Mobilizing higher education and research toward engineering for global development: the approach taken by the Centre for Global Engineering

The University of Toronto has invested substantial resources to internationalize the reach of its research since the mid-2000s. Since 2009, major steps have followed to facilitate active engagement by faculty and students related to global sustainable development. The creation of its multidisciplinary Centre for Global Engineering (CGEN) has developed activities based on three pillars: (I) The first pillar is to catalyze cutting-edge engineering research in concert with changemakers in the field to produce reliable solutions, as well as contributing to knowledge. 30 CGEN research projects tackle issues ranging from food insecurity and water access to sanitation, energy poverty, and community capacity-building both in low-income countries and in indigenous communities in Canada. (II) The second pillar is training the next generation of engineers to adapt to growing trends in globalization and to become effective global citizens through a robust curriculum of global engineering courses. (III) The third pillar focuses on student experiential learning and building a tight-knit Community of Practice in Global Engineering which enables the cross-pollination of ideas and the sharing of best practices. Looking forward, the Centre aims to focus on further collaboration with academic institutions in the Global South to augment their own socially-impactful research, as well as to investigate robust pathways for the translation of technical innovations to the field.