As Project Director, she oversaw the creation of the world’s largest LEGO suspension bridge for the 2019 World Engineering Convention in Melbourne. Her leadership has been widely recognised, including the John Shaw Medal from Roads Australia in 2024 for “outstanding and innovative leadership in transport and her continuing contribution”. In 2017, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to engineering and education.

Emeritus Professor James Trevelyan is an engineer, educator, researcher and recently a start-up entrepreneur.

He invented Coolzy, new energy saving, low emissions air conditioning technology for a global market.

His research on engineering practice helped define the Engineers Australia professional competencies for chartered engineers.  His books “The Making of an Expert Engineer” and “Learning Engineering Practice” are influencing the future of engineering education in universities and workplaces.

He is best known internationally for pioneering research on sheep shearing robots from 1975 till 1993 and for the first industrial robot that could be remotely operated via the internet in 1994, one of the earliest demonstrations of the ‘internet of things’. He also made significant contributions to help with the removal of anti-personnel landmines and other unexploded ordnance in many countries.

His recent research has helped clarify significant factors that make economic and social development in the Global South more challenging than in wealthier countries. His research offers several unconventional measures that could contribute significant improvements in progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Web pages:
https://www.coolzy.com/
https://JamesPTrevelyan.com/
https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/james-trevelyan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtrevelyan/

Strengthening CDIO

CDIO’s strength is its emphasis on implementing and operating, not just designing and problem-solving. However, traction among faculty seems to be stagnating and interpretations are widening, blurring distinction from other project-based learning methods.

CDIO claims to be based on what engineers really do though the evidence base is thin. The lack of rigour may be undermining the success of this worthwhile initiative.

In this talk I will re-examine the intellectual foundations of engineering. By doing so, I will argue that contemporary engineering scholarship (and education) continues to omit most of what engineers do, pointing to the need to revisit our definitions of engineering, and engineers.

Implementing and operating are not the only omissions, however. Collaboration is essential in engineering, but it doesn’t happen automatically when people work together in groups. Engineers have devised special collaboration methods over the centuries, methods than could be taught.

Another omission is the influence of business. Students could learn why traditional models of economic decision-making in engineering cannot explain what really happens in practice. Students could also be more aware of the need, and methods, to improve current low standards of project delivery performance.

Perhaps the most serious omission is the significance of complex socio-technical interactions in engineering practice, considerably greater than most faculty presume. This omission enables engineers to claim that most of what they do is non-technical and therefore not real engineering.

This omission might be remedied by helping students understand that engineering education itself is a collaborative endeavour relying on complex socio-technical interactions. Faculty could embrace well-researched and highly effective teaching methods and, by doing so, make teaching easier and more enjoyable. Such a change, easily implemented within the CDIO framework, could strengthen both the evidence base for CDIO and its appeal.

Abstract coming soon

Ratu Esther-Kelvin is studying a Bachelor's of materials engineering and a Bachelor's of science, majoring in chemistry. With over two years of experience in teaching first year engineering alongside her studies as a Teaching Assistant and PASS ( Peer Assisted Study Sessions) leader for numerical modelling, she is invested in making education adaptable and accessible to different learning styles for students. Through various internships and research projects previously completed, she hopes to provide insights into the significance of having engineering education oriented towards providing students with exposure to industry and sustainable practices.