1st European Award

Best Practices for the Integration of Sustainable Human Development (SHD) into Technology and Engineering Education 2013

The results of the 1st GDEE Award were announced and prizes presented in Cambridge (UK) at Robinson College on Tuesday 24th September 2013. The review Committee comprised of experts from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Loughborough University, Università degli Studi di Trento, ONGAWA, Practical Action, Engineers Without Borders - UK and The Training Centre for International Cooperation (TCIC).

To award the price of €3000 for the following proposals:

- B.E.S.T. (Best Environmental Sustainable Technologies) for International Cooperation, presented by Sabrina Sorlini from the University of Brescia.

- Traditional Education in Engineering: a systemic approach to strengthen development, presented by Emanuela Colombro from Politecnico di Milano.

- The Integration of Education for Development in the Civil Engineering School of the University of Granada

A special mention also goes to the following proposals:

- Hacking and Translating for Social and Economic Development, presented by Adolfo Villafiorita from ICT4G Fondazione Bruno Kessler and University of Trento.

- Introducing Sustainability and Human Development skills at the Barcelona School of Informatics using Service Learning, presented by David López from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

- Integrating Sustainable Human Development into Engineering Design, presented by David Toll from Durham University.

- Sustainable Human Development in Mainstream Undergraduate Engineering Education, presented by Alison Furber from University of Edinburgh.

- Introducing Humanitarian Engineering and Computing, presented by Elizabeth Miles from Coventry University.

The Committee would like to recognize the high quality of all the presented proposals, and encourage all the participants to follow the Global Dimension in Engineering Education EU initiative.

To access terms and conditions of the award please click here.

Details of the 8 proposals above can be found in the following paragraphs:

B.E.S.T. (Best Environmental Sustainable Technologies) for International Cooperation.

Awarded in the first edition of the "European award for best practice for the integration of SHD (Sustainable Human Development) into technology and engineering education”, in the context of the European project "Global Dimension in Engineering Education ‐ GDEE ",

Authors: Director of the work: Sabrina Sorlini, University of Brescia
Other Authors: Francesco Vitali, Mentore Vaccari, Carlo Collivignarelli
Description of the Proposal:

The issues of Sustainable Human Development (SHD) are often seen as far away from everyday reality in which young people live. The richness of practical experiences in the sector, often available at different scale at local level, gives the opportunity to make young people closer to these issues. Their involvement can be really important as an educational opportunity and as a chance to participate to cooperation projects in developing countries. CeTAmb (Research Centre on Appropriate Technologies for Environmental Management in Developing Countries), a research centre of the Department of Civil Engineering, architecture, Land, Environment and Mathematics (DICATAM) of the University of Brescia since April 2000, deals with international cooperation regarding the technical environmental aspects, trying to work as a meeting point among the academic world, the international cooperation sector and the young people, in particular PhD, university and high school students. This summary presents the B.E.S.T. methodological approach proposed and applied by CeTAmb in the implementation of training and research activities addressed to young people as a technical support for NGOs working in developing countries.

Traditional Education in Engineering: a systemic approach to strengthen development.

Authors: Director of the work: Emanuela Colombo from the Politecnico di Milano.
Other Authors: Lorenzo Mattarolo

The current claim of society towards sustainable human development represents today an emerging challenge which must encounter the proactive role of universities. Through the identification, formulation and implementation of innovative methodologies and sustainable frameworks, they may contribute to the transformation of society by educating generations of decision‐makers, entrepreneurs, academics and serving the public good. The challenge of promoting sustainable development and human promotion has become a mission at Politecnico di Milano in line with the international claim (Lozano et al., 2013), led through the collaboration with governmental, academic and international institutions. The issue has recently joint the specific activities of the Department of Energy, where initiatives like Sustainable Energy for All and the problem of access to energy are being faced, under the UNESCO Chair in Energy for Sustainable Development, which has been established in March 2012. Activities have been tailored to combine the innovative and rigorous methodologies for the performance evaluation of energy conversion systems with a holistic and creative approach which aims at meeting the constraints of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Research and teaching are focused on strategies for improving energy access and for the impact evaluation of energy project. The activity also counts on the effective contribution of PhD students, coming from Developing Countries.

