Professor Hywel Thomas is the third President of the Society.

Professor Thomas is Professor of Civil Engineering at Cardiff University, the founder Director of the Geoenvironmental Research Centre (GRC) at the University, and a UNESCO Professor in the Development of a Sustainable Geoenvironment. He is a Distinguished Research Professor at Swansea University. He also leads FLEXIS, a £24 million project for energy systems research in Wales. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), and a Member of Academia Europaea, the Academy of Europe.

In 2017 he received a CBE for services to academic research and higher education.