Global Design Challenge
The Global Design Challenge (GDC) is a unique, core module for all first year students in the School of Engineering, Design and Informatics at Sussex. Students work on solutions to real-world design problems, take part in interdisciplinary teams and increase their international perspective.
The module provides students with an opportunity to participate in the Engineers without Borders (EwB) Challenge, working in interdisciplinary teams of 4 or 5 to develop design solutions from briefs provided by the Engineers without Borders (EwB) Challenge. Briefs address real-world, sustainable development projects proposed by an EwB partner organisation working within a community in some part of the world. In this way, students are brought into contact with novel problems from real communities and are required to consider both the technical and cultural dimensions of a design problem in arriving at an appropriate solution.
The module is activity-based, with facilitated workshop sessions and additional lectures from visiting speakers. Teams attend 2 hour workshop classes during which they are expected to work through and complete a range of structured design activities, from initial analysis of the project brief and consideration of sustainable development, through to techniques for idea generation and human-centred design. Trained facilitators run the workshop activities to help teams through the process and to ensure that they meet progress goals.
This is a pass/fail module. Students will need to pass to ensure progress to their second year. Assessment is based entirely on the quality of a short, group presentation and engagement during the workshops. The best project ideas compete to be put forward to be developed for the national EwB Challenge final.