Key themes in Engineering for Sustainable Development

There is an internationally recognised acceptance that Engineering for Sustainable Development should embrace a number of key themes, including: 

• A more integrated multi-disciplinary style to develop bridges between the technical and physical sciences and the humanities. 

• The need to take a systems approach with the ability to deal with complexity through a recognition of wider system boundaries 

• An appreciation that there are limits to what can be achieved through technology alone, and that singular prescribed technical solutions may not be capable of addressing real needs. 

• An acceptance that value judgments play an important role and that engineering education should not be exclusively about facts and empiricism, but should embrace ethics, creativity and social responsibility.

In addition to these themes, we have also added the following to our MPhil at Cambridge University as being essential ingredients for well-informed engineers to tackle the issues facing the modern world: 

• The need to engage in problem definition through careful dialogue with all stakeholder groups and a proper recognition ofcontext. 

• An understanding of mechanisms for managing change in organisations so future engineers are equipped to play a leadership role. 

• An acknowledgement that technical innovation and business skills also must be understood, nurtured and combined as precursors to the successful implementation of solutions.