The Engineering for People Design Challenge is a global collaboration between EWB-SA, EWB-UK and EWB-USA. It is also a partnership with around 40 universities globally, including many of our South African institutions. It covers over 7000 students in 3 continents.
How it works is simple:
Each year we pick a community, and for 2020 that community is the Makers Valley community in Johannesburg. We then describe that community’s strengths and weaknesses in a “Design Brief” document, which also comes with video interviews and pictures.
That Design Brief is then used by engineering lecturers in their courses, to help teach about what it means to design for all people and their contexts.
The award-winning Engineering for People Design Challenge prepares young engineers for real life design challenges whilst crucially considering their impact. The challenge which is integrated into undergraduate courses allows students to explore the ethical, environmental, social and cultural aspects of engineering design- harnessing their skills whilst also benefiting people and the planet.
