Nice to be back.
We already have a strong group of students taking part in this year’s science communication course and internships. Half of them will spent 10 days learning how the London science Museum communicates complicated science to the public. The other half will join me in a series of visits to UK institutions all focusing on a particular aspect of science communication including the UK Parliament and the world’s oldest National Academy of Sciences-the Royal society. This year, we hope to put together a book commemorating the 12th year of this successful program.
I also look forward to giving again this year my foundation course on “Environment and society”, and also I’m putting together an additional course which looks at the changing economic and business models to shift from the linear (take nature’s resources, use them in production, sell to consumers and throw away at end-of-life) to a more circular approach where valuable natural resources are used again and again, thus reducing the pressures on nature and waste disposal. Engineers and scientists have a critical role to play in this since it involves redesigning across the whole supply chain.
By the way, did you see the paper we just published on “Imparting Soft Skills and Creativity in University Engineering Education through a Concept Designing Short Course”(International Journal of Engineering Education). We are looking forward to another successful Concept Designing project with Musashino Art University again this year.
Mike Norton