Accreditation as a Chartered Geologist or Chartered Scientist is a sign to clients, regulators, employers and the general public that you are a competent professional who can demonstrate a high level of knowledge, skills and experience, and that you are bound by a strict code of professional conduct.
The Geological Society of London is the recognised UK professional body for geoscientists. It awards the professional title of Chartered Geologist (post-nominal CGeol) and is licensed by the Science Council to award the title of Chartered Scientist (post-nominal CSci). Both titles are of equal standing.
The 'Chartered' designation indicates a professional practitioner who has been peer assessed as having key professional competencies and experience in their field of practice. They are required to maintain their professional skills and knowledge through an appropriate programme of Continual Professional Development (CPD) and are bound by an enforceable Code of Conduct.
To apply to become a Chartered Geologist or Chartered Scientist you must be a Fellow of the Society and hold appropriate educational qualifications.
For each title, you must demonstrate how you meet the respective Chartership competency criteria.
The validation process consists of three parts, and the whole process should take less than four months from the submission deadline.
It is important for you to read all the relevant guidance and prepare all sections before starting your application.
There is a one-off admission fee to be paid when you submit your application form. Once you become Chartered, an annual Chartership supplement will be added to your Fellowship fees.
ATTENTION CSci APPLICANTS:
Please do not complete the application until after 1 October 2021.
New CSci standards and application form will apply from 1 January 2022. We are currently updating our documents and will upload to the website by 30 September 2021. If you are planning to submit an application for interview in 2022, please contact chartership@geolsoc.org.uk for details.
Chartered Geologist
Chartered Geologist is appropriate for Fellows who have a degree in Geology or some related geoscience subject and are practising professional geoscientists for whom geoscientific knowledge is an essential element for their work.
Chartered Scientist
Chartered Scientist is appropriate for Fellows practising as professional scientists where scientific knowledge is essential for their work. Fellows with science degrees or geoscience degrees whose work is now in science but only peripherally requiring geoscientific knowledge are best suited to the CSci title.
Retrospective Award for Chartership
The Society also allows a Fellow gaining one title to apply retrospectively for the other without the need for a second interview. Follow the link for more information on the Retrospective Award for Chartership
20+ years professional experience route to Chartership
The Society recognises that many Fellows with more than 20 years’ professional experience wishing to become chartered may find some difficulty in producing some of the documentary evidence of their early professional work. It also wishes to encourage these senior geoscientists/scientists to take up the professional titles, to act as role models to colleagues within their sector of work and to promote the take up of professional titles.
The validation process for them requires attendance at a Validation interview, to have two professionally qualified Sponsors and to produce a report of their career in which they describe how they fulfil the requirements of the 7 Chartership Competency Criteria.
European Geologist route to Chartership
European Geologists (EurGeols) who are not Fellows of the Society may also apply for CGeol using this modified route, having first become Fellows.
The decision as to which title to apply for is best taken with advice from your Sponsors or your Mentor. The Chartership Officer is also available to discuss any questions you may have and to advise on this.
The eligibility requirements for Chartered Geologist and Chartered Scientist are outlined in the table below.
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Chartered Geologist
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Chartered Scientist
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You must be a Fellow of the Geological Society.
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You must hold a recognised degree or equivalent qualification in geoscience or have post-graduation experience to demonstrate M level. Fellows without a geoscience degree are eligible for validation but they must be able to demonstrate experience practising in geoscience.
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You must hold a recognised degree or equivalent qualification in science at Masters (M) level or have post-graduation experience to demonstrate M level.
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You need to have a sufficient number of years of relevant post-graduate experience in the profession and practice of geology (CGeol) or science (CSci) to be able to demonstrate competency in all of the criteria applicable to the Chartership for which you are applying.
The Geological Society no longer specifies the number of years’ experience needed to apply for Chartership. The length of time you will need will depend on a number of factors, including your exposure to new and different work experiences, coupled with the rate at which you assimilate the knowledge to become competent, as well as your motivation.
