Global Design Challenge (H7103)

Level 4

Intersemester week

This module provides students with an opportunity to participate in the Engineering for People Design Challenge, a national design competition organised and run by Engineers without Borders (EwB) UK. Students work in interdisciplinary teams or 4 or 5 to develop design solutions from project briefs provided by EwB. Project briefs will address real-world, sustainable development projects proposed by an EwB partner organisation working within a community or geographic area. 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 delivered entirely during the inter-session week at end of January/beginning of February. It is project-based, with facilitated workshops sessions and invited lectures from expert speakers. Teams attend daily, dedicated, 2 hour workshop classes during which they are expected to work through and complete a range of structured activities, from initial choice of project brief though appropriate research to development of a design concept fulfilling the brief. Trained project mentors facilitate the workshops to help teams through the process and to ensure that they meet progress goals. Assessment is based on the quality of a short, group presentation and group portfolio put together during the workshops. The best projects may be put forward to the national Engineering for People Design Challenge final.

The module is pass-fail and does not contribute to student credit.

Teaching

100%: Lecture

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2023/24. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to COVID-19, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let our applicants know of material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses: