Prof Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng
Lead Organisations: Commonwealth Engineers' Council through Aston University, UK
November 2025 - April 2027
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This is an 18 month project to gather data and evidence about the supply and capability of engineering professionals in Commonwealth countries, measured against the demand needs of that country.
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Summary
The project tackles the shortage of engineers in rapidly developing Commonwealth countries, where limited local capacity threatens safe, sustainable urban growth. Using the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council’s network, data will be gathered to map engineering capability, identify gaps, and propose solutions to strengthen education, standards, and professional frameworks.

Benchmark Survey 

This survey is designed to collect data for the Benchmarking Engineering Capacity and Capability across the Commonwealth Project. Your responses will help supplement current data and analysis, and contribute to an interactive map showing engineering supply versus demand in Commonwealth countries. The full set of questions can be found here, should you wish to review these in advance of starting the online survey, which is not able to be saved part way through.
Thank you very much for your support in completing this survey. 

​Context
By 2050, nearly half of the 2.5 billion increase in global urban population will be in Commonwealth countries, doubling their urban population. Cities already account for 70% of carbon emissions, making sustainable growth critical. Many Commonwealth nations lack sufficient engineers, accreditation systems, and enforced building codes, hindering safe development, disaster recovery, and renewable energy transition. Reliance on international contractors often stifles local job creation, uses unsuitable materials, and further depletes domestic engineering capacity. This undermines resilience, safety, and prosperity.

The Project
The Commonwealth Engineers’ Council in collaboration with Aston University UK has launched a collaborative project, sponsored by the Lloyds Register Foundation, to benchmark engineering capacity and capability across up to 56 Commonwealth countries, including the smallest states and Small Island Developing States of the Commonwealth. This project will generate a comprehensive mapping of engineering capacity and capability, and assess a country’s readiness to tackle pressing issues such as climate resilience, rapid urbanisation, renewable energy, and sustainability – issues that all require a well-trained, and appropriately sized workforce, acting in an environment against professional standards and enforceable codes.
Through the measurement of a series of indicators, collected collaboratively throughout the project, we aim to identify gaps in capability that could lead to critical barriers to current and future economic development, the development of climate resilience, future sustainability, and other critical national risks. 

Contact Details
If you would like to be involved in this project, please contact Dawn Bonfield on [email protected].

Document and Links

Data and Analysis

The project aims to gather data and evidence from all 56 Commonwealth countries, and to create an interactive map which will be searchable against the indicators which have been used to establish the analysis. It will also create a contextual narrative for each country, and these narratives can be seen here:
Project Steering Group
  • Martin Manuhwa; WFEO Chair of Engineering Capacity Building Group
  • Leighton Ellis; Representing Jamaica and Caribbean
  • Pratarp Singh; Representing Fiji and Pacific Region
  • Trudy Morgan; Representing Sierra Leone and CEC
  • Refilwe Buthelezi; FAEO president
  • Panos Doss; Representing Aston University
  • Shammah Kiteme; FAEO and Kenya
  • Yashin Brijmohan; Representing Higher Education perspective
  • Katy Turff; Representing Engineeringi Council / Registration body
  • Merv Lindsay; Representing Australia and Pacific Region
  • Ben Austin; Representing Lloyds Register Foundation
For further information, or to be involved in this project, please contact Professor Dawn Bonfield on [email protected].