Welcome to Inclusive Engineering
'Inclusive Engineering is the process of ensuring that engineering products and services are accessible and inclusive of all users, and are as free as possible from discrimination and bias, throughout their lifecycle.'
It is a way of ensuring that engineering is appropriate, ethical, accessible, sustainable, and risk free. Read more about Inclusive Engineering here.
This website provides resources and examples relevant to the topic of Inclusive Engineering, and has been produced as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship scheme at Aston University of Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng.
It is a way of ensuring that engineering is appropriate, ethical, accessible, sustainable, and risk free. Read more about Inclusive Engineering here.
This website provides resources and examples relevant to the topic of Inclusive Engineering, and has been produced as part of the Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professorship scheme at Aston University of Dawn Bonfield MBE FREng.
Inclusive TechnologySoap dispensers that don't work if your hand is black; camera software that doesn't detect black faces and doesn't recognise gender correctly, or asks whether Asian people are blinking; and racist algorithms are examples of non-inclusive technology. Read More.
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Ethics of InclusionIn 2017 the Engineering Council and Royal Academy of Engineering included Diversity and Inclusion into the Statement of Ethical Principles for the first time in 2017. Find out what your ethical duties are when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Read more.
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Inclusion in the Built EnvironmentThe built environment has a many resources to draw from to ensure that diversity and inclusion are built into our future landscape.
See some great examples here. |
Appropriate TechnologyAppropriate Technology is technology that is suitable to the social and economic conditions of the geographic area in which it is to be applied, is environmentally sound, and promotes self-sufficiency on the part of those using it.
Read more here, and get some tips from 'Engineers Without Borders' through their Engineering for People Design Challenge. |
Inclusive OutcomesNot only do the products, services and solutions that we produce as engineers need to be inclusive, but we also need to ensure that the consquences of those design choices are fair and equitable and do not impact one section of the community more than others.
Read more. |
Inclusive TeachingMany excellent resources exist to ensure that gender stereotypes do not exist within teaching. Find out more here.
Social JusticeSocial justice in engineering considers how we ensure that our engineering and technology solutions are accessible to all and that no one is left behind. Read more.
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Inclusive CurriculumTeaching engineering inclusively not only ensures that all students are catered for in terms of learning style, but ensures that the content itself if not biased in favour of certain types of student at the expense of all others. Read more.
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DecolonisationThe subject of decolonisation is gaining traction and attention in UK Higher Education, but what does it mean for the engineering curriculum, and what should we be doing to take these colonial influences out of our curriculum? Read more here.
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Inclusive Engineering FrameworkEngineers are good at creating solutions to problems. To addressing challenges and developing ingenious responses. To using their creativity to find ways to succeed. But in their enthusiasm for solutions, they often don’t stop to think about whether they have considered all of the things that impact on their design – and in particular all of the non-technical requirements that are not specified by the client or potential beneficiary. As a result, proposed solutions often lack the perspectives of people who have not been involved in their development – and in an industry which is notoriously lacking in diversity – this often means that they fail to include the perspectives of women, people with disabilities, the ageing population, and those with other under-represented characteristics.
Beyond the ‘people’ perspective, there are other areas which need consideration too, which all too often escape the design brief. This results in solutions which are not as complete, as inclusive or accessible as they could be, and often do not produce outcomes which are future ready or sustainable. Further details can be found here. |
The Gender Perspective'The gender perspective looks at the impact of gender on people's opportunities, social roles and interactions. Successful implementation of the policy, programme and project goals of international and national organizations is directly affected by the impact of gender and, in turn, influences the process of social development. Gender is an integral component of every aspect of the economic, social, daily and private lives of individuals and societies, and of the different roles ascribed by society to men and women.'
It is widely believed that there will be a disproportionate effect on women globally of the effects of climate change, such as droughts, floods and other extreme weather events. In many occupations women’s lower socio-economic and lower managerial status results in them having limited voice where key decisions are being taken, and their status and experience as gatekeepers of family, food, health and home mean that these perspectives are poorly represented in solution outcomes. Encouraging more women into engineering, and ensuring their inclusion into senior decision-making positions is seen as crucial to enable the views and perspectives of women to become more visible and influential, and ultimately to addressing all of the Sustainable Development Goals. Read more here. |