The Integration of Education for Development in the Civil Engineering School of the University of Granada.

Authors: Director of the work: Javier Ordóñez from Universidad de Granada.
Other Authors: Domingo Barrera, Josefa Capel.

Since 2002 the University of Granada has been working to integrate Education for Development into its Civil Engineering degree course. In academic year 2002‐2003 final year students were offered the chance of doing a Final Year Project (FYP) on the subject of Cooperation for Development (FYPCD). Some years later in 2006 at the behest of the Centre for Initiatives for Cooperation for Development (CICD) it was decided to offer a subject entitled: “Inequality, Cooperation and Technology for Development (ICTD)”. This subject, which is worth six 6 ECTS credits, introduces the students to the field of Cooperation for Development and allows them to carry out practical work involving, among other things an infrastructure project within the context of Cooperation for Development. From academic year 2005‐ 2006 onwards with the approval by the Centre for Initiatives for Cooperation for Development of the University of Granada (CICD) of the 1st Call for Applications for Grants for University Practical Work in the field of Development and Cooperation, students were offered the chance to apply for grants to enable them to travel to the country where the work was to take place so that they could perform different tasks in relation to the project. Over 500 students have been trained in a variety of subjects relating to cooperation for development within the context of engineering and a number of companies have also become involved in the project.

Hacking and Traslating for Social and Economic Development

Mention in the first edition of the "European award for best practice for the integration of SHD (Sustainable Human Development) into technology and engineering education”, in the context of the European project "Global Dimension in Engineering Education ‐ GDEE ",

Authors: Director of the work: Adolfo Villafiorita from ICT4G Fondazione Bruno Kessler and theUniversity of Trento.
Other Authors: Aaron Ciaghi, Ali Al Shammari, Andrea Nodari, Pietro Molini

New technologies can make a difference to promote social and economic development, as demonstrated by various successful initiatives all around the world. Consider the ESOKO market information system or M‐PESA mobile, which provide new opportunities to farmers in developing countries. Hackathons (hacking marathons) are a relatively new format in which volunteers gather and dedicate their time to focus on solving specific problems. Translathons (translation marathons) focus on the localization of applications; it is a powerful approach to break barriers and give access to information. The ICT4G group of Fondazione Bruno Kessler uses new technologies to foster social and economic development. We have been organizing hackathons and translathons for the last two years, at the University of Trento and Fondazione Bruno Kessler. The hackathons develop solutions to foster social and economic development. One characterizing aspect and one goal of the events is involving Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate students and have them work with professors, researchers, and domain experts as peers. The mix provides a new and refreshing approach to learn, teach, and have fun. Presentations by NGO experts offer a unique opportunity to expose students to relevant issues of our society. It is an important step to make new generations more aware of important social and development issues, while doing something useful for them and for others.

Introducing Sustainability and Human Development Skills at the Barcelona School of Informatics using Service Learning.

Authors: Director of the work: David López from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.Other Authors: Marc Alier, Jose Cabré, David Franquesa, Jordi Garcia, Helena García, Fermín Sánchez, Eva Vidal.