However, as a very general guide, the Society has found that most successful applicants have had at least 4 to 5 years’ relevant post-graduation work experience to gain the necessary level of competency. Those applicants that have a degree accredited by the Geological Society and/or have participated in an accredited company training scheme are typically able to become Chartered a year earlier than those who do not.
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To read the full eligibility requirements and criteria for validation as a Chartered Geologist and Chartered Scientist, please see:
Regulation R/FP/2: Criteria and Procedure for Validation as a Chartered Geologist
Regulation R/FP/11: Criteria and Procedure for Validation as a Chartered Scientist
The Fellowship of the Society cover a very ‘broad strata’ of geoscience/science, straddling a wide range of industries and employments including:
- Academic Research and Teaching
- Contaminated Land
- Engineering Geology and Geotechnics
- Geoenvironment and Waste Management
- Geophysics
- Ground/Site Investigations
- Hydrogeology
- IT and Data Management
- Mining, Quarrying and Mineral Exploration
- Natural Hazards
- Oil and Gas
- and many others
An essential part of the Chartership application is for you to describe the general area of geosciences/science for which you are claiming competency. This specialism is then assessed against the required criteria at interview.
Please note: You are applying to become Chartered as a Geologist or Scientist but only for the specialism in which you practice and are competent (as designated on section AD1 of your application form) and not geoscience or science as a whole. Should you start working outside your area of competence you will need to be supervised by a competent person or gain competency in that area through additional training. Because you must demonstrate competency in each specialism designated on section AD1, the Society recommends recording a maximum of two specialisms.
Although the interview may focus strongly on meeting competency in the designated specialism (criteria i and ii for CGeol, and criteria A and D for CSci, the general professional competencies are equally important and must be addressed in the application:
- criteria iii, iv, v and vi for CGeol
iii. Communication
iv. Health and Safety
v. Professionalism and Professional Ethics
vi. Maintenance of Competence through CPD
- and criteria B, C, D and E for CSci
These will be discussed and assessed in the interview.
You need to be supported by two Fellows acting as Sponsors who themselves have been validated as Chartered Geologists or Chartered Scientists. For CGeol applications, at least one sponsor must be CGeol, and for CSci applications, at least one sponsor must be CSci. Other professional qualifications may be accepted, but must be agreed in advance with the Chartership Officer.
Things to consider
When thinking about who might sponsor your application remember that validation as a Chartered Geologist or Chartered Scientist is based on your geological or scientific competencies, and not on your competency to do your job. Ideally, your Sponsors should also be more than just a referee.
In order to maximise your chances of success, you should select Sponsors who will be able to give you advice on the preparation and focus of your application. You should therefore try and find your Sponsors early and discuss your application with them. Your sponsors are expected to comment on how the competency criteria have been met, and therefore you need to ensure that they have seen the entire application prior to submission.
The Society holds validation interviews four times a year via video conferencing, usually in March, May/June, September and November. Interviews dates will be confirmed after consultation with the scrutineers who will review the application.
| Application submission deadline |
Interviews will be held before |
Election date |
| 01 August 2021 |
09 November 2021 |
24 November 2021 |
| 01 January 2022 |
23 March 2022 |
06 April 2022 |
Your completed application forms and all supporting documentation must be sent in full using our online Chartership application form on or before the corresponding application deadline date.
Prepare your application
Having decided whether to apply for CGeol or CSci (or both), chosen the area of geoscience/science in which you are claiming competency, and selected your Sponsors, it is now time to start preparing your application.
Your application must be submitted using the Society’s online Chartership application form via the 'Apply online' link below. Please save your application at each stage so you can return to it later (using the unique link provided). The application consists of five main parts as detailed below:
This section consists of personal information, contact details, education record, and employment history which you can enter directly into the online form. It also allows you to designate which specialist areas you wish to become chartered in.
To complete this part you will need to use the AD2 template (download below), and then upload the completed document into the online form.
The Professional Report should detail your professional development and focus on the Chartership criteria for the title applied for. It is particularly important that you describe how and when you gained the necessary experience and skills which you claim qualify you to become Chartered. Think of this as an expanded CV which shows how you have developed the different competencies through time as you have gained experience in different roles.
You should cross-reference this against the relevant Supporting Documents in order to back up the claims made. It is very important that for each part of the report the relevant person signs off to confirm that what you claim is correct. It is your responsibility to explain what is involved to those who are not familiar with the process.
Applicants with 20+ years’ professional experience should download and complete the respective Career Account (AD2) template (download below).
Download templates
20+ years route
The Competency overview section should be completed online and by addressing each criterion in turn to describe how you fulfil the requirements (no more than two paragraphs for each). Cross-referencing to the Professional Report and Supporting Documents should be made where necessary. Follow the link for more details on competency requirements for both CGeol and CSci.
Applicants with 20+ years’ professional experience are not required to complete this section
A record of at least your last three years' CPD activities must be included with your application. You can upload these in the CPD section of the online form.
Please use the Society’s definitions of the various CPD categories, which are illustrated on the 'CPD Mind Map' (www.geolsoc.org.uk/CPD). Your record should illustrate your aims and objectives for your professional development each year by using the Plan-Act-Reflect cycle.
The record may be produced using the Society’s on-line system although a company scheme record or your own spreadsheet is acceptable provided it meets the above criteria. Note that all CPD must demonstrate LEARNING, it is not intended to capture routine day to day activity. Minimum hours and more details about our CPD scheme can be found on www.geolsoc.org.uk/CPD
Please provide your sponsors details using the online form (including name, address, email and Chartership designation). Once you have completed your application online you will receive a copy of your application along with instructions for your sponsors to complete the online sponsor’s statement form. Please send this to your sponsors so that they can submit their statement directly to the Society.
Please make sure that each Sponsor has read your completed application and understands the need to assess and report on your readiness for Chartership.
It is your responsibility to ensure that these reports are sent to the Society as close to the submission date as possible.
Your supporting documents should be uploaded using the online form.
It is essential that you take great care in the selection and presentation of your Supporting Documents (SD), of which no more than six are permitted to be included with your application.
Supporting Documents should be short, and must focus on your geoscience/science Chartership competency criteria and should support statements made in your Professional Report. Please aim for a maximum of 30 pages for each supporting document, including photos, maps and diagrams.
These documents do not have to be reports; they can include:
- Annotated maps
- 3D ground models
- Interpreted cross sections, or 3D block diagrams
- Well correlations (from boreholes) or from outcrop sections
A cover sheet must be attached to each supporting document which points to the material written or produced by you and which steers the Scrutineers to the parts where your competencies are demonstrated. Non-relevant material, such as appendices, should be removed so that the Scrutineers can clearly and easily see what is being demonstrated. If too many, too long or unfocused documents are submitted, the Scrutineers will return the application and thus your validation may be delayed. Individual documents should be converted to PDF (rather than being scanned) and submitted electronically. The completed application documents, including the six Supporting Documents should not exceed 50 megabytes in total.
Please note: Large company reports prepared by a team are not helpful and so you need to be able to show what your part was in any project and how this relates to the criteria (perhaps by only submitting selected parts). Company reports are written for the client and so may contain information not relevant to your application and often contain confidential information. If possible, try to submit something you have done yourself, which may be relevant to your application.
The 20+ years route
Supporting Documents are not required for applicants with 20+ years’ professional experience, although submission of a piece of work may be useful to start the interview discussions. The Society recommends a longer presentation is made at the start of the interview (approx. 30 minutes) to showcase a range of activities undertaken during their career and which demonstrates a range of competencies
Guidance notes and regulations >>
Submit your application
Please send your application using our online Chartership application form
Once you have completed your application, an email will be sent to you with a copy of your application, and a link for the sponsor to complete the online sponsor’s statement form. Both your sponsors will need to submit their statement using the online sponsor’s statement form, and it is your responsibility to ensure they have all the relevant details to do this.
On receipt of your application and sponsors statements, an acknowledgement will be sent. If your application is incomplete for any reason your interview may be postponed to a later date. As soon as possible after the submission date we will let you know the time and date for your interview along with the names and affiliations of your Scrutineers. Please do not book time off until we have confirmed that your interview will go ahead.
Apply online
What happens next? >>