Effective engineering design and technology plays a significant role for humanitarian contexts. These contexts can range in time - from disaster preparedness and response, to long-term sustainable community development - and in geographic scale - from urban to rural and remote, within our own communities and internationally. Engineering for a Humanitarian Context will provide students with perspectives and tools to sensitively and appropriately apply their engineering practice to humanitarian contexts and development.
The course will expand students’ existing engineering knowledge to work with vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and communities in challenging and uncertain environments, informing and improving their overall engineering practice. Students will explore the history of community development in Australia and the region, including contemporary approaches and models used. Appropriate and sustainable design and technology will be explored, including critical reflection of the benefits and limitations of engineering practice.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Discuss significant aspects of Australia’s international and domestic aid and development sector, including its history, geopolitical context and contemporary approaches
- Apply appropriate technology and system design principles to humanitarian contexts incorporating social, economic and environmental factors
- Identify and evaluate appropriate models of development and engineering and design processes for a range of humanitarian contexts to promote social justice and address the root cause of disadvantage
- Demonstrate necessary personal skills to work in a humanitarian environment, including the ability to utilise cross-cultural awareness and critical self-reflection
- Apply existing engineering discipline knowledge to cross-disciplinary humanitarian contexts and describe how humanitarian principles and skills can inform and enhance discipline practice
Work Integrated Learning
Projects
Other Information
A Canberra-based version will be delivered at least once every two years, which does not require acceptance onto an external program.
Indicative Assessment
- Appropriate Technology Build (15) [LO 2,5]
- Humanitarian Engineering Reflection (5) [LO 4]
- Australian Development Context (15) [LO 1]
- Design Profile (15) [LO 2,5]
- Development Perspectives (20) [LO 3]
- Humanitarian Engineering Portfolio (30) [LO 2,3,4,5]
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Workload
Approximately 130 hours. This includes taking part in the 7-14 day immersive experiences, 1 1/2 days of workshops before the immersion, a day workshop after the immersion and time for assessment preparation and presentation. Accept for a Canberra-based mode, students will need to be accepted onto an immersive experience with an external partner which may have separate costs associated in addition to regular course fees.
Inherent Requirements
Inherent Requirements for this course are currently not available.
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the School of Engineering to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
none
Preliminary Reading
The Humanitarian Engineer - Documentary by Sheena Ong (http://the-humanitarian-engineer.com/)
ACOSS Policy Agenda (http://www.acoss.org.au/policy/)
DFAT Where we give Aid (http://dfat.gov.au/aid/where-we-give-aid/Pages/where-we-give-aid.aspx)
Field Guide to Human-Centered Design
Humanitarian Engineering - Creating Technologies That Help People - K Passino
Assumed Knowledge
An understanding of engineering or related infrastructure design and development
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $4740 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $6000 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
