EESD2021: Proceedings of the 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, Jun 14, 2021
Barriers to the development of renewable energy generally involve non-technical as well as techni... more Barriers to the development of renewable energy generally involve non-technical as well as technical challenges, that are dynamic and context dependent. In the case of opposition to large-scale wind energy and overhead transmission lines for example, existing research reveals a complex and diverse range of conditions that shape public perception. However, conventional engineering practices tend to focus on least cost techno-economic evaluation methods such as cost benefit analysis. Here we use the case study example of Ireland’s North-South interconnector project to demonstrate how a narrow focus on techno- economic analysis resulted in failure to adequately incorporate broader socio-political considerations. It demonstrates that the primarily technocentric worldview, which largely pervades engineering teaching and practices, can cause tensions and inertia, slowing the rate of progress along the low carbon transition. This, we argue, points to the need for a cultural / ethos change in engineering education and practice. Engineers should be encouraged and educated to broaden their perspectives and take a more reflective / pragmatic approach to engineering challenges that embraces the diversity of worldviews within our society. We hypothesise that the clear (and necessary) emphasis within engineering curricula on solving purely technical / mathematical problems may foster a reductionist hubris in engineering practice. To address this, contemporary fit-for-purpose curricula necessitate the inclusion of coursework that considers broader societal complexities, including so-called ‘wicked problems’ such as infrastructure projects, which involve placing engineering solutions in broader societal contexts
EESD2021: Proceedings of the 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, Jun 14, 2021
An essential aspect of engineering education is the provision of core competences in discipline s... more An essential aspect of engineering education is the provision of core competences in discipline specific knowledge and its application. Added to this, engineering education must equip its students with a range of transferable skills in order to facilitate their working within a variety of organisations, skills which are much valued by employers. Critically for the 21 st century, engineering graduates entering the workforce must be equipped with knowledge and competences in sustainability / sustainable development, as this is becoming more and more important within organisations. More importantly it is an existential imperative for humanity, which is of particular relevance to young people, including newly graduated engineers who must be equipped with sustainability knowledge and competences to effectively contribute to the good of a society that needs to transition to a sustainable pathway. Such competencies are also required by professional accreditation organisations. This may require paradigmatic change in how we view both our profession and the world we inhabit. This paper briefly highlights a number of proposed sustainability related skills and competences. It then focuses on the development of these through open-ended activities and problems. This is based on the active learning premise where students achieve better quality learning by actively doing things themselves. The paper outlines four examples of activities undertaken at University College Cork and at the University of Seville. They include a transdisciplinary group exercise, environmental consultancy role-play, sustainability / environmental debates, and converting a closed well-defined problem into an open-ended one followed by the addition of layers of complexity and holistic considerations. It highlights the learning outcomes, transferable skills and sustainability knowledge and competences that students may obtain from undertaking the highlighted activities.
EESD2021: Proceedings of the 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, Jun 14, 2021
As part of an introductory energy engineering undergraduate module at University College Cork, st... more As part of an introductory energy engineering undergraduate module at University College Cork, student presentations on a zero-carbon energy plan for Ireland have shown a high preference for nuclear energy, despite a complete absence of nuclear energy from the same module curriculum. Nuclear power has never been built or generated in Ireland, is currently illegal, and faces high levels of public opposition. The origins of a high preference for nuclear energy among undergraduate student engineers is therefore unclear. In response to this high preference for, but critically unengaged view of nuclear power, the authors developed a participatory learning activity for first year undergraduate engineering students to engage with a range of maximally different perspectives on nuclear power. Four different perspectives on whether Ireland needs nuclear power were presented to this year's class: definitely yes; definitely no; maybe yes; maybe no. These perspectives involved a number of different framings of nuclear power and ranged across a spectrum from techno-economic to socio-technical. They emphasised to a greater or lesser degree issues around risk, cost, system impacts, timing, social acceptability, and sustainability. The activity took place in a room divided into four quadrants with each quadrant representing one of the four different perspectives on nuclear power. At the start of activity, students were invited to go to the quadrant that best represented their initial views. Each perspective on nuclear power was then delivered in a short expert presentation by one of the coauthors. Throughout these presentations, students were invited to remain in or move from their quadrant as they were persuaded or not by the arguments advanced. At the start of the activity, an overwhelming majority (96%) of the students indicated a yes preference with the majority of these being maybe yes (79%); at the end of the debate the total yes share had significantly decreased (to 54%), with the largest share of the lost vote moving to the maybe no category which finished at 36% (having started at 0%). Overall, there was a greater distribution of students across all four categories than at the start. Evaluations on the activity format were largely positive. Student reasons for changing their views were mostly socio-technical points specific to Ireland that included the electricity system, overall energy needs, costs and expert availability. Closing reflections introduced the idea of a wicked problem and highlighted the importance of values to questions such as "Should Ireland Go Nuclear", i.e. avoiding an exclusively narrow scientific framing.
Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, University College Cork (Strategic Rese... more Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, University College Cork (Strategic Research Fund)
This paper explores the experiences of an ‘Interdisciplinary Sustainability Assessment Laboratory... more This paper explores the experiences of an ‘Interdisciplinary Sustainability Assessment Laboratory’ (‘ISA Lab’) workshop, which took place over a week at Universitat Politècnica de València during April 2017. The workshop drew together students from a range of disciplines from across engineering and science, law and the social sciences and from a range of countries and backgrounds, including North and South America, Europe and Asia. It also facilitated a rich co-creative learning environment as it was led by (engineering) academic faculty from across Europe (Spain, UK, Netherlands and Ireland) as well as North America (Canada), as well as local experts who helped provide participants with appropriate context and guidance. The workshops culminated with a number of presentations from respective student groups, where they outlined an integrated development plan for a selected real life local project. A necessary constraint of the workshop involved the fact that faculty came from several...
Particle and powder technology education in many chemical engineering degree programmes worldwide... more Particle and powder technology education in many chemical engineering degree programmes worldwide is not afforded the same attention as processes and technologies incorporating liquids and gases. Consequently, many graduating students may be less well equipped to solve problems and effectively contribute to process industries which deal mainly with particulates and powders. In Ireland, the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry are two of the major process industries contributing to over half of all exports in value terms. Both these industries produce, process and handle a lot of particles and powders. A new degree programme in Process & Chemical Engineering at University College Cork has recognised the importance of this technology to the process industries and has tried to incorporate a strong particle and powder technology component into its curriculum. This paper outlines the material taught and the structure in which it is taught. It also describes some visualisation te...
This paper focuses on two mechanical properties of granules, the coefficient of restitution and t... more This paper focuses on two mechanical properties of granules, the coefficient of restitution and the strength, and analyzes their sensitivity to granule geometric parameters. The granules were obtained by fluid bed granulation of glass beads with an aqueous solution of PEG1500. Collisions were arranged between granules, and for granules against two glass plates, the first of them a non-covered plate, whereas the second was a plate covered with a thin film of PEG1500. The coefficient of restitution and the strength were measured for the granules, the former for individual particles also. In the case of individual glass particles the coefficient of restitution was around 0.61 for impacts on the flat glass, and 0.5 on the covered glass; for the granules, this parameter was around 0.44 for both situations and for collisions between granules. Sphericity, lacunarity and fractal dimension of the granule projected area, as well as the granule porosity, were determined. Granules giving the hi...
Abstract This study evaluated the personal carbon footprints of two lecturers who have western li... more Abstract This study evaluated the personal carbon footprints of two lecturers who have western life-styles living in the global north and would also consider themselves as being environmentally and sustainability conscious individuals. Not surprisingly, both had relatively high carbon footprints that were similar to the average in their country of residence at double the global average. A major reflection from the study is that it is difficult for (even environmentally conscious) individuals to drastically reduce their carbon footprints when they live and participate in a society that has a high carbon footprint. Change in complex adaptive holarchic systems is recursive and thus there is a need for concomitant societal change in order to facilitate further the individuals’ capacity to achieve the radical reductions in their carbon footprints required to realise a sustainable society operating within biophysical limits.
Since writing about the ‘the need to embed sustainability’ into chemical engineering programmes i... more Since writing about the ‘the need to embed sustainability’ into chemical engineering programmes in a 2009 paper (Byrne & Fitzpatrick, 2009), the authors have endeavoured to walk the walk by helping embed sustainability into the Process & Chemical Engineering undergraduate degree programme at University College Cork. This has been achieved both through the development of ‘primary’ bespoke modules with explicit sustainability related foci, as well as through the development of a coherent sustainability related context right throughout the programme, and across modules more generally. Nearly a decade on, this approach yielded international recognition, with a successful submission by the authors on behalf of their programme, which resulted in the award of the 2016 Teaching Sustainability Award by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), an award given with the purpose of ‘encouraging the development of better approaches to integrating sustainability principles and values into un...
