CPD and Events FAQs

As a member of ITI, you commit to adhering to and upholding the Code of Professional Conduct. This requires members to ‘undertake continuing professional development as appropriate, in order to continue to offer the highest possible standards of work by maintaining and updating their language skills, subject knowledge, or any other skills or knowledge necessary for their work’. 

Watch our video on the importance of CPD at every stage in your career.

An academic degree gives you an excellent start for launching your career. But it is just that: a start. It can never cover every single aspect of everything you need to know as you set up as a freelancer and as your career progresses. Nothing stands still – from the technology we use to developments in our specialist fields –, so it is essential to keep up with all these changes throughout our career.

ITI recommends that members undertake at least 30 hours per year, which is the standard CPD requirement across many professions.

The CPD year runs from 1 May to 30 April. Members joining ITI part way through a CPD year can log any relevant CPD undertaken before they join.

The CPD requirements apply to all individual members of ITI regardless of their membership category (except Academic and Supporter membership categories) and regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time.

At ITI we refer to CPD as either formal or self-directed.

A formal CPD activity is a structured activity with a stated learning outcome, designed to meet a specific learning or development need. It is typically interactive or proactive and will generally involve a form of certification at the end. This includes conferences, training courses, webinars, workshops, and so on.

A self-directed CPD activity is an unstructured or informal activity that meets a learning objective but may not have been undertaken specifically for that purpose. It is generally unaccompanied. This includes reading journals/trade literature, preparing and delivering presentations, writing articles, listening to podcasts, visiting clients, etc.

Click here for a more detailed list of CPD activities.

Any time spent studying or researching for formal training, such as a Master’s degree (see note below), your MITI Assessment or a diploma (e.g. DipTrans), etc., in a subject that contributes to improving some aspect of your practice as a professional translator or interpreter, counts as formal CPD. Keep a record of the number of hours per week you spend on studying and preparing for your exam or assessment and the time spent sitting the exam/assessment itself, however large the number may be.

Note that an undergraduate or Master’s degree in languages and/or translation/interpreting studies does not count as CPD, as this constitutes preliminary training for entry into the profession.

As an ITI member, you have access to all the forms of training and CPD events organised by ITI. Details are advertised in the monthly ITI email updates and published in the ITI Bulletin, and can also be viewed on the ITI Events calendar.

In addition, the ITI Networks also organise training events: these are advertised on the ITI Events calendar and on their own websites or forums, where applicable. All events are also publicised across various social media channels.

As a record of all the CPD activities you have undertaken, keeping a CPD log enables you to track your learning and development progress and identify gaps in your skills or knowledge that you may want to fill in the future.

The CPD log is also important for members looking to move up to a higher membership category, such as FITI, for which you will need to provide a written record of the CPD you have undertaken over a certain period of time.

ITI members can our online CPD log. Instructions on how to use the CPD log can be found here.

Alternatively, you can keep a record of your CPD in an Excel spreadsheet or Word document, for example. Either or both of these methods are acceptable as proof of CPD for a higher membership grade.

Once you achieve your recommended 30 hours in the ITI CPD log, you can download a CPD Achieved certificate and a badge from My CPD summary  and which you can display on your website, social media profile and email signature to demonstrate your commitment to your profession. Further badges are available for 50, 100 and 150 hours of CPD achieved. 

You can also print out a log of your CPD from the tool which you can use as proof of CPD undertaken when applying for a higher membership grade or for other similar uses.

When you attend formal CPD events at ITI such as workshops or conferences, your CPD log will automatically be updated with the correct number of hours. For non-ITI formal CPD events, a certificate of attendance will often be issued with the number of hours.

For self-directed CPD, you should always keep your own record of the time you spend on the activity. If you spend half an hour a week listening to a source-language podcast, for example, you can log 26 hours over the year. Likewise, six hours spent reading a textbook on your specialist field, spread over any length of time, can be logged as six hours of CPD. You can either log these hours as you complete them or as one activity with the total number of hours for the year.

You may find that the number of hours you log ends up far exceeding the recommended 30 hours. As the main purpose of logging your CPD is to keep track of your development and identify any gaps, it is recommended that you continue to log all your activities so that you have a complete record which you can review and refer back to when necessary.

Members achieving 50, 100 or 150 hours will be awarded a bronze, silver and gold CPD Achieved badge respectively.

CPD records cannot be backdated to previous years. You should therefore make sure you log your CPD during the year concerned. The CPD year runs from 1 May to 30 April each year.

Every time you attend one of our ITI online events it is automatically logged for you on your CPD log. You will still be able to add any learning notes to the entry by editing it. Please note that this generally only applies when you attend the event live. If you watch the recording afterwards, you'll still need to log the time yourself.

Log into My ITI and then click on My events from the My ITI drop-down menu. You will see all the forthcoming online and in-person events that you are booked on to and those you are on a waiting list for.

You will be able to download your CPD certificate by logging into My ITI and then clicking on My events. Then click into the relevant event and you should see a "Download certificate" button.

ITI members can also download it from My CPD summary.

Please note: a certificate is generally only available when you attend the event live.

ITI members have preferential rates for all our events, or free access in some cases. Non-members who are members of FIT organisations are entitled to discounted rates on our short courses and workshops.

You can access the webinar recording from ITI’s Knowledge Hub.

You can access the webinar recording from ITI’s Knowledge Hub.

If you have any access requirements, please contact [email protected] in advance of the event you are planning to attend so that arrangements, where possible, can be made. ITI will try to assist with any special requests for a facility or service made by you. However, we cannot accept any booking that is conditional upon such special requests being met.

Yes, however you should check the terms and conditions of the specific event, as some venues do have restrictions. If in doubt, please email [email protected]. 

Our in-person events are often recorded; more frequently we have a photographer present. This will also be covered within our terms and conditions for each event.

If you attend an ITI event organised directly by ITI you do so under the understanding that you may be photographed or recorded. Any and all photographs, videos, or other recorded media captured may be used by ITI for the purposes of marketing and advertising without any request being made to the featured parties. Recordings may be reproduced and sold as part of the overall event materials.

NB: These FAQs are only valid for ITI events, and not those run independently by ITI Networks or by other third parties.

If you are looking to advertise an external event that is not run by ITI, please submit the event details here.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]. We will aim to upload events to our Events calendar within 5 business days.