European engineering educators

Hosted by SEFI European society for engineering education

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Jul 2026

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The European engineering educators podcast from SEFI brings you key insights into the minds of university researchers and practitioners who have built international reputations in the field of engineering education with knowledge and advice to share. Find out from Europe's largest network of engineering educators how engineering is evolving to address the challenges of the modern world, and develop your expertise. Your hosts are Professor Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) and Dr Natalie Wint (University College London). We want to bring the frontiers of engineering education to you, regardless of your speciality, in an easy to digest format- you don't have to be an education researcher to benefit. You might be an academic teaching engineering or a related subject, an engineer who wants to keep up with the latest insights, some other professional in education, or even a student! Based in Brussels, SEFI is the European society for engineering education, a non-profit organisation active since 1973, and Europe's largest network of engineering educators. Our mission is to improve engineering education and its image in society. Join our network www.sefi.be Leave us podcast feedback/comments/suggestions: https://forms.gle/tMDHxf1JA8P9RYMY8 Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the podcast with subtitles in your own language on youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgbdO3TmP943SOB9BDGRrffTG6tShZSXz Written and produced by Neil Cooke and Natalie Wint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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51 recent

July 19, 20261 hr 37 min

#49 Harry Day, Sarah Plumb, Matteo De Benedetti, Lucy Farquhar from Sheffield on The Graduate Teaching Assistant Experience

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are an essential part of engineering education, particularly as student numbers continue to grow. However, it’s not often that we stop to consider what teaching is like from their perspective and think about how we can support them as developing educators whose contributions matter.In this episode, we speak with Harry Day, Sarah Plumb, Matteo Di Benedetti and Lucy Farquhar from the University of Sheffield about their work to transform the GTA experience. Drawing on research and practical experience, they explore how a more supportive, structured approach can benefit GTAs, academic staff and students alike.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn more about the how we can support GTAs in engineering education.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.30 Podcast Intro0.55 Experiences with GTAs from Natalie and Neil3.24 Introduction to Harry, Sarah, Matteo and Lucy4.58 University of Sheffield, UK6.29 What is a TA or GTA? Why are they used?8.10 What are the challeneges involved in working with GTAs?12.50 Lucy's exprience as a GTA16.35 The importance of overcoming the challenges; training and community building19.20 Introduction to the MIJ (Mattering, Integration, Justice) Framework31.22 Provision for training and the need for discipline specific training36.38 Identifying the key areas for development 49.50 The training model and its alignment55.26 A roadmap of qualification requirements1:06:40 The journey of a GTA from recruitment to their first time in the classroom1:12:10 Diversity, equity and inclusion1:24:13 Student Feedback1:26:41 What is next?1:32:29 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil ResourcesPlumb, S., Day, H., & Di Benedetti, M. (2024). Effective development and recognition of Teaching Assistant practice: An aligned model. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Conference of SEFI, Lausanne, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14256709https://zenodo.org/records/14256709Matteo Di Benedetti, Sarah Plumb & Stephen B. M. Beck (2023) Effective use of peer teaching and self-reflection for the pedagogical training of graduate teaching assistants in engineering, European Journal of Engineering Education, 48:1, 59-74, DOI: 10.1080/03043797.2022.2054313https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2022.2054313https://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/oer-gtadevelopmentprogram/0-home?authuser=0Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

June 14, 202634 min

#48 Publication Spotlight Sandra Cruz Moreno SEFI 2025 Best Research Paper: Evolving Gender Dynamics in Teamwork Experiences among Female Engineering Students in PBL Settings

Female students have long been underrepresented in engineering. However, the increasing use of project- and problem-based learning (PBL) approaches raises new questions regarding how power dynamics shape their lived experiences during collaborative teamwork. This episode features Sandra Ireri Cruz Moreno and Shannon Chance (Technological University Dublin). We talk about the winner of the ‘Best Research Paper’ at the SEFI 2025 Conference entitled “Evolving gender dynamics in teamwork experiences among female engineering students in PBL settings”.Follow this link to read the full paper.Timestamps0.00 Podcast introduction0.28 Introduction to the episode1.12 Overview of the work and how it came about2.44 Summary of the paper4.48 The research gap6.42 PBL at TU Dublin 8.30 Research aims and questions9.02 Theoretical frameworks11.50 Approach16:00 Data collection and analysis17.38 Findings23.20 Implications for practice24.57 Implications for researchOther resourcesCruz Moreno, S. I., & Chance, S. (2024). Exploring analytical frameworks to investigate power dynamics in collaborative learning in engineering education. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Conference of SEFI, Lausanne, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14256915Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 17, 20261 hr 6 min

#47 Johanna Lonngren from Umeå Sweden on emotions to solve wicked problems

Engineering students are increasingly expected to work towards solving ‘wicked’ problems. Tacking such complexity can invoke a range of emotions and educators are increasingly required to support students in situations when they are confronted with uncertainty and value conflicts.In this episode we speak to Johanna Lönngren, Associate Professor in Science and Engineering Education at Umeå University. Johanna is part of the Umeå Science Education Research (UmSER) group and focuses on the role of emotions in education for sustainable development, exploring how engineering students talk about, and collaboratively deal with, emotions when they work with complex sustainability problems.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn more about the emotions that engineers experience when tacking complex and wicked problemsTimestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.17 Podcast Intro0.42 Experiences with student emotion from Natalie and Neil3.45 Introduction to Johanna8.23 University of Umeå10.28 Wicked problems in engineering15.08 Bringing wicked problems into engineering education19.15 Emotions in education25.19 Emotion as social; implications for methodology29.18 Emotions associated with wicked problems32.18 Positioning theory34.55 Emotional scaffolding40.52 Studying and evaluating the use of emotional scaffolding47.37 Techniques to help students deal with emotions associated with wicked problems54.11 Supporting engineering educators in providing emotional scaffolding56.54 Future work1:00:40 Takeaways from Johanna1:02: 18 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Resourceshttps://wickedproblemsteaching.wordpress.com/.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2025.2474046?scroll=top&needAccess=true#d1e164Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 19, 202632 min

#46 Publication Spotlight: Ruth Fisher and Divya Jayakumar from USNW Australia on Peer Reviews

Feedback and peer review is a key part of university life for both educators and students. Despite this, there are still gaps in our understanding how to best provide and make use of feedback. This episode features Ruth Fisher and Divya Naya, both from the University of New South Wales. We talk about the winner of the ‘Best Practice Paper’ at the SEFI 2025 Conference entitled “Using multistage peer reviews to provide feedback and improve student learning” which Ruth and Divya co-authored with Javier Videlo Mario and Shamim Aryampa.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.27 Introduction to the episode1.18 The context of the research2.44 A summary of the work3.40 The need for the work6.20 How did the peer review process work?10.00 How was the process evaluated?12.37 Grading students' feedback13.29 The main research questions14.30 The findings19.16 How did educators' feedback practice change?21.06 The findings; educator reflections24.28 Key takeaways29.55 What's next?Follow this link to read the full paper.Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 16, 20261 hr 2 min

#45 Karin Jensen and Faith Gacheru from U-M USA on engineering students mental health

Concerns for student mental health have grown over the last decade, particularly within engineering disciplines, which are often associated with heavy workloads and difficult assessment. There is subsequently an increasing need to understand the stressors that impact engineering students, and the ways in which we can support them to thrive.In this episode we speak to Karin Jensen, an Assistant Professor and Faith Gacheru a first-year graduate student, both from the University of Michigan. Karin was awarded a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for her research on undergraduate mental health in engineering programs and recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, awarded by US President Biden in January 2025, whilst Faith recently presented a poster entitled A Mixed-Methods Study to Support Undergraduate Engineering Student Well-Being at ASEE 2025.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about stressors within engineering education and ways by which to encourage help-seeking behaviour. Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.23 Podcast Intro0.45 Experiences with student mental health from Natalie and Neil2.32 Introduction to Karin and Faith 7.06 University of Michigan9.38 Key definitions, terminology and use of language15.27 How concerns regarding mental health have changed 20.11 The role of engineering culture24.21 Making changes at different levels of the system26.32 Measuring stress and identifying stressors within engineering education34.53 How do educators perceive mental health concerns36.51 Thriving 38.09 Translating finding into teaching practices 47.21 How is the research being used to support other educators48.29 Staff mental health 51.09 Future work52.33 Takeaways from Karin and Faith55.54 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil ResourcesDetails about Karin’s lab and work can be found here https://kjens.engin.umich.edu/ including The Engineering Stress Culture (ESC) Scale, a 10-item measure of undergraduate student perceptions of engineering stress culture and The Undergraduate Engineering Stressors Questionnaire (U-ESQ) (https://kjens.engin.umich.edu/research-well-being/)Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

February 16, 202629 min

#44 Publication Spotlight Anup Shrestha SEFI 2025 Best Student Paper: Engineering Student Preparedness in Disaster-Prone Nepal

Despite the increasing magnitude and frequency of disasters, it remains unclear whether civil engineers possess the ability to understand disaster risk and design resilient infrastructures.  This episode features Anup Shrestha from Water and Development Research Group, School of Engineering, Aalto University (Finland).  We talk about the winner of the ‘Best Student Paper’ at the SEFI 2025 Conference entitled “Are Disaster-Prone Countries’ Undergraduate Students Prepared? Insights from a Civil Engineering Program in Nepal” which Anup co-authored with Julia Sundman, Josias Láng-Ritter, Maija Taka, Olli Varis (Aalto University) and Sudeep Lamsal (Sagarmatha Engineering College).  The paper considers the degree to which undergraduate civil engineering students in disaster-prone countries are adequately prepared. The research involves the use of a questionnaire to evaluate Nepalese students’ knowledge of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), resilience concepts, and related competencies. Students were found to exhibit DRR knowledge, but had limited opportunities to participate in DRR courses, workshops, or training. Whilst they possessed the basic concepts of resilience, there was a notable gap in their ability to apply these concepts in designing resilient structures. The research team thus suggest that additional efforts focus on integrating these competencies into engineering curricula.  For the full paper, follow this link:https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/202473945/SEFI2025_040.pdf This is the third episode from the new SEFI Podcast: Publication Spotlight series which aims to complement our normal, longer length shows. In these episodes, we speak with authors of recent publications to bring you up to date with some of the latest work within engineering education.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction0.27 Introduction to the episode an publication1.08 How the work came about and the research team4.25 Summary of the work5.18 The research gap7.36 Disaster risk reduction (DRR)10.58 The research questions12.10 Methodology 13.38 The findings16.58 Implications for engineering education research and practice20.24 Contextual differences 22.48 Staff and student perceptions to integrating DRR and resilience26.27 What's next?Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

January 19, 20261 hr 35 min

#43 Anette Kolmos and Henrik Worm Routhe from Aalborg on Interdisciplinary PBL

The rising complexity of modern societal challenges has intensified interest in interdisciplinary engineering education.In this episode we speak to Professor Anette Kolmos (Professor in Engineering Education and PBL) and Dr Henrik Worm Routhe (Postdoctoral Researcher) from Aalborg University (AAU) in Denmark, about InterPBL and the different approaches that can be taken to interdisciplinary learning and teaching.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the many different ways in which we can integrate interdisciplinary projects into our engineering courses. Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.25 Podcast Intro0.52 Experiences with interdisciplinary from Natalie and Neil2.30 Introduction to Anette and Henrik7.20 Aalborg University (AAU)9.18 Introduction to InterPBL13.00 Examples of the challenges associated with interdisciplinary project work14.34 Aims of the InterPBL project17.04 Interdisciplinary in engineering practice21.00 Definitions 24.25 Cognitive trust and boundary objects31.00 How does interdisciplinary work impact identity?35.28 A typology of interdisciplinary projects48.32 Students' motivation50.57 Leadership 55.21 Assessment of interdisciplinary 58.41 Implications for staff and capacity building1:00:50 Measuring the effectiveness of interdisciplinary learning and teaching1:05:40 Introducting interdisciplinary in your own context1:09:56 Mega-projects (M-Project) and broad interdisciplinary1:15:25 Key Takeaways and implications from Anette and Henrik1:25:38 What is next for research in this area?1:28:48 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil ResourcesA small sample of papers which focus on the InterPBL project are linked belowThis paper focuses on student learning outcomes of interdisciplinary workhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10171180This provides insights from a narrow interdisciplinary curriculum project named “leadENGhttps://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/interdisciplinary-problem-based-projects-for-first-year-engineeri/This paper focuses on development of leadership competencieshttps://vbn.aau.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/752930995/17_ijee4479.pdfThese papers focus on the different project typeshttps://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/2/138https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03043797.2023.2267476Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

