EWB Australia SHORT COURSE SERIES: “Principles In Practice”
A new series of practical and motivating short courses for technical professionals of all levels to build their socio-technical toolkit.

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Session 1: An assets-based approach to stakeholder engagement

Tuesday 25 October 2022

10am- 1pm (AEDT)

Facilitated, online

Sessions numbers will be capped to ensure quality of participant experience

In this workshop, you will be tasked with a specific real-world scenario within a community context. Through this practical and immersive lens, we will embark together on the beginning of the design process, exploring and practising skills and mindsets critical to this early phase. You will experience and practice the kinds of skills and mindsets required to work effectively and respectfully with stakeholders across diverse contexts and cultures. These include:

Asking good questions: how do we work with community to define the problems and opportunities?
Listening: what does listening involve when working in cross-cultural and community contexts?
Unpacking assumptions and biases that impact our work with clients and communities.
How these skills and mindsets relate to design considerations and the successful delivery of project outcomes.

This session will balance an exploration of key concepts with opportunities to practice skills, mindsets, and tools in a supportive and low-risk environment.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This short course is suited for:

Professionals at any career stage who deliver technical projects and want to increase their awareness, confidence, efficacy and sensitivity in stakeholder engagement.
Not limited to practising engineers - professionals involved in the delivery of technical projects will greatly benefit.
Those eager to explore what socio-technical engineering can look and feel like.

Participants will be provided a certificate of completion after participating in this workshop. EWB’s training offerings qualify for Engineers Australia’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD), required to achieve and maintain Chartered status and is an integral element of a successful engineering career.

WHAT YOU'LL COME AWAY WITH

Strengthened understanding of key skills for connecting with stakeholders at the early stages of a design process and tools to bring these into your own practice.
Key considerations when engaging with communities, including First Nations communities.
Appreciation of the value of community engagement, with regard to its contribution to the technology development process and specification of design criteria.
Understanding of how these skills and mindsets are transferable to your current work.

MEET YOUR FACILITATORS

Dr Melinda Sabet: Intensive Training Programs Specialist at EWB Australia

Melinda is an intercultural communication and competence specialist with a strong background in international and community development. Melinda’s research and teaching explores rapport building, communicating, and perspective-shifting in multicultural settings. As a dedicated trainer and facilitator, Melinda supports education and community projects that create a more equitable future for us all.

George Goddard: University Impact Manager and Acting Head of Learning at EWB Australia

George is a sustainable development practitioner, educator and researcher with 14 years of experience in development and sustainability. George is an experienced facilitator of strengths-based community consultations in Cambodia, Timor-Leste and on Country in Australia, which aim to understand what development and thriving looks like from a community's perspective.

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About EWB Australia Short Courses

EWB Short Courses are a highly effective way to connect back to your purpose as a technical professional contributing to a better world.

EWB’s half-day workshops will build your sustainability knowledge and skill sets in a practical way, while opening up pathways for future learning and deeper skills development. The interactive and facilitated sessions provide space for you to connect with other participants and gain inspiration from values-aligned peers.

Delivered by expert facilitators and backed by EWB’s two decades of deep stakeholder engagement, we utilise scenarios and real-world case studies to ground your learning. You’ll also be guided through a reflection process to tie concepts and skills back to your current professional practice - ensuring workshop experiences are relevant for any technical professional who seeks to grow their socio-technical toolkit.

Why short courses? You asked for it! EWB has been delivering learning programs for student and professional audiences for nearly two decades. We know that our message, the quality of the content, our connection to real-world community outcomes, and our national network of highly capable human-centred engineers builds confidence, commitment, and vision in the participants who have joined us over time. This offering is a response to requests for more discrete, short-form learning opportunities and we can’t wait to build these out further over time alongside our EWB community network.