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27 views5 pages

Study Tour Article

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chim460
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 News > Latest news > 2019 > August

Engineering innovation in Timor-Leste


Thursday 29 August 2019

A total of 26 engineering and business students took part in an intensive six-week


program.

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IN SUMMARY

 Swinburne’s Engineering Practice Academy partners with Engineers Without Borders


Australia to create immersive in-country experience in Timor-Leste.
 Program taught 26 students about the complexity of engineering projects and how to
handle the requests of multiple stakeholders.

Swinburne’s Engineering Practice Academy partnered with Engineers Without


Borders (EWB) Australia to create an immersive in-country experience in Timor-Leste.

The program, held in July, took students on a journey to show the direct impact their
work can have, and helped build an understanding of how to create successful
innovation in complex systems.

A total of 26 students from the schools of engineering and business took part in the
intensive six-week program, co-facilitated by the Academy and EWB. The students
learned about the complexity of engineering projects and how to handle the requests of
multiple stakeholders.

The program included two weeks in Timor-Leste where students were joined by two
engineers from the Timorese organisation for women in engineering, Feto Enginhera
and the Project was supported by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan.

Exploring innovative ideas


EWB staff Bianca Anderson and Alison Stoakley, and Director of Community
Partnerships at Swinburne’s Engineering Practice Academy, Jennifer Turner, developed
a brief for the student teams.

“In Timor-Leste, EWB is exploring innovative ideas for the priority areas of access to
clean water, gender-inclusive hygiene management and climate-resilient agriculture,”
says Ms Turner.

“Every year, EWB’s education programs generate a huge number of ideas for
engineering solutions and we thought ‘what if instead of generating new ideas we
looked at the back catalogue and find ones from there that would be appropriate for
Timor-Leste?’”

“We decided the best approach would be for the students to investigate what makes
innovation projects successful in Timor-Leste. By understanding what makes innovation
successful, EWB can then screen ideas from their back catalogue to identify some that
are appropriate for further investigation in Timor-Leste.”
The student experience
Bachelor of Product Design Engineering (Honours) student, Ryan Lanyon, who took
part in the program, reflects that engineers need to consider the capabilities of the
communities they are working with and to ensure the solutions they propose can be
maintained long-term.

“It was great to be there to really understand the challenges of the Timorese
communities. I realise that without this knowledge you can’t bring about successful
innovation. A big realisation for me was that you need to find the right technology for the
community and education can be just as powerful as an engineering solution,” says
Ryan.

The program included two weeks in Timor-Leste where students were joined by two
engineers from the Timorese organisation for women in engineering.

“I saw high-tech systems had been installed that were not appropriate for the local area
and the communities didn’t have the specialist resources to maintain them.”

Bachelor of Engineering Practice (Honours), Olivia McIlroy, says the opportunity to be


immersed in the culture and to work closely with the communities gave her a new
appreciation for understanding user needs before jumping to solutions.

“Usually we’re working with engineers from large organisations and the briefs are quite
focused. Being in a completely different culture put me out of my comfort zone for sure
—but it was the best way to see how the people who we are designing for really live,
what their needs are. I found I had to spend much more time conversing with
stakeholders to really understand their situation before even thinking about solutions,”
says Olivia.

Delivering in-country experiences


EWB Engineering Education Manager, Alison Stoakley, says that co-creating this
program with the Academy allowed for new ways of delivering in-country experiences.

“The EWB and Swinburne partnership is a platform that enables us to think creatively
about how we want to work together to achieve our aims,” says Ms Stoakley.

"We were really excited by the opportunity to work with the expertise in the Academy to
co-create and pilot a new iteration of our student study tours—the immersive in-country
experience—aimed at deeper curriculum-integration and links with other EWB program
areas.”

The project was supported by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan.

Additionally, Ms Stoakley shared that this program allowed EWB to create more
implementable engineering solutions for the communities they work with.
“This immersive experience was an incredible opportunity for EWB to discover how
students might support the further research and development required to turn an
innovative idea into an appropriate, implementable solution.”

A successful outcome for all


The program has been a success and there was significant benefit to the Timorese
communities, shares Ms Turner.

“Almost all our in-country experiences contributed to the communities we worked with.
Our guides were from the communities we visited and the majority of our
accommodation was in home stays. This means we were able to contribute directly to
local economies and make personal connections with Timorese people.

“This approach shows that it is possible to create a win-win situation in which students,
partners, and communities all benefit. The Academy and EWB are excited to continue
collaborating on impact-oriented projects. Even more exciting is that, thanks to this
collaboration, we see the way forward for global mobility to be curriculum-integrated.”

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