Shaping engineers to take on the challenges of society: a look back at the week of interdisciplinary projects

The main objectives of the interdisciplinary projects:

•  Develop team-based project management
• Apply knowledge from the core curriculum to a practical case study
• Adopt a strategic view of a specific case study

Giving students the opportunity to take a step back from their core subjects is a great opportunity. It's a guarantee of the quality of our training, so that we can shape engineers who have a more enlightened vision of the society in which they will be working and the many challenges it faces.

Téo Saal, Teacher at Centrale Nantes in charge of Interdisciplinary Projects

This year, three projects were devised by teams of teachers to give students the opportunity to reflect on subjects involving several disciplines. These projects enable them to tackle complex problems and apply the fundamentals of team management.

Working in teams of around ten students, the students had a whole week to respond to the problem and present their vision of the project.

3 projects

Applied environmental ethics

Political and economic decision-makers regularly turn to scientists and engineers to help them navigate complex environmental and societal challenges, riddled with systemic uncertainties and ethical implications. This project aimed to prepare engineering students to respond to the current and future demands of decision-makers, to analyse the ethical challenges associated with environmental dilemmas and to apply environmental ethics concepts to concrete engineering problems.

Studying and improving classroom air quality

The characteristics of the air in a classroom, in terms of temperature, the amount of C02 and humidity, can vary quite widely depending on a number of parameters. The aim of the project was to identify these parameters, carry out measurements, develop models and propose solutions for improving air quality, while taking account of their societal impact.

Development of a product-service system for everyday use in a residence

Drawing on existing offerings and the product development stages, the aim of the project was to propose an innovative product-service offering for the home resulting from the combination of one or more everyday objects that could be transformed into connected objects by adding sensors and other communication instruments.

At the end of the week, the students had the opportunity to present their work to the school's staff and students.