Yes, metaphor. That's how this whole fabric of mental interconnections holds together. Metaphor i... more Yes, metaphor. That's how this whole fabric of mental interconnections holds together. Metaphor is right at the bottom of being alive. Capra (1988: 79; quotation attributed to Gregory Bateson) The language of transformation This book is concerned with the ways in which language, metaphor in particular, but also myth, fable, parable, allegory, and other literary devices, can shape how we think about, and respond to, the environmental challenges that humanity is currently facing. It recognises that language makes sense of our world and shapes how we think and act: individually and collectively (Fløttum, 2014). Narratives-constructed stories-frame problems and issues in ways that are meaningful, creating an "architecture" for understanding the state of the world and what might be done to improve it (Jepson, 2018). Metaphor, myth, and fable influence how we frame problems and set agendas (Lakoff, 2004), affect whether or not we are motivated to act, and can play a role in bringing about needed transformations in deeply held beliefs, social norms, and institutions (Moser, 2006). These feed into narratives and discourses in ways which recursively and interdependently influence social, political, and economic institutions across a range of fieldspsychological, philosophical, cultural, historical-thereby shaping the ways in which we engage with the natural world (Harré et al., 1999). This is why, for Bateson, metaphor was the "language of nature", the "logic upon which the entire living world is built" and the basis for establishing the "pattern which connects" (Capra, 1988: 84; Olds, 1992). This is a book that is consequently interested in language but that has been written, largely, by people who do not regard themselves as linguists, rhetoricians, or cognitive scientists. On the contrary, we present ourselves-editors and contributors alike-as transdisciplinarians motivated by a shared interest in sustainability and concerned by the threats to the stability of Earth system processes. As environmental, social, and natural scientists, engineers, eco-humanity scholars, and with other academic influences, we have been engaged in a deliberative process of dialogue and discussion that has enabled us to reflect upon the role of language in shaping our understanding of current problems and possible
EESD2021: Proceedings of the 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, Jun 14, 2021
Barriers to the development of renewable energy generally involve non-technical as well as techni... more Barriers to the development of renewable energy generally involve non-technical as well as technical challenges, that are dynamic and context dependent. In the case of opposition to large-scale wind energy and overhead transmission lines for example, existing research reveals a complex and diverse range of conditions that shape public perception. However, conventional engineering practices tend to focus on least cost techno-economic evaluation methods such as cost benefit analysis. Here we use the case study example of Ireland’s North-South interconnector project to demonstrate how a narrow focus on techno- economic analysis resulted in failure to adequately incorporate broader socio-political considerations. It demonstrates that the primarily technocentric worldview, which largely pervades engineering teaching and practices, can cause tensions and inertia, slowing the rate of progress along the low carbon transition. This, we argue, points to the need for a cultural / ethos change in engineering education and practice. Engineers should be encouraged and educated to broaden their perspectives and take a more reflective / pragmatic approach to engineering challenges that embraces the diversity of worldviews within our society. We hypothesise that the clear (and necessary) emphasis within engineering curricula on solving purely technical / mathematical problems may foster a reductionist hubris in engineering practice. To address this, contemporary fit-for-purpose curricula necessitate the inclusion of coursework that considers broader societal complexities, including so-called ‘wicked problems’ such as infrastructure projects, which involve placing engineering solutions in broader societal contexts
EESD2021: Proceedings of the 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, Jun 14, 2021
An essential aspect of engineering education is the provision of core competences in discipline s... more An essential aspect of engineering education is the provision of core competences in discipline specific knowledge and its application. Added to this, engineering education must equip its students with a range of transferable skills in order to facilitate their working within a variety of organisations, skills which are much valued by employers. Critically for the 21 st century, engineering graduates entering the workforce must be equipped with knowledge and competences in sustainability / sustainable development, as this is becoming more and more important within organisations. More importantly it is an existential imperative for humanity, which is of particular relevance to young people, including newly graduated engineers who must be equipped with sustainability knowledge and competences to effectively contribute to the good of a society that needs to transition to a sustainable pathway. Such competencies are also required by professional accreditation organisations. This may require paradigmatic change in how we view both our profession and the world we inhabit. This paper briefly highlights a number of proposed sustainability related skills and competences. It then focuses on the development of these through open-ended activities and problems. This is based on the active learning premise where students achieve better quality learning by actively doing things themselves. The paper outlines four examples of activities undertaken at University College Cork and at the University of Seville. They include a transdisciplinary group exercise, environmental consultancy role-play, sustainability / environmental debates, and converting a closed well-defined problem into an open-ended one followed by the addition of layers of complexity and holistic considerations. It highlights the learning outcomes, transferable skills and sustainability knowledge and competences that students may obtain from undertaking the highlighted activities.