The SEECS team (Sustainability, Education and Ethics in Computing and Services) consists of people from different knowledge areas of Information and Communication Technologies: Computer Architecture, Electronic Engineering, Management and Software Engineering. Ours is not an institutional group created by our University, but a group of people with a great interest and experience in topics like cooperation, sustainability and commitment to the community. We have come together spontaneously because of our common interests, forming the core of the UPC Sustainability and Human Development (S&HD) network as regards ICT issues. Here we present the strategy used to integrate S&HD skills into the Barcelona School of Informatics. Our experiences drawn from projects on Information and Communication Technologies for Development were introduced into the study plan, including the Bachelor and Master Theses, according to Service Learning principles. To achieve our objectives, we have created a network of committed academics, drawing up new material to help them to introduce and assess these skills in their subjects. We have also created a Reuse Workshop devoted to repairing computers for use in solidarity projects. Finally, we have introduced S&HD ideas into the Ph.D. theses we supervise. Now, in the accomplishment of our goals, S&HD skills are fully integrated into our study plan. Furthermore, additional benefits of our initiative have emerged, leading to an increase in S&HD projects.

Integrating Sustainable Human Development into Engineering Design

Authors: Director of the work: David Toll from Durham University.
Other Authors: Stephen Luard, Steven Robertson, Kenneth Watson, Arganthaël Berson, Peter Waugh, John Garside.

Undergraduate students at Durham University have been educated in Sustainable Human Development through the means of the Design course in the second year of the MEng programme. The focus of these activities has been the Engineering Without Borders (EWB) Challenge, tackling projects to develop innovative and appropriate project solutions that can make a real contribution towards the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Students from Durham University were highly successful in the way they tackled these design projects and a group of these undergraduate students were the winners of the EWB challenge 2013. Their winning design was a rice‐husk gasification system engineered to provide sustainable and reliable electrical energy to the Anh Minh district in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.

Sustainable Human Development in Mainstream Undergraduate Engineering Education.

Authors: Director of the work: Alison Furber from the University of Edinburgh.
Other Authors: Dr Martin Gillie, Dr Martin Crapper, Dr Tim Stratford.

The Institute of Infrastructure and Environment at the University of Edinburgh provides a mainstream civil engineering degree. Climate change and poverty are two critical challenges of our time, and as such it is our belief that every engineer graduating from our degree programme should have an awareness of the issues and debate surrounding sustainable human development. We are currently engaged in ongoing research to explore ways to help student engineers develop the skills they will need to tackle the broader issues of sustainable development. In particular, we are interested in improving the way our students incorporate qualitative factors (for example social land ethical dimensions) into their engineering design solutions alongside those factors which canbe quantified (for example technical and economic dimensions). We are trialling an innovative method of combining Case Method with Socratic Dialogue in our teaching. There are many reasons why this would be beneficial. Through incorporating a global dimension, our evidence suggests students will be more engaged with the taught material. Our students will have a greater awareness of global issues and sustainable development and will ultimately be more employable. Sustainable human development problems are difficult engineering problems; tackling these problems will help students develop core engineering skills that will be beneficial to them regardless of the specialisation they choose to enter on graduation.

Introducing Humanitarian Engineering and Computing.

Authors: Director of the work: Elizabeth Miles from Coventry University.

This application summaries the work of Dr Elizabeth Miles to integrate and embed the theories and practices of Humanitarian Engineering and Computing (HE&C) into the curriculum in the Faculty of Engineering and Computing at Coventry University UK (CU). In her work, which began in November 2011, Dr Miles has addressed the issue that whilst graduate engineers are highly skilled, technically capable, readily employable graduates they lack the broader appreciation of responsible engineering among diverse communities, as such, a more ‘global engineering perspective’. She did this by the introduction of the concept of HE&C as a method to develop the global perspective of engineering and also the ethical and sustainability side to the subject. The inspiration behind her enthusiasm for this work was her ‘Vodafone World of Difference Award’ that allowed her to work for Engineers Without Borders UK on their education programmes for the summer of 2011. She began by reviewing existing literature and engaging with staff and students as to what the exact definition of ‘Humanitarian Engineering and Computing’ would mean to CU. Once this had been defined, time was taken to establishing a baseline of understanding of existing capability within the Faculty that aligned with this HE&C agenda. The third strand of this work being to develop and execute a strategy for the incorporation of HE&C into the curriculum in a way that aligned with the overall philosophy of teaching engineering at CU.