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Unit of study_

CIVL5330: Global Engineering Field Work

2025 unit information

The aim of this unit of study is to provide fieldwork experience for undergraduate engineering students. The unit of study is one of the four subjects offered in the Humanitarian Engineering Major. The fieldwork will be between two to four weeks in either a developing country or remote communities in Australia. From this fieldwork experience, students will learn about the diversity of communities in need and how engineering can be used to address some of these problems. The fieldwork will focus on applying the human-centered design process to a student identified design challenge in the community. It is not anticipated that there will be any implemented project at the conclusion of the fieldwork. However, the fieldwork design challenge will result in student-generated ideas that the local partner organisation might wish to develop further. The fieldwork unit will require students to demonstrate an applied use of engineering skills, cross-cultural competence, effective communication, resilience and an ability to work closely in teams. Enrolment in this subject is competitive and is open to undergraduate engineering students from any stream of engineering.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Engineering

Study level Postgraduate
Academic unit Civil Engineering
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Understand the application of global humanitarian and development frameworks to locally implemented projects
  • LO2. Collect field data to identify human development challenges facing communities
  • LO3. Synthesise and evaluate information and data from a variety of sources to inform sound engineering decisions in resource-constrained settings
  • LO4. Apply specialised engineering knowledge to propose improvements in the delivery of humanitarian and development projects
  • LO5. Convey engineering analysis to multi-cultural audiences to inform effective technical solutions and policy recommendations
  • LO6. Apply ethical and appropriate judgement in development practice while introspectively examining positionality

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Intensive July 2024
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Intensive July 2025
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Intensive February 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Intensive December 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Intensive July 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Intensive July 2022
Normal day Remote
Intensive July 2023
Block mode Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Find your current year census dates

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.

Important enrolment information

Departmental permission requirements

If you see the ‘Departmental Permission’ tag below a session, it means you need faculty or school approval to enrol. This may be because it’s an advanced unit, clinical placement, offshore unit, internship or there are limited places available.

You will be prompted to apply for departmental permission when you select this unit in Sydney Student.

Read our information on departmental permission.

Additional advice

Students must submit a separate application facilitated by the School of Civil Engineering prior to requesting departmental permission. Please contact the Unit Coordinator for more information.