EESD2021: Proceedings of the 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, Jun 14, 2021
As part of an introductory energy engineering undergraduate module at University College Cork, st... more As part of an introductory energy engineering undergraduate module at University College Cork, student presentations on a zero-carbon energy plan for Ireland have shown a high preference for nuclear energy, despite a complete absence of nuclear energy from the same module curriculum. Nuclear power has never been built or generated in Ireland, is currently illegal, and faces high levels of public opposition. The origins of a high preference for nuclear energy among undergraduate student engineers is therefore unclear. In response to this high preference for, but critically unengaged view of nuclear power, the authors developed a participatory learning activity for first year undergraduate engineering students to engage with a range of maximally different perspectives on nuclear power. Four different perspectives on whether Ireland needs nuclear power were presented to this year's class: definitely yes; definitely no; maybe yes; maybe no. These perspectives involved a number of different framings of nuclear power and ranged across a spectrum from techno-economic to socio-technical. They emphasised to a greater or lesser degree issues around risk, cost, system impacts, timing, social acceptability, and sustainability. The activity took place in a room divided into four quadrants with each quadrant representing one of the four different perspectives on nuclear power. At the start of activity, students were invited to go to the quadrant that best represented their initial views. Each perspective on nuclear power was then delivered in a short expert presentation by one of the coauthors. Throughout these presentations, students were invited to remain in or move from their quadrant as they were persuaded or not by the arguments advanced. At the start of the activity, an overwhelming majority (96%) of the students indicated a yes preference with the majority of these being maybe yes (79%); at the end of the debate the total yes share had significantly decreased (to 54%), with the largest share of the lost vote moving to the maybe no category which finished at 36% (having started at 0%). Overall, there was a greater distribution of students across all four categories than at the start. Evaluations on the activity format were largely positive. Student reasons for changing their views were mostly socio-technical points specific to Ireland that included the electricity system, overall energy needs, costs and expert availability. Closing reflections introduced the idea of a wicked problem and highlighted the importance of values to questions such as "Should Ireland Go Nuclear", i.e. avoiding an exclusively narrow scientific framing.
Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, University College Cork (Strategic Rese... more Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, University College Cork (Strategic Research Fund)
This paper explores the experiences of an ‘Interdisciplinary Sustainability Assessment Laboratory... more This paper explores the experiences of an ‘Interdisciplinary Sustainability Assessment Laboratory’ (‘ISA Lab’) workshop, which took place over a week at Universitat Politècnica de València during April 2017. The workshop drew together students from a range of disciplines from across engineering and science, law and the social sciences and from a range of countries and backgrounds, including North and South America, Europe and Asia. It also facilitated a rich co-creative learning environment as it was led by (engineering) academic faculty from across Europe (Spain, UK, Netherlands and Ireland) as well as North America (Canada), as well as local experts who helped provide participants with appropriate context and guidance. The workshops culminated with a number of presentations from respective student groups, where they outlined an integrated development plan for a selected real life local project. A necessary constraint of the workshop involved the fact that faculty came from several...
Particle and powder technology education in many chemical engineering degree programmes worldwide... more Particle and powder technology education in many chemical engineering degree programmes worldwide is not afforded the same attention as processes and technologies incorporating liquids and gases. Consequently, many graduating students may be less well equipped to solve problems and effectively contribute to process industries which deal mainly with particulates and powders. In Ireland, the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry are two of the major process industries contributing to over half of all exports in value terms. Both these industries produce, process and handle a lot of particles and powders. A new degree programme in Process & Chemical Engineering at University College Cork has recognised the importance of this technology to the process industries and has tried to incorporate a strong particle and powder technology component into its curriculum. This paper outlines the material taught and the structure in which it is taught. It also describes some visualisation te...
This paper focuses on two mechanical properties of granules, the coefficient of restitution and t... more This paper focuses on two mechanical properties of granules, the coefficient of restitution and the strength, and analyzes their sensitivity to granule geometric parameters. The granules were obtained by fluid bed granulation of glass beads with an aqueous solution of PEG1500. Collisions were arranged between granules, and for granules against two glass plates, the first of them a non-covered plate, whereas the second was a plate covered with a thin film of PEG1500. The coefficient of restitution and the strength were measured for the granules, the former for individual particles also. In the case of individual glass particles the coefficient of restitution was around 0.61 for impacts on the flat glass, and 0.5 on the covered glass; for the granules, this parameter was around 0.44 for both situations and for collisions between granules. Sphericity, lacunarity and fractal dimension of the granule projected area, as well as the granule porosity, were determined. Granules giving the hi...
Abstract This study evaluated the personal carbon footprints of two lecturers who have western li... more Abstract This study evaluated the personal carbon footprints of two lecturers who have western life-styles living in the global north and would also consider themselves as being environmentally and sustainability conscious individuals. Not surprisingly, both had relatively high carbon footprints that were similar to the average in their country of residence at double the global average. A major reflection from the study is that it is difficult for (even environmentally conscious) individuals to drastically reduce their carbon footprints when they live and participate in a society that has a high carbon footprint. Change in complex adaptive holarchic systems is recursive and thus there is a need for concomitant societal change in order to facilitate further the individuals’ capacity to achieve the radical reductions in their carbon footprints required to realise a sustainable society operating within biophysical limits.
Since writing about the ‘the need to embed sustainability’ into chemical engineering programmes i... more Since writing about the ‘the need to embed sustainability’ into chemical engineering programmes in a 2009 paper (Byrne & Fitzpatrick, 2009), the authors have endeavoured to walk the walk by helping embed sustainability into the Process & Chemical Engineering undergraduate degree programme at University College Cork. This has been achieved both through the development of ‘primary’ bespoke modules with explicit sustainability related foci, as well as through the development of a coherent sustainability related context right throughout the programme, and across modules more generally. Nearly a decade on, this approach yielded international recognition, with a successful submission by the authors on behalf of their programme, which resulted in the award of the 2016 Teaching Sustainability Award by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), an award given with the purpose of ‘encouraging the development of better approaches to integrating sustainability principles and values into un...
Yes, metaphor. That's how this whole fabric of mental interconnections holds together. Metaphor i... more Yes, metaphor. That's how this whole fabric of mental interconnections holds together. Metaphor is right at the bottom of being alive. Capra (1988: 79; quotation attributed to Gregory Bateson) The language of transformation This book is concerned with the ways in which language, metaphor in particular, but also myth, fable, parable, allegory, and other literary devices, can shape how we think about, and respond to, the environmental challenges that humanity is currently facing. It recognises that language makes sense of our world and shapes how we think and act: individually and collectively (Fløttum, 2014). Narratives-constructed stories-frame problems and issues in ways that are meaningful, creating an "architecture" for understanding the state of the world and what might be done to improve it (Jepson, 2018). Metaphor, myth, and fable influence how we frame problems and set agendas (Lakoff, 2004), affect whether or not we are motivated to act, and can play a role in bringing about needed transformations in deeply held beliefs, social norms, and institutions (Moser, 2006). These feed into narratives and discourses in ways which recursively and interdependently influence social, political, and economic institutions across a range of fieldspsychological, philosophical, cultural, historical-thereby shaping the ways in which we engage with the natural world (Harré et al., 1999). This is why, for Bateson, metaphor was the "language of nature", the "logic upon which the entire living world is built" and the basis for establishing the "pattern which connects" (Capra, 1988: 84; Olds, 1992). This is a book that is consequently interested in language but that has been written, largely, by people who do not regard themselves as linguists, rhetoricians, or cognitive scientists. On the contrary, we present ourselves-editors and contributors alike-as transdisciplinarians motivated by a shared interest in sustainability and concerned by the threats to the stability of Earth system processes. As environmental, social, and natural scientists, engineers, eco-humanity scholars, and with other academic influences, we have been engaged in a deliberative process of dialogue and discussion that has enabled us to reflect upon the role of language in shaping our understanding of current problems and possible
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Papers by Edmond P Byrne