TU Dublin, as part of the ECO-GT (Engineers Communicating & Collaborating Internationally for the Green Transition) project, has successfully completed a series of focus groups, marking a significant milestone in the drive to develop effective international communication skills among green-transition engineers.
These focus groups, held across various specialisms in civil and structural engineering, are a crucial step towards enhancing collaboration between engineers, researchers, business leaders, and policymakers in addressing the global climate crisis.
The ECO-GT project is dedicated to strengthening the capacity of engineering students at TU Dublin, to influence the diffusion of innovative green technologies. By fostering superior communication skills, the project aims to bridge gaps between diverse communities involved in the green transition, thereby accelerating the adoption of sustainable practices and solutions.
Key outcomes from the focus groups include valuable insights into the specific communication needs of green-transition engineers and the challenges they face in international collaboration. These findings will directly inform the development of the project's innovative competency framework, which is designed to be both implementable and impactful.
The outputs of the project will be:
- Competency framework for international communication skills of green-transition engineers plus learning materials;
- Minimum of 120 engineering students with enhanced international communication skills;
- A flexible mini-modular curriculum for continued implementation in institutional/cross-institutional contexts (summer school);
- A toolkit on Engineering Communication for the Green Transition containing all finalised materials, together with research outputs/analyses.
Through pilot programs in different institutional settings and a cross-institutional summer school, the ECO-GT project is exploring effective methods for integrating international communication skills into engineering curricula. These efforts aim to enrich the educational experience of future engineers and equip them with practical communication skills that are increasingly crucial in our interconnected world.
The ECO-GT project is a pioneering initiative poised to make a lasting impact on the field of green engineering by equipping future engineers with the skills necessary to drive global sustainability efforts through effective communication.
The team would like to thank all focus group participants for their open and frank discussions. For more information about the ECO-GT project, please see our range of engineering education research projects here: CREATE Research Projects or contact: una.beagon@tudublin.ie or stephen.harper@tudublin.ie