The increasing need for engineers to address sustainability will add significant complexity to their tasks. They will therefore need the skills and knowledge to understand and predict the impact of their practice. This course will focus on the dynamics of complex  systems in the context of the environmental and social impacts of technological innovation. Students will develop knowledge and skills that provide a basis for the design and sustainable operation of engineering-environment-social systems that are highly non-linear. Sustainability will be defined in engineering terms, and the basic dynamical principles will be explored in tutoral discussions. The course will be presented using a 'problem based learning' mode of delivery.

Students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of the critical sustainability challenges for the 21st century
2. Identify the wider impacts of engineering and technological innovation on the environment and society
3. Apply concepts and techniques associated with the dynamics of complex  systems to engineering design and innovation
4. Anticipate unintended outcomes of engineering decisions in the context of highly non-linear systems
5. Use Collaborative Conceptual Modelling (CCM) to negotiate engineering approaches that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable.

Tutorial participation (30%); Research Project - Individual Compenents (40%); Research Project - Group Compenents (30%).

Weekly workload comprised of reading and tutorial preparation (two hours), one one-hour tutorial, one three-hour project laboratory, self-directed study (three hours).

ENGN2225 Systems Engineering Design or ENVS2011 Human Ecology.

None.

Course page http://eng.anu.edu.au/study/currentstudents/courses