28th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education

Description

Technological discernment: beyond the high-tech paradigm

Session Chair: Chris McMahon, Alicia Gonzalez-Buelga, University of Bristol
Session Chair: Ceri Almrott, Technological University Dublin

For many years, eloquent voices have voiced caution about the technological choices that our societies are making, advocating for a simpler and less resource-hungry approach to the engineered world. This workshop will invite participants to consider alternatives to current approaches relying on high tech and globalised supply chains by exploring approaches emphasising simplicity and sobriety. Drawing on the foundational “intermediate technology” philosophy of E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful and the contemporary “low-tech” urgency of Philippe Bihouix, we will challenge the assumption that complex, resource-intensive solutions are the pinnacle of engineering success.

The core of the workshop will focus on the pedagogy of design for technological discernment: how might we shift the design curriculum away from a focus on high tech, on optimisation and consumption toward a thoughtful exploration of “appropriate technology”? Building on existing work in a number of European institutions, we will explore practical strategies for integrating these alternative views into the classroom, from the identification of source materials and case studies to designing project activities that prioritise repairability, local autonomy, and planetary boundaries. The framing of the approaches in the context of different social and political perspectives on economic development will also be considered.

The workshop aims to develop a shared understanding of technological discernment as a pedagogical approach in engineering and product design education, and to co-create a set of principles and resources that support its integration into design curricula.

The workshop should be of interest to engineering and to product design educators, but also to those with wider interests in the socio-technical positioning of higher education.

Period	2 Sept 2026
Event type	Conference
Conference number	28
Location	Bristol, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International