Shaping the Future – Details, episodes & analysis

The building sector is thought to contribute around a tenth of global carbon emissions, and require an estimated 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel annually.

That is enough material to build a wall 27 metres wide, and 27 metres high, around the entire planet.

This time on Shaping the Future, Heriot-Watt University chief scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Professor Gabriela Medero.

Alongside her role as Associate Principal for Enterprise, Gabriela is the inventor of K-Briq, a low-carbon building brick made almost entirely of construction waste.

This time, we are Shaping the Future of Sustainable Buildings.  

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

'Wicked problem' is a systems engineer term for something that everybody feels needs to change, but that is also stubbornly complex and multi-faceted.

One clear example of an urgent and intractable 'wicked problem' is tackling climate change, and the global transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy.

For this edition of Shaping The Future, Heriot-Watt University chief scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Prof Susan Krumdieck.

Susan is chair and professor in Energy Transition Engineering at our Orkney campus, and uses the term 'wicked problems' in her book Transition Engineering: Building a Sustainable Future.

This time, we are Shaping the Future of Energy.  

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

How can global universities better foster key attributes like innovation, collaboration, and community?

And how does higher education continue to evolve and adapt, to support in solving the world’s most pressing problems like climate change?

For this edition of Shaping The Future from Heriot-Watt University, Chief Scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Principal and Vice Chancellor Prof Richard Williams, and Prof Mushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and Chief Executive of our Malaysia campus.

Together, they are Shaping the Future of Global Education.

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

In the 'Shaping the Future' podcast series, Heriot-Watt University's chief scientist Tadhg O'Donovan speaks to the university's leaders and senior academics about their work.

What are the processes and forces that go into shaping our future skills, technologies, and workforces?

In this episode of Shaping The Future, we’re lifting the curtain on how what's come to be known as the 'triple helix model' - in which universities, governments and industries work together, to shape, influence, and develop each other over time.

Chief scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Prof Gillian Murray, Deputy Principal of Business and Enterprise. Together, they are Shaping the Future of Industry.

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

What is the role for design in helping to address increasingly complex global issues?

How do we support today's learners to develop skillsets and attributes that will help them to flourish as the designers of tomorrow?

For this episode of Shaping The Future, Heriot Watt University's chief scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Louise Valentine, Professor of Design Leadership on our Dubai campus.

We are Shaping the Future of Design.  

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.