School of Engineering and Informatics
Sustainability is embedded in both the Engineering and Product Design departments of the school. For example, some Product Design and Engineering modules currently use live briefs from external partners in their assessment, which are sustainability focused in some cases.
Several product design modules look at the importance of circularity and the circular economy (an economic system where waste is eliminated through the reuse of resources) in the design process, from the initial concept creation, through material selection, how repair and upgradability can be incorporated and finally, how the end-of-life for a product can mean a link to a new system – and not landfill.
Current engineering modules in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering degrees look at topics including energy production and efficiency, pollution, design for remanufacturing and reassembly, and sustainable infrastructure.
Meanwhile, in the Automotive and Mechanical Engineering courses students can learn about new vehicle technologies, such as low emission vehicles and alternative fuels, sustainable power generation, and consideration of environmental problems in the design process.
Current sustainability related undergraduate modules in Engineering and Informatics include:
- Design for industry
- The role of design in the circular economy
- Materials and manufacturing processes
- Low emissions vehicle propulsion
- New generation vehicle technologies
The availability of the above modules depends on your chosen course of study. Please follow the module links to see which degree courses offer this module and look at your course prospectus to see whether modules are core or optional.
Case study: The Global Design Challenge
All Engineering, Product Design, and Informatics students currently take part in the Global Design Challenge (GDC) in the intersession week of their first year. They work in interdisciplinary teams of 4/5 to take on real-world problems and find a design solution. The real-world briefs for the challenge are provided by Engineers without Borders (EwB) as part of their EwB Challenge.
The EWB Challenge aims to support students in developing professional skills and innovation for sustainable development, in response to projects proposed by EwB partners that work within a community in a particular part of the world. This allows students to deal with problems from real communities in other areas of the world, leading them to consider the wide range of dimensions to any design problem.
Across the week students take part in workshops sessions and lectures from external speakers, as well as completing design sprint activities to develop their idea, such as activities focusing on consideration of sustainable development and human-centred design.
The students present their idea at the end of the week and the best ideas compete to put forward for the national Engineers without Borders Challenge final.