Engineering and humanitarian intervention: learning from failure

Arshad-Ayaz, Adeela; Naseem, M. Ayaz; Mohamad, Dania

doi:10.1186/s41018-020-00073-5

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(21 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The FGD series started with reaching an agreement on certain terminologies. Some of the terminologies were based on the cited literature (Borhan et al, 2021; "UN Sustainable Development Goals", n.d.; Sahib et al, 2017;Arshad-Ayaz et al, 2020;Carew & Cooper, 2008;Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC), 2020). Table 1 presents the summary of the important terminologies that were discussed.…”

Section: Summary From Focus Group Discussion (Fgd)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Humanizing Education Through Newly Reviewed Materials Engineering Curriculum

Sarifuddin

Ahmad

Azhar

et al. 2021

IJES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In line with the current global focus on sustainability and the well-being of the planet, becoming a professional engineer nowadays requires more than simple mastery of technical skills. Considering that engineers are required to have a deep sense of responsibility not only for humankind but also for the environment, engineering education and practices must be reformed substantially to prepare engineers that will contribute to sustainable development. This necessitates updating conventional engineering programs (CEE) to incorporate Humanizing Engineering Education (HEE). Although HEE is an old practice of individual engineers and other organizations outside the academic field, it is relatively new in academic engineering. While the definition of what truly merits being considered HEE remains debatable, many engineers believe that their work involves a humanitarian aspect. To streamline the development of HEE, there is a need for developing guidelines and frameworks for a comprehensive model. Ideally, that framework should integrate humanizing pedagogy in the new curriculum design. The objective of the paper is to share the experience of the authors in designing a new curriculum for a Materials Engineering Programme (MEP) that is embedded with Humanitarian Engineering (HE), which is among the main elements of HEE. Data collection was through interviews, qualitative surveys, reports from the stakeholders, accreditation bodies and benchmarking with other Higher Learning Institutions (HLI). An extensive scholarly literature review was executed to identify shortcomings in CEE and how it could be reformed by integrating it with HEE. The Sejahtera Academic Framework (SAF); a strategic framework for academic programmes developed by the university, was used as a reference to customize MEP to better meet students’ needs. Since the proposed model applies a new emerging concept, it inevitably raises challenges related to different levels of understanding among course implementers and perceptions of external stakeholders. Moreover, the developers had to consider the limitations imposed by the university's policies and structures while acknowledging the availability of finite resources (i.e. time, money, equipment, and expertise).

show abstract

Section: Summary From Focus Group Discussion (Fgd)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Humanizing Education Through Newly Reviewed Materials Engineering Curriculum

Sarifuddin

Ahmad

Azhar

et al. 2021

IJES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Motivations primarily based on opportunities to travel abroad or experience new cultures, if translated to practice, can reinforce views of development based on colonialism and privilege, where the Humanitarian Engineer is engaging for their own benefit in terms of travel and experiences, particularly when international [26]. This is in contrast to strengths-based approaches, where the role of a Humanitarian Engineer is to constantly reflect on their role and position within a project [24]. Based on the findings in this study and the literature, reinforcement and reflection of motivation are critical for retention in HumEng programs as well as for the recruitment process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These differences in definitions may help guide researchers to consider the human dimension of HumEng at the very early stages of HumEng theory and development alongside the technical dimension regarding engineering practice through problem-solving. A focus on problem-solving can also lead to a deficit approach to development, looking for individual problems and issues to be solved rather than focusing on promoting human development and well-being [24]. This is in contrast to a strengths-or assets-based approach, which places greater emphasis on local communities and individuals and building from existing resources, strengths, and skills [25].…”

Section: Motivations To Be Humanitarian Engineersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineering Students’ Concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and Their Identity Development as Humanitarian Engineers

Park

Smith

2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Humanitarian Engineering extends engineering practice to provide a focus on addressing social inequities and contributing to sustainable development for all. This study investigated undergraduate engineering students’ concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and motives to be Humanitarian Engineers as they acquire knowledge and skills and build a professional identity as engineers who can work in complex socio-technical sustainability contexts. Qualitative data were collected from an open-ended survey of 46 engineering students followed by semi-structured interviews with ten students at a U.S. university. Survey data provided individual characteristics that conceptualized and guided interviews to explore key relationships among participants’ concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and motivations. A central idea of a “Humanitarian Engineer” identity emerged, influenced by various motivations. Students envisioning themselves as Humanitarian Engineers were associated with socio-cultural background, motivation to practice engineering skills, and desire to travel. A value-related motivation, the desire to help others, appeared as a strong catalyst for developing students’ professional identities and empowering a possible future self as Humanitarian Engineers. To support sustainability education in engineering demands, initial motivation factors associated with student Humanitarian Engineer identity development are researched to support potential future practice and career development.

show abstract

“…While the intricacies of failure of such systems are complex, one thing is very clear: these failures are not so much due to technical issues with the DER systems, as to a lack of consideration of the non-technical aspects of the communities for whom these systems were built [9]. It is important to understand that social aspects are equally relevant for success [10].…”

Section: The Importance Of Context Of Place and Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

Contextual Challenges in using DERs to Advance Remote Electrification

Chattopadhyay¹,

Witmer²,

Sauer³

2022

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper describes some non-technical challenges of utilizing Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to achieve electrification in remote rural regions that fall outside the reach of the conventional utility grid. These non-technical challenges stem partly from the inability to utilize economies of scale, but are also related to place-based contexts of the communities that these systems are designed to serve. This paper provides some insights from a case study of DER usage for electrification in the Navajo Nation (NN) and the challenges that are involved. It describes through this illustrative case study why technology solutions and long-term policy initiatives and support -explicitly crafted using knowledge of place and people -are necessary to advance electrification goals in rural and under-served communities.

show abstract

Engineering and humanitarian intervention: learning from failure

Cited by 21 publications

References 25 publications

Modeling Humanizing Education Through Newly Reviewed Materials Engineering Curriculum

Modeling Humanizing Education Through Newly Reviewed Materials Engineering Curriculum

Engineering Students’ Concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and Their Identity Development as Humanitarian Engineers

Contextual Challenges in using DERs to Advance Remote Electrification

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About