11 December 2025
The Transforming Engineering Education Learning Hub is part of the Infrastructure Sustainability Learning (ISLe) Initiative, designed to accelerate knowledge sharing and collaboration across the global engineering community. The series creates a space for academics, practitioners, and industry leaders to explore how engineering education can adapt to the urgent challenges of our time.
The final session of the Transforming Engineering Education ISLe Learning Hub showcased practical examples from different geographies, illustrating how sustainability, systems thinking, and transdisciplinary approaches can be embedded into engineering curricula.
Henri Gavin, W.H. Gardner Jr. Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, shared a practical perspective on what curriculum transformation can look like in action. His presentation focused on Duke’s Master of Engineering in Climate and Sustainability Engineering, a programme developed in response to industry demand for engineers who can design and deliver practical climate solutions. Created within Duke’s existing Master of Engineering framework, the programme was shaped through extensive engagement with employers across infrastructure, energy, finance, insurance, and sustainability consulting. Henri described how the curriculum integrates technical, analytical, and professional skills through a combination of coursework and a required internship, helping students bridge theory and practice. He also highlighted the programme’s alignment with Duke’s broader Climate Commitment, demonstrating the role that institutional-level strategy plays in supporting innovation in curriculum development.
Daniel Hornett, Senior Program Officer for Sustainable Infrastructure at WWF-US, presented the ALIGN project, a WWF-led initiative aimed at safeguarding biodiversity and human livelihoods amid Asia’s rapidly expanding linear infrastructure development. Drawing on experience from India, Nepal, and Mongolia, he explained how WWF partnered with universities to embed safeguarding concepts into curricula in ways that reflect local academic cultures and institutional contexts, helping prepare future engineers and planners to address the environmental and social impacts of large-scale infrastructure. Rather than positioning biodiversity and ecological systems as peripheral considerations, the ALIGN project places them at the centre of infrastructure education, reinforcing the importance of systems thinking and cross-disciplinary collaboration. He also emphasised the role of faculty capacity-building and long-term partnerships in sustaining these curriculum changes over time.
The session was also an opportunity to reflect on key learnings from the webinar series as well as on proposed recommendations for transforming engineering education.
Watch a recording below:
Looking ahead
In early 2026, ICSI will be publishing key findings from the series as well as a set of recommendations for transforming engineering education. This contributes to a wider programme of work aligned with ICSI’s key commitment to strengthening global engineering capacity and capability. The ambition is to build an active community of practice that continues to share insights, experiences, and momentum for change in engineering education. You can stay up to date with ICSI and the ISLe initiative by following us on LinkedIn.
Recap
See key insights from previous sessions and catch up on recordings here.
