New funding will support an Australian-first project that brings together engineering students and diverse communities in search of solutions.
RMIT first-year engineering students are meeting with community groups in Victoria and New South Wales to co-design and prototype innovative engineering solutions to solve community problems. A recent surge in support has seen the funding pool increase from $10,000 to $40,000, bringing the total to $210,000 until 2030.
The project sits within RMIT's Humanitarian Engineering Lab, co-led by Dr Spyros Schismenos and Dr Nick Brown, and its recently established HERCULES - which stands for Humanitarian Engineering Research Consortium: Understanding and Leveraging Engineering with Society.
It is a collaboration between RMIT and SydWest Multicultural Services, Settlement Services International and PRONIA - all not-for-profits (NFPs) which work with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, including migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
Dr Spyros Schismenos, lecturer in humanitarian engineering, oversees the project.
"Humanitarian engineering issues are complex. The point of this program is that students understand the power and responsibility they have, even as engineers in training, to help address these issues," Schismenos said.
"Students focus on a range of topics, including energy, housing, health, and domestic and family violence.
"About 1,500 students in Australia's biggest engineering degree work with communities and our partner NFPs to prepare a proposal for community needs. The most potentially impactful of those go onto meet with community groups and services and, together, develop their idea into a product or a service.
"I hope many of the students will go onto develop their prototype, whether it be through study - such as a capstone subject or even as a Masters or PhD - or as a startup."
