Central Queensland University’s 2024 Humanitarian Engineering Program, held at the renowned Amrita Live-in-Labs®️ in India has changed the lives of both the exchange students and members of the local communities they interacted with.
The first step of the program involved the students immersing themselves in their adopted community, and identifying opportunities to build capacity using civil and humanitarian engineering methods. They then engaged in empathy mapping to better understand the needs and capabilities of the community members, ensuring that their engineering solutions were tailored to the specific requirements of the people they were assisting.
The program, led by Associate Professor in Engineering Shameen Jinadasa, saw five Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) students travel to India to apply their skills in real-world, community-based projects.
“Five of our students have recently returned from India, where they spent time working in local communities as part of our annual program,”
Associate Professor Jinadasa said.
Third-year student Rylee Donald, from Cairns, and her colleague Juliette Lewis, from Rockhampton, worked in Pullincunno Kuttanad, a low-lying coastal region known for its intricate network of canals and its vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather events.
“This region faces significant challenges due to frequent flooding, which displaces residents and livestock and creates social, economic, and environmental problems for the community,”
Rylee explained.
Their solution involved designing sustainable, flood-resistant temporary shelters to protect both residents and livestock during times of flooding. Rylee and Juliette engaged directly with the local community, hosting collaborative design sessions to prototype shelters that would meet the unique needs of those affected by the floods.
“We wanted to make sure the community was involved in the design process, so their voices were heard and their concerns addressed,” Rylee said. The shelter prototype they created formed part of their assessment for the program, showcasing a practical and community-centred solution to a pressing problem.
The other students who participated in the program were Brad Purdon from Dysart, Chloe Coombe from Rockhampton, and Elise Green from Mackay.
“The aim of this program is to provide our students with the opportunity to create engineering solutions that improve the quality of life for people in need,” Assoc Prof Jinadasa said.
“There’s often a disconnect between engineers working in labs or offices and the communities they serve, but by working directly with these communities, the students are able to develop practical, sustainable concepts that benefit both the community and the engineers themselves.”
In November, four more CQ University students will travel to India for the second round of the 2024 Humanitarian Engineering Program, funded by Destination Australia’s Cheung Kong Exchange Program.
Assoc Prof Jinadasa also noted that humanitarian engineering is gaining traction across Australasia, and CQ University’s Civil and Humanitarian Major is now accredited by Engineers Australia, further demonstrating the growing demand for engineers who can combine technical expertise with a deep understanding of community needs.
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