The notion of social responsibility is critical to the future of engineering. For this reason, we are developing a project aiming to make the next generation of engineers understand the importance of community.
Our aim is to partner university engineers with local charities in order to develop designs for the problems that they are facing. University engineers would work in teams for a week to develop a solution. The winning teams of the universities will have the opportunity to present to a company that could implement the solution. The team's designs will be assessed on certain criteria such as cost, sustainability, community involvement. These ideas are essential for creating responsible engineering solutions to local problems.
We are focussing on university students because they are the future and can be best shaped into the idealistic viewpoints we want. Using university engineers as a platform allows the future generation to gain experience in dealing with real-world problems. It furthermore gives them an ethical insight that can be taken forward in order to make them more globally responsible. There is often a disconnect between university students and the cities they live in, hence we would aim to increase the levels of direct involvement between universities and local communities. This is a great way to bring communities together whilst also providing direct action to areas in need. This provides a mutual benefit for both communities and university students. This creates a generation of engineers with a renewed view on the importance of community allowing them to spread this globally.
Best of luck everyone! I am sure you all have done a great job! Will see you all on 27th :)
Hi Sophie,
Normally it should be okay if it is 10 seconds over but if possible try to make it within the time limit.
Hi Chathuri,
I had another question regarding the video to upload - is it a problem if the video is about 10 second over the limit (ours is currently at 3 mins 7 secs)?
Thank you, Sophia
Hi Sophia,
I think it is best to mention an abstract of what you have posted here and go more into details. As this is a design competition, judges would be more interested in methodology. Hope this help. If you have more questions let me know.
Hi Chathuri, thank you for your feedback. We just had a question about the content in the 500 word report and the presentation - should they mention the same thing or can we assume that you have seen one of them before and go into more detail in the other? Thank you, Sophia
Hello everyone! I am Chathuri and I am the mentor of your team for this week. I am really excited about this proposal and you have a done a great job.
I like the idea how engineering students and local communities work together for one goal. It would be great if you explain more about the charities you mentioned in second paragraph. Few examples are, the services they do for the local community, what kind of steps they have taken so far to tackle the problems and how engineering students can help them.
As this is a design challenge, I feel a week might not be enough to come up with solutions.
Including the time scale and project funds as few criteria might be good, as most investors are very interested about those.
Those are few suggestions, but if you have any more questions please let me know. Good luck!!