Trinity College Dublin - Department of Engineering, Environment and Emerging Technologies
About
Trinity College Dublin is embarking on an ambitious project to expand education and research activities across three of its schools: the Schools of Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Computer Science & Statistics. Recognising the importance for humanity in addressing the challenge of sustainable technological development, the expansion of the three Schools is being executed as a single strategic activity in the area of “Engineering, Environment, and Emerging Technologies”, or E3.
Introduction
Trinity College Dublin is embarking on an ambitious project to expand education and research activities across three of its schools: the Schools of Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Computer Science & Statistics. Recognising the importance for humanity in addressing the challenge of sustainable technological development, the expansion of the three Schools is being executed as a single strategic activity in the area of “Engineering, Environment, and Emerging Technologies”, or E3.
The E3 vision enables:
- The creation of a purpose-built, multidisciplinary, foundry for the delivery of innovations in research and teaching within the Schools of Engineering, Natural Science and Computer Science and Statistics.
- A future-proofed education for new graduates who will enable society to live on this planet in a way that is sustainable and equitable.
- The underpinning of the infrastructural and staffing needs of these expanded Schools to ensure that their outputs are world-leading.
- An increase in the number of STEM students within Trinity by over one third in 10 years.
With E3, Trinity promotes the Vision of a society where the interdependence between technological innovation and our natural capital is advanced by world-leading research, education and entrepreneurship.
E3 will position Ireland at the forefront of fields of research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (the STEM disciplines), that are crucial for future economic competitiveness. It will educate engineers and scientists for employment in existing and new technology sectors, equip them with the skills and attributes to lead in the creation of new businesses, and place Ireland in a leadership role globally for the quality of graduates in the STEM disciplines.
Mission
E3 aims to develop the knowledge, technologies, and aptitudes to design and actively shape the planet’s natural resources, through its unique integration of engineering, natural and computer sciences.
Vision
To strengthen the interdependence between technological innovation and our natural capital stocks, through world-leading research, education and entrepreneurship.
Values
Foresight, Innovation, Transdisciplinary, Global Responsibility and Excellence
Education
Trinity College is one of the world’s leading universities as a consequence of its long history of the pursuit of excellence in teaching and research. It continues to build on its traditional strengths while adapting to a constantly changing environment. As our understanding grows, we know better the effects, both positive and negative, that our way of life has on the world around us. Challenges around health, automation, artificial intelligence, climate change, energy, water and food are inherently global, multidisciplinary and complex in nature. The role of specialists in understanding and shaping developments in these areas will become ever more important. Increasingly, however, humanity will require specialists who can contextualise their knowledge in broader circles and who can efficiently and effectively work with experts from other disciplines.
In the new Martin Naughton, E3 Learning Foundry E3 students will learn in a world-class physical and intellectual milieu, where they will be empowered to become custodians of their own learning and learning environment. From their earliest days to graduation, E3 students will draw upon the experience and strength of Trinity College as a centre of excellence in teaching and research. Their development will be a reference point internationally for best practice in scientific and technological education. Collaboration and partnership will be central to the pedagogical approach. Students will work with students from other disciplines, with academic, technical and research staff and with industry and external agencies. These interactions will be facilitated through project work and internships. The challenge-oriented nature of the E3 research mission will be mirrored in the E3 educational experience. Student learning, particularly project-based learning, will be contextualised to the societal challenges being addressed in research. Students will be presented with opportunities to engage in multidisciplinary work – in the core, elective and co-curricular, supported by and supporting researchers across the constituent schools. They will be empowered and assisted to develop the deep technical knowledge associated with their chosen disciplines, and with the transversal skills required to tackle large scale problems – communication, (cross-disciplinary) teamwork and leadership. E3 students will be passionate, motivated and curious and will expect to challenge and be challenged by their learning experiences.
E3 graduates across all its constituent disciplines will share an experience of having learnt and worked in a multidisciplinary environment, been educated by world-leading experts in areas of their specialisation and benefitted from best-in-class pedagogy. E3 graduates will be flexible, adaptable and creative individuals who bring deep disciplinary knowledge and problem-solving expertise to any problem they are presented with. They will be highly sought after by indigenous and multinational companies in Ireland and will be equipped and ready to work in an international context if that is their chosen route.
E3 graduates will:
- Have strong technical competence in their chosen discipline
- Be comfortable and experienced working in teams, including with specialists from other disciplines, on ill-defined and multidisciplinary challenges
- Be skilled communicators across a range of platforms and to varying audiences
- Have an ability to think at multiple levels of detail and abstraction
- Be comfortable in both practical and theoretical contexts
- Be able to make informed and ethical decisions that balance technical, social and environmental considerations
- Be able to confront the limitations of their own knowledge and to address these limitations through collaboration and life-long learning