Recognition for your skills!
Competency
Technical membership recognises your ability to apply human factors knowledge and skills within your area of professional practice. It demonstrates competence across the CIEHF Professional Competency Criteria and your ability to contribute effectively to the design, evaluation and improvement of systems. Successful applicants may use the post-nominals TechCIEHF.
Achievement
You can remain in this grade or, if you want to broaden your knowledge, experience and skills, you could see this as a stepping stone to Registered Membership and Chartered status. Either way, Technical Membership is recognition of a great achievement.
What's needed?
If you're applying human factors knowledge and skills in your professional role and can demonstrate your competence through practical examples, Technical Membership could be the right grade for you. Click on each section below to learn more about the application requirements.
Education
Main requirement
You need a minimum of a Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF) level 6, which equates to a graduate degree, a BTEC level 6 or an NVQ level 6, or equivalent work experience. If you have alternative qualifications, please contact us to discuss.
Work experience
Main requirements
You need to have carried out ergonomics/human factors work for at least 200 days over a period of at least 2 years. You should have carried out at least 6 significant activities or projects during that time.
How to show this in your application
You'll need to complete a log book detailing your activities or projects. Your log book is a key part of your application as it demonstrates to the assessors the ergonomics and human factors work that you've undertaken over your minimum 2 year period. It should contain separate records of between 6 and 10 significant activities over the period.
There must be at least 200 days work undertaken during that period (part time ergonomics work is pro rata, e.g. 40 half days = 20 full days). If you have worked on a long term project you can break it down into smaller activities or tasks.
Each log book record should link to the requirements of the Professional Competency Checklist in terms of knowledge and skills for each of our 5 Core Competencies. You'll need to provide:
- A summary of the task.
- The Core Competency that you're demonstrating.
- Details about when you carried out the work.
- Documented evidence for at least 4 of the tasks.
See a fully-worked example of a log book that will give you guidance on the level of detail needed to satisfy the assessors that your knowledge and skills meets the criteria required. The example gives you a few different ways you could relate your experience to the requirements of the Professional Competency Checklist.
Download our log book example.
Frequently asked questions
Can I complete my log book retrospectively?
Yes, your log book can reflect work you have already done.
I've already started filling in the previous version of the log book, do I have to re-do it?
No, there is a transition period until 1 September 2026 during which time you can continue to complete your log book and apply using the previous version, alongside the previous version of the PCC.
Evidence
Main requirement
You need to support the log book by at least 4 documented examples of your work.
How to show this in your application
Your evidence could be final reports from the work you described. These should show in detail the ergonomics and human factors work you undertook during that project. Note that a multi-authored report can be difficult to assess as evidence, so you must be explicit about your contribution to such a report.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as evidence?
Many different things can count as evidence for example, project reports you've been involved in, conference papers and posters you've written, book chapters you've contributed to, training material you've designed and webinar presentations you've given. This list is not exhaustive. The assessors may ask for more information if your contribution to the evidence is not clear or if the evidence is not strong enough.
Competence
Our new Professional Competency Checklist
We've developed a new Professional Competency Checklist (PCC), which forms part of a framework, designed to enable recognition of five Core Competencies through professional membership of CIEHF.
The new PCC helps you review your experience and plan development in human factors. Structured around the five Core Competencies, it uses checkboxes for Knowledge (what you understand) and Skills & Abilities (what you can do). Completing the checklist makes it easy to see your strengths, identify areas for growth and prepare a strong application for assessment.
There's also an interactive slider to help you check eligibility for this grade.
Find out more about the Checklist
Questions you might have
I've already started filling in the previous version of the PCC for my application, do I have to start again?
No, there is a transition period until 1 September 2026 during which time you can continue to complete the previous version of the PCC and send it with your application, alongside the previous version of the log book.
Referees
Main requirement
Learning Pathway route: You will need a mentor who is a Chartered member of the CIEHF and 1 referee.