December 15, 202536 min

#42 Publication Spotlight: Maya Menon and Marie Paretti on Instructor motivation for sustainable development

 Although recognised as a priority for engineering education, implementation of Sustainable Development (SD) in curricula has been mixed and limited.  This episode features Marie Paretti from Virginia Tech and Maya Menon from the EdTech startup NextWork. We talk about a paper published in the European Journal of Engineering Education entitled “Understanding instructor decision-making in engineering education for sustainable development: a comparison of institutions in Denmark and the United States” which Maya and Marie co-authored with Jennifer Case and Andrew Katz. The study compared the external, internal (institutional) and individual influences on instructors’ decision-making, in relation to the incorporation of SD into the courses they teach within institutions in two different national contexts. This episode is the second in our series of episodes that take on a new format and are released at intervals along with our normal longer length shows.For the full paper, follow this link: https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2025.2486189Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction0.29 Introduction to the episode an publication1.25 How the work came about and the research team3.12 Summary of the work4.02 The research gap5.16 The research questions7.27 Terminology; Sustainability, Sustainable Development and the UN SDGs10.50 Theoretical underpinnings13.58 Comparative Case Study Methodology18.04 Data sources and analysis21.12 The findings29:49 Implications for engineering education practice32.31 Implications for engineering education research35.23 GoodbyesJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

November 17, 20251 hr 9 min

#41 Roger V Gonzalez from UTEP USA on Adapting Engineering Education

Engineering is a global profession, with various efforts focusing on the globalisation of engineering practice. However, there are many differences between engineering education systems in different contexts.In this episode we discuss what we can learn by comparing engineering education across contexts with Professor Roger Gonzalez from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), author of the monograph “Adapting Engineering Education to a Rapidly Changing World” which focuses on the differences between engineering education systems, particularly those associated with the UK and the USA.Join Dr. Natalie Wint (University College London) and Prof. Neil Cooke (University of Birmingham) to learn about the ways in which students are contributing their their own engineering education, and what we can learn from them.Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction to episode0.25 Podcast Intro0.50 Experiences with students collaboration from Natalie and Neil2.13 Introduction to Roger and his work5.04 Introduction to UTEP6.44 Why is this work needed and why now?10.15 How was the work conducted?12.44 Differences in terms of student admissions into engineering 15.58 Implications for widening access and participation 19.10 Why are there differences between contexts? 22.42 Differences in length and structure of programmes, teaching, learning and assessment and the role of student unions29.42 Differences in content of the degree33.01 Degree variants and the role of industry36.12 The role of Quality Assurance (QA) and student feedback and the role of funding45.24 Accreditation48.35 What can we learn from the differences?53.42 How do these learnings apply to other contexts and countries?54.47 How will engineering education change in the future; AI.1:02:35 Key Takeaways from Roger1:05:02 Key takeaways from Natalie and Neil Key ResourcesYou can access Roger’s monograph by following the link belowhttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-78908-3Join us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

October 18, 202520 min

#40 Publication Spotlight: Madeline Polmear on Hispanic Women's Engagement

This is our first episode which takes the new format which we will be released at intervals along with our normal longer length shows. In these episodes we will be bringing you up to date with some of the latest work within engineering education by speaking with authors of recent publications.For our first episode of this I am speaking with Madeline Polmