In April 1969, at ICF2 in Brighton, England, ICF was formally founded with statutes and by-laws, a Council and Executive.

ICF became more than a conference organiser and rather a society for the broad field of structural integrity, fracture, fatigue, creep, corrosion and reliability – from biological to geophysical materials: metals, alloys, ceramics, composites, electronic and natural materials.

The scope evolved through ICF1-1CF12 from nano to macro scales, from basic science, engineering and mathematics to practical technology and systems modelling for safe design.

Since ICF 6, the Treasurer has acted as the de facto CEO working closely with the President and Secretary-General.

ICF-WASI in its widest sense consists also of the “Associates” who comprise the whole community of the up to 10,000 delegates who have attended Quadrennial and Interquadrennial conferences.