Posted 25 November 2015 - 5:15pm
The CRC for Low Carbon Living’s first Student Forum for researchers in low carbon living and the built environment attracted close to 60 students from around the country to the University of New South Wales Kensington campus today, ahead of the CRCLCL’s Participants Annual Forum which commences tomorrow at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney.
Part of the CRCLCL’s strategy to prepare industry-ready graduates for the built environment sector, the event included student poster presentations, professional development sessions, and a presentation from international guest speaker and leading expert on solar, organisational theory and innovation management, Professor Nicole Woolsey Biggart from University of California Davis.
Professor Biggart talked to students about the benefits of experiential learning, or ‘learning by doing’, and encouraged them to participate in the Solar Decathlon, an international competition to design, build and operate a full-scale, functional solar-powered house.
According to Student Forum organiser and CRCLCL Education Program Leader, Emeritus Professor Denny McGeorge, the key objective of the forum was to encourage and coach the students on effective research collaboration.
“It was great to see so many of our students assembled in one venue, representing a wide range of research disciplines ranging from the natural to the social sciences. The forum presented the ideal opportunity for them to gain a unique insight into the ‘big picture’ of the CRCLCL’s research activities and opened discussion on our low carbon future, particularly relevant on the eve of COP21,” said Professor McGeorge.
“The program had a strong emphasis on participation and group-work. The final session was a ‘creative thinking sandpit’ run by UNSW Innovations, which gave the students an opportunity to explore the attributes they consider important to be industry-ready on completion of their degree. These attributes will give the CRCLCL important insights into educational and capacity building programs.”
CRCLCL Chief Executive Officer, Scientia Professor Deo Prasad AO said it was great to see the students integrating and sharing ideas.
“This cohort of students is important to ensuring the CRCLCL’s ongoing legacy. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop a critical mass of research on sustainable and low carbon living in the built environment and build our nation’s capacity in this sector,” said Professor Prasad.
“The students have been exposed to an interdisciplinary experience that will make them adaptable to the ever changing challenges of low carbon living. It is obvious from the student posters submitted for discussion that the students are empathetic to the needs of industry, governments and the community, and are keenly aware of the need for stakeholder involvement to achieve a low carbon built environment.”
The students were from the CRCLCL’s five participant universities – University of New South Wales, Curtin University, University of South Australia, University of Melbourne and Swinburne University of Technology.
The student posters and program for the Student Forum can be viewed on the CRCLCL website.
