The Minor in Humanitarian Engineering explores the role and application of engineering to disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable communities to improve quality of life and support empowerment. It provides a connection between engineering and development, placing human well-being at the centre of engineering practice. Students will explore how engineering and technology can contribute to a range of humanitarian and development contexts, from disaster response to long-term community development, both domestically and internationally. It extends participants discipline knowledge through courses in humanitarian action and development contexts and multidiscipline approaches to complex challenges. The need to collaborate and communication with stakeholders from other disciplines and cultures will be emphasised to ensure engineering is contributing to positive impacts as part of broad multidiscipline approaches.
Learning Outcomes
- Describe the domestic and international Australian humanitarian aid and development sectors including current priorities, practices, contexts and focus;
- Understand the role and limitations of appropriate engineering practice within multi-disciplinary approaches to humanitarian or development contexts incorporating social, economic and environmental factors and outcomes;
- Demonstrate the necessary personal skills to work in a humanitarian or development environment, including cross-cultural competency, communication, creativity, ethical practice and critical self-reflection; and
- Apply discipline knowledge to multi-disciplinary humanitarian or development contexts involving engineering and technology and describe how humanitarian principles and skills can inform and enhance discipline practice.
Relevant Degrees
Requirements
This minor requires the completion of 24 units, which must include:
6 units from completion of the following course:
ENGN3013 Engineering for a Humanitarian Context
6 units from completion of introduction to development courses from the following list:
ANTH1003 Anthropology: Critical Foundations
ENVS1001 Environment and Society: Geography of Sustainability
SOCY1002 Self and Society
6 units from completion of humanitarian and development context courses from the following list:
ANTH2009 Culture and Development
EMSC4706 Introduction to Natural Hazards
INTR3001 Humanitarianism: Principles, Politics and Practice
PASI3013 Environment and Development in the Pacific
SOCY2030 Social Inequalities and Development
6 units from completion of multidisciplinary advanced engagement courses from the following list:
AATD3001 SoCIETIE Initiative
ENVS2005 Island Sustainable Development: Fiji Field School
ENVS2017 Vietnam Field School
ENVS3007 Participatory Resource Management: Working with Communities and Stakeholders
ENVS3040 Complex Environmental Problems in Action
PASI3005 Pacific Islands Field School
POPH3000 Introduction to Population Health
SCOM3029 Science Communication and Planetary Crises
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