Abstract:
Integrating sustainability into an undergraduate engineering program at the
University of Technology, Sydney has been a challenging project. The authors of this
paper have been participant observers of the integration process. In this paper, they have
attempted an analysis of that process, focussing on the dynamics of the network of people
and interests, which have shaped the process. Actor network theory was used to provide
an analytical framework for the analysis. The interests and experiences of the authors in
the process necessarily influence the analysis. All three authors have been active in
positioning sustainability as a central theme for the critique and practice of engineering.
Paul Bryce and Stephen Johnston have had long-standing involvement in technology
transfer projects in development. Both have published on engineering as a social activity,
critiquing the undue emphasis in engineering education on engineering science, at the
expense of attention to engineering practice. Their experience and scholarship have
given credibility to their efforts in the Faculty to press for a new paradigm of engineering
practice. Keiko Yasukawa is an educational developer in the faculty who has been
working with staff and students to help them reflect on their idea of what engineering is
about in their teaching and learning. She has taken a leading role in shaping the new
curriculum.
