2020 SEFI francesco maffioli award using a design studio framework to create the structural engineers of the future

Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), are delighted to be named the winners of the 2020 SEFI Francesco Maffioli Award. We are a community of enthusiastic lecturers whose aim is to provide a student-centered approach to teaching which will equip our engineering graduates with the skills necessary to solve the challenges of our future. Industry 4.0 will revolutionise the way we live, work and communicate with each other and engineers must develop appropriate professional skills and ways of thinking to meet the sustainability challenges associated with an ever-increasing, energy-consuming population. In TU Dublin, we focus not only on the curriculum to be taught, nor on technical skills in isolation, but on a holistic education for our students. This paper highlights the use of Creative Design Studios in our structural engineering programme to develop and enhance both technical and professional skills in our engineering students, preparing them for life in engineering practice and in society as a whole. Our mission: to produce industry ready graduates with the correct balance of skills to meet the needs of the profession and the challenges of the future.