The National Finals of the “Where There Is No Engineer” Design Competition will take place in the Museum Building in Trinity College Dublin on Saturday the 4th of June 2022. Interested individuals can register to attend the event via Eventbrite.
“Where There Is No Engineer” (WTINE) is coordinated by Engineers without Borders Ireland and the Development Technology in the Community (DTC) Research Group in TU Dublin. Now in its eighth year, this development education initiative provides participants with the opportunity to learn about design, teamwork and communication through real, inspiring, sustainable and cross-cultural development projects. By participating in the programme, students and professionals have the opportunity to design creative solutions to real life development challenges. The competition is jointly funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Bentley Systems and the Arup Trust.
Architecture, product design and engineering students from universities in Dublin, Cork, Carlow, Waterford, Galway and Belfast have taken part in the WTINE competition this year. Students had the opportunity to design a development solution for either the location of Kabwe, Zambia or Kameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India in collaboration with EWB Ireland’s development partners Zamda Ireland and Friend In Need India Trust (FIN). The collaboration with FIN focused on improving the design and user experience of ecosan toilets and the development of a Green Academy incorporating circular economy principles for architecture students.
Participants were encouraged to develop designs and schemes to improve community resilience under six core development themes; Self-Supply Water & Sanitation, Food Security, Community Participatory Health, On & Off Grid Energy Systems, Climate Resilient Infrastructure and Communications.
In the 2021-2022 academic year, over 600 students from 9 universities participated in the WTINE programme. Thirteen projects have been chosen to participate in the National Finals, with the creation of a new category for First Year students. Students from TCD, TU Dublin, NCAD, NUIG, SETU (formerly Waterford IT) and MTU will all take part in the Finals on Saturday 4th, with students joining both remotely and in person.
Students have designed creative solutions ranging from eco and sustainable solar stoves, to micro greens as a means to increase food security, to novel and improved design of ecosan toilets amongst other innovations.
Teams and student finalists will present their innovations and schemes to a panel of judges drawn from Engineers without Borders Ireland, Irish Aid’s Development Education Unit and EWB partners 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World and Friend In Need India Trust. Lecturers, fellow students and members of the public will also attend the event on the day.
- The 2023 edition of “Where There Is No Engineer” (WTINE23) will be launching in September 2022. For further information please contact emma.brown@ewb-ireland.org.
- Note: “Where There is No Engineer” is funded by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas development programme which supports partners working in some of the world’s poorest countries. Irish Aid also supports global citizenship education in Ireland to encourage learning and public engagement with global issues.
