Gordon Masterton

Gordon Masterton is Emeritus Professor of Future Infrastructure at the University of Edinburgh School of Engineering. Until 2015, Professor Masterton was Vice-President of Jacobs Engineering and he is a past president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Insitution of Engineers in Scotland (2009-11); past chair of Construction Industry Council (2008-10) and Deputy Convenor of the UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) (2019-23). He established the Centre for Future Infrastructure within the Edinburgh Futures Institute, bringing together arts, humanities, engineering and data science in a cross-disciplinary hub for research, teaching and industry collaboration that tackles complex infrastructure challenges. His interests include the improvement of project outcomes through better evidence-based decision-making in major programme management and its oversight and assurance. Writer of two 10-credit courses in these areas for an MSc in Leading Major Programmes. Other interests include performance measurements for infrastructure; Sustainable Development Goals; safety (former Chair of Standing Committee on Structural Safety) and the learning legacy from engineering history and heritage (chair of ICE’s Panel for Historical Engineering Works). He continues to advise government on major programmes and chairs an Independent Assurance Panel for the ICE acting for HS2, National Highways, Thames Water, etc. In 2021 he co-led a UK government study into the technical feasibility of a fixed bridge or tunnel link to Northern Ireland. Has appeared as a spokesperson for RAEng and ICE on many occasions. Contributor to TV Series such as Life After People; Canals: The Making of Modern Britain; Britain’s Greatest Bridges, and to an episode of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Great Lives’. He has been a judge for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award for Engineering for two terms (2013-16) and (2019-present).