LATEST NEWS
25 July 2024
A first-of-its-kind community co-design consortium will provide engineering students the opportunity to ‘shift the dial’ on some big challenges facing diverse communities across Australia.
Last week RMIT University in Melbourne met with SydWest Multicultural Services, Settlement Services International and Pronia – all not-for-profit organisations who work with multicultural communities – to establish an alliance that will ensure engineering students work on real world challenges through community engagement.
The alliance project – RMIT Humanitarian Engineering Research Consortium/Understanding and Leveraging Engineering with Society – has been dubbed HERCULES.
Dr. Spyros Schismenos, lecturer in Humanitarian Engineering, is the co-leader of RMIT’s Humanitarian Engineering Lab. He is passionate about the advancement of innovative teaching and research at the intersection of human-centered design, technology, and experiential learning.
SydWest has already kicked off an engagement challenge with RMIT through Dr Schismenos, where students will soon visit Western Sydney to talk with local seniors about challenges and concerns that might be resolved through engineering.
SydWest CEO Elfa Moraitakis said the impetus to join the HERCULES consortium grew from the students’ overwhelming response to the RMIT SydWest Engagement Challenge.
“Working from a strength-based perspective enables individuals and communities to provide insights and solutions to the challenges impacting them,” she said. “This approach also enables students to develop important engagement skills early in their career and to design engineering solutions with the end-user in mind.
“The Western Sydney region is a diverse and vibrant area with a mix of unique challenges and creative insights and perspectives which will provide students with a rich learning ground.’
