Mapping The Sustainable Developmental Goals And Student Perspectives On Skills Development Using Alternative Assessments For Engineering Education

Student-created video and in-class debate were introduced in the assessment of education for sustainable development (ESD) in an environmental engineering module. This work was undertaken with a group of structural and civil engineering students in their stage 3 of study for a level 8 degree. There were 63 students registered for this course: 40 civil and 23 structural. Prior to any intervention, a linking exercise was undertaken to map the words in the module descriptor to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This informed the design of the assessments. After completion of the respective assessments, student surveys were used to understand the student perspective on the use of these techniques. Students perceived acquisition of skills was analysed and qualitative questions relating to the attainment of knowledge were reviewed. The Student-created video was a summative individual assessment worth 5% of the final mark while the in-class debate was a formative assessment where students were required to work in groups of 4/5

Weighting the perceived importance of minimising economic, social, and environmental/cultural risks in flood risk management

A new national flood policy adopted in Ireland in 2004 set out that a range of flood-related impacts should be taken into account in planning flood risk management strategies and projects, including impacts on people, properties, the environment and cultural heritage. This was reinforced by the 2007 EU \u27Floods\u27 Directive that is aimed at the reduction of adverse consequences of flooding for human health, the environment, cultural heritage and economic activity. In 2006, the Office of Public Works (OPW) began the National Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme through a series of pilot studies. A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) Framework was developed through the pilot studies that integrated a number of objectives related to a wide range of potential impacts and benefits into the core of the process of appraising and selecting suitable flood risk management measures for a given area or location, and then for prioritising national investments for different schemes and projects. This MCA Framework, that provides a systematic process of developing a non-monetised but numerical indicator of benefit and impact, has since been implemented nationally in the preparation of the Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs)

Prediction of Flood Hydrograph in Small River Catchments Using System Modelling Approach

Floods remain to be one of the natural catastrophic disasters with serious adverse social and economic implications on individuals and communities all around the world. In Ireland, frequency of flood events have increased dramatically during the last forty years and is expected to continue to rise primarily due to changes in rainfall and temperature patterns as a result of the global climate change. Small river catchments are usually vulnerable to different types of flooding particularly those associated with “monster” rainfall events, which are characterised by short durations and high intensities. Therefore accurate prediction of flood hydrographs resulting from these rainfall events are vital for issuing timely and detailed warning to competent authorities in order to allow for efficient preparedness in the affected catchment and other downstream areas. The current study assess the performance of Unit Hydrograph model in predicting flood hydrograph due to extreme rainfall storms at three small river catchments with different physical and hydrological characteristics. Results suggest that the UH model is more powerful in simulating flood hydrographs at natural rural catchments than in urban catchments. The artificial drainage settings of the urban catchments could be the main reason for hindering the UH from simulating the characteristic behaviour of such type of catchments

Weighting the Perceived Importance of Minimising Economic, Social and Environmental/Cultural Risks in Flood Risk Management

In 2006, the Office of Public Works (OPW) began the National Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme through a series of pilot studies. A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) Framework was developed through the CFRAM pilot studies that integrated a range of objectives related to human health and society, the environment and cultural heritage and the economy into the core process of selecting suitable flood risk management measures for a given area or location, and then for prioritising national investments for different schemes and projects. In support of this MCA framework, UCD, was commissioned to undertake a collaborative study with the OPW to determine global weights that reflect the perceived relative importance of a range of criteria pertaining to the importance of economic, social and environmental / cultural aspects of flood management strategies

An Environmental Consequence for Dublin Bay of a Shift From Hydro-Carbon to Other Energy Production Methods

The Liffey Estuary and Dublin Bay, Ireland are of a great recreational and conservational value. Until recently, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) plant at Poolbeg, Dublin, abstracted dilution water from the estuary for cooling purposes and subsequently discharged this water back to the estuary at temperatures that were sometimes 7-9oC above ambient values. Prior to its discharge to the estuary, the ESB cooling water was mixed with the sewage effluent from Ringsend Treatment Works, creating a warmer and less-saline pollutant plume that remained buoyant on the water surface, adversely effecting water quality. The ESB plant has since closed as part of a competitive energy market agreement. This paper examines the impact of this closure on water quality in the Liffey Estuary and Dublin Bay using a three-dimensional hydro-environmental model. Three discharge scenarios corresponding to the periods before and after the cessation of thermal discharges are compared.. The results showed considerably lower E.coli concentrations in the Estuary and inner Bay in comparison to the time when the thermal discharges and extraction of dilution water ceased, although the effect on E.coli concentrations of removing the cooling water was small

Comparison of Finite Difference and Finite Element (Telemac) Models of Dublin Bay

A number of hydrodynamic and solute mathematical models of Dublin Bay have been developed in the Centre for Water Resources Research in University College Dublin. One of these was an Eulerian-Langrangian finite difference Extended Dublin Bay model named SW2D which was developed by Hussey (1996). It was used in various studies such as the Dublin Bay Water Quality Management Plan and the Howth Outfall Study to predict the effect of the proposed upgrades at the sewage treatment plants on the water quality in these areas. The finite element TELEMAC modelling system developed by the French EDF group was used in later studies of Dublin Bay by Bedri (2007). The primary objective of this study was to assess the performance of the TELEMAC system in comparison with the original finite difference Extended Dublin Bay Model, SW2D. The comparison is on the basis of accuracy, stability and computational time. The ease of use is also an important factor in terms of the man hour costs involved in undertaking modelling studies. The finite difference Extended Dublin Bay Model coded SW2D is the Benchmark model against which the TELEMAC models were compared. The model grid which extends from -6° 15’ to -5° 50’ in the East-West direction and 53° 10’ to 53° 30’ in the North-South direction uses over 72000 grid boxes. An attempt was made to model a baseline model using a uniform mesh with a similar resolution but this proved impossible because of stability issues at the open boundaries in the TELEMAC model. A mesh convergence study was conducted which determined that the solution converged with a TELEMAC mesh of approximately 25,000 nodes in which the coarser mesh of 750m at the open boundaries was gradually refined down to a resolution of 50m at the coast

Community-Based Learning: A Primer

Employers are increasingly demanding graduates with industry-ready communication, leadership, emotional intelligence and social ethics skills. Community-based learning (CBL) is a pedagogical approach which has tremendous potential to produce graduates with these attributes. However, for many early-career lecturers, distilling the insights from the teaching and learning literature, and then producing a well-designed CBL module, can be an intimidating task. What is missing is a primer which presents the core ideas of CBL in a way that is independent of subject-specific jargon. Ideally, this primer should provide the reader with the means of either drafting an initial project plan or, at the very least, knowing where to go to look for more answers. This article aims to meet this gap. The success of a CBL experience relies on considering a number of factors: thorough planning, critical reflection, effective project management, assessment and effective evaluation of the project. We provide the reader with the means of getting started and highlight the unique management aspects of a CBL project. We discuss the challenges that arise as a result of the interaction of many different parties. Finally, we explore available CBL assessment strategies and provide a roadmap for implementing CBL which integrates these issues

Reflecting Societal Values in Designing Flood Risk Management Strategies

In 2006, the Office of Public Works (OPW) began the National Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme through a series of pilot studies. A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) Framework was developed through the pilot studies that integrated a number of objectives related to a wide range of potential impacts and benefits into the core of process of appraising and selecting suitable flood risk management measures for a given area or location, and then for prioritising national investments for different schemes and projects. This MCA Framework, that provides a systematic process of developing a non-monetised but numerical indicator of benefit and impact, has since been implemented nationally in the preparation of the Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs). A key feature of the MCA is that it should represent societal values. To this end, nationally representative quantitative research was undertaken to determine global weights that reflect the perceived importance of each of the objectives for reducing economic, social and environmental / cultural risks in flood-wise comparison of criteria relating to these risks, was utilised to determine weights. In excess of 1,000 structured interviews were completed where the relative importance of these objectives were assessed using a seven-point scale. The weighting given to each of the 13 specific objectives identified broadly followed expectations, with risk to people followed by risk to homes and properties being respectively the first and second most important, although some were given greater or less weighting than expected. The national application of the MCA Framework, using the weighted objectives based on this process, through the CFRAM Programme has generally lead to the identification of appropriate and, based on local consultation, acceptable options for each community