Humanitarian Engineering: Politics and Practice - A new interdisciplinary course on the application of engineering skills to humanitarian challenges

Background and Purpose: Engineers have an important role to play in the tackling of the world’s complex sustainability and social challenges, solutions to which must, by necessity, involve both technical and social components. As engineers require increasing sociotechnical and interdisciplinary fluency, so too do our curricula need to change. Approach: A new course, Humanitarian Engineering: Politics and Practice, was created in which engineering and arts students work in mixed-discipline teams to propose solutions to real-world humanitarian challenges provided by partnering NGOs. The course introduces engineering design, humanitarian theory, and critical political analysis through interdisciplinary lenses. Outcomes: Survey responses suggest that this course provided a unique and rewarding opportunity for students that helped develop their skills in interdisciplinary collaboration, and shaped the way they think about their professional roles. Conclusions: Given the success of this first offering of the course, it will be offered again, alongside a more deliberate study of learning outcomes of this interdisciplinary approach and its scalability.