Jeremy Smith from ANU is involved with the Humanitarian engineering Community of Practice, under the banner of Engineers Australia, and together with staff of ANU have organized an event in this field. On June 24, the event entitled “Engineering is a Critical Enabler for Sustainable Development” was free for members of Engineers Australia, and $30AUD for others. Engineering professors of ANU also have another event coming up in August celebrating the 10th anniversary since the founding of Engineers Australia Year of Humanitarian Engineering, in 2011, this will be free to attend for all.
Another project organized by ANU is a monthly series entitled HumEng Conversations, informal events where typically two presenters speak each for a few minutes on a topic of interest to the humanitarian engineering education community, before breaking out into smaller groups to discuss the topics further.
ANU’s event on Monday July 12, 12-1pm Sydney time (AEST), focused on humanitarian engineering research. Ian Cunningham explored some of the ethical dilemmas encountered in humeng research, while Tim Foster spoke about research methodologies.
Ian Cunningham has been working and researching at the social-technical interface for 15+ years in the community development and engineering sector. His interests and practice are founded in strength-based approaches to change and in human-centred design, as a means to progress community aspirations.
Tim Foster is a Public Health Engineer and Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures. He is a member of ISF’s International Development team and his research focuses on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in low – and middle – income countries.
