“Where there is no Engineer – Designing for Community Resilience” is a design initiative jointly coordinated by DTC Research Group with Engineers Without Borders Ireland.
The program has received funding from Irish Aid, the European Union Development Education and Awareness (DEAR) program, Ove Arup and Davies Ltd.
Development partners have included Concern Worldwide, Action Aid, Nepal Ireland, Smart Shelter Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and FIN India.
The program design is not limited to any particular discipline and contains a number of
innovative teaching and learning methods.
The following link summarises the program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RVz6F3fr6Y
Real life design challenges: Students work directly with a community
Interact with global experts: Project briefs are brought to life through engagement with international development professionals within our global network.
Creative and Enterprising: Student teams participate in interactive workshops to design, build and test their concepts.
Innovation: Students are encouraged to innovate, take risks and learn from design failures.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): projects integrate specific SDG targets into their own design concepts.
Effective Communicators: Students have to demonstrate an ability to sell their ideas and participate in self-appraisal of their concept throughout the program.
Competition: This culminates in a series of college finals. Outstanding teams are then invited to the national showcase.
Innovative Resource Materials:
The program is supported by an online academy accessed here:
www.wherethereisnoengineer.org
TU Dublin / EWB Ireland’s education initiative changes the way we teach engineering to bring out its
inherent creativity.
The program is unique in Ireland
in providing:
- A real world design context
- Flexible learning environment
- A platform for students to develop professional skills outside of the traditional “technical” engineering subjects
- Achieve a positive social impact
in vulnerable communities
- Opportunity to connect with peers
- Opportunity for an internship with development partners.