Non-Learning Pathway route: You will need to find 2 referees, at least 1 of whom works outside your organisation, and at least 1 is a Registered Member or Fellow of the CIEHF (or equivalent in a related professional body).
How to show this in your application
Your referees must know you well enough to form a robust opinion of your professional work and status. Their reports are an important part of your application and must show strong support for it. Download our referee report example.
Assessment
How your application is assessed
Two suitably qualified members of our team of membership assessors will assess your application. They might ask you to submit additional information if there are any areas which need clarification.
In order for your application to have the best chance of success, make sure it contains enough information for the assessors to answer positively all the following questions:
- Have you completed the necessary two years professional experience?
- Have you demonstrated sufficient knowledge?
- Does your log book contain sufficient work to enable the assessment to be done?
- Have you demonstrated an ergonomics and human factors approach to your work?
During the assessment of your application, all assessors follow specific written guidance and complete a feedback form to ensure they work consistently and we maintain a clear record of your application.
Download the assessor guidance
Download the assessor feedback form
Questions you might have
I've already started my application and have filled in a previous version of the log book , do I have to start again?
No, there is a transition period until 1 September 2026 so you can carry on. You should read these documents before you apply to understand what the assessors are looking for, how they do their assessment, and to give yourself the best chance of success.
Download the assessor guidance
Download the assessor checklist
How long will the assessment process take?
That depends on several things such as the quality and completeness of your application, and the speed with which we receive your referees reports. The assessors are all volunteers so must find time to assess your application, though they will endeavour to do this as quickly as possible. If all goes well, we hope to have your application processed within 6 weeks.
If my application is successful, what happens then?
Congratulate yourself! If your application is accepted, we will let you know straight away and you will be sent confirmation of the decision. You will also get a certificate and will be able to use the post-nominal TechCIEHF, as recognition of your professional status.
What if my application is rejected?
You will be given guidance as to the areas in which it was felt that your application was lacking, so that you get a chance to improve the material so you can reapply in the future. Alternatively, you have the option, if you wish, to appeal a decision to reject your application. In which case, within 6 weeks of the decision being sent to you, should contact us by email. We will then guide you through the process.
Questions you might have
Do all the knowledge requirements and skills & abilities on the PCC need to be checked or just a percentage?
Neither. The Professional Competency Checklist is intended as a developmental tool to help you reflect and prepare for your application. It's not an assessment scoring mechanism so there is no numerical threshold and therefore, ther's no requirement to meet a specific proportion of knowledge requirements or skills & abilities. What you do need to do is provide sufficient, balanced evidence across all five Core Competencies at an appropriate level for the grade you're applying for. Assessors then use a rubric as the anchor point for determining whether coverage and depth are adequate.
Do the log book entries have to explicitly mention knowledge requirements and skills/abilities for each Core Competency?
You're not expected to provide a separate evidence statement for every individual Knowledge Requirement or Skill & Ability but you should reference the relevant Knowledge Requirements in your log book entries so that alignment is visible. This helps assessors see the connection between your practice and your underlying knowledge base without encouraging a checklist approach. For Skills and Abilities, you don't need to list each one individually. Your narrative should demonstrate the appropriate expertise level (of Recall, Explain, Demonstrate) through the description of your work.
As the Institute is Chartered, will I become a Chartered member?
Not just yet! You will need to upgrade to Registered Member first.
What do I pay if I upgrade before my membership renewal is due?
If you're already a member and have paid a subscription for the year, we'll work out a pro rata amount to make sure you don't pay twice for the same time period!
Ready to apply?
If you think you're ready to apply, this is what you'll need to do.
- Complete the Professional Competency Checklist. Download the checklist.
- Create your log book entries. Download the log book template.
- Gather the evidence to back up your log book entries.
- Fill in an application form.
- Email the application form to us, together with the Checklist, log book and evidence.
- Contact your referees and ask them to prepare and send us their referee reports. Download the report template to send to them.
Not quite there yet?
If you're not quite ready, join now as an Associate Member to get all the benefits while you continue to work towards Technical Membership!