THE SEMINAR WITH JULIA MELKERS

How do disruptions matter for engineering public value innovation? How do they affect crisis resilience?

These were just a few of the big questions we tackled during the REAPv project’s international workshop on May 28–29. Over two days, around 30 academics from the USA, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Poland, representing nine leading higher education institutions, came together for in-depth discussions and knowledge exchange. The represented HEIs included Arizona State University (ASU), UW, Politechnika Śląska, Vilnius University, Kaunas University of Technology, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Riga Technical University (RTU), Riga Stradiņš University (RSU), Uni of Tartu. The main objective of the project is to support transformation of engineering education to deliver public value in times of crisis.

The discussion aimed at mutual understanding of the local public values, most pressing issues and disruptions within the CEE region, as well as mapping how engineering may serve public value provision and how to transform it into better attuned, suited and resilient for the time of crisis.

Some of the key discussion themes included:

1. Public Values in Focus: We explored local public values, pressing regional issues, and disruptions—especially the impact of the war in Ukraine on public values in Central and Eastern Europe.

2. Engineering for Resilience: How can engineering strengthen societal resilience?

3. Research Tools: Developing reliable/accurate and consisted research  tools suited for a multi-country study.

A huge thank you to all participants for the inspiring conversations and collaborative spirit!

photo: Marcin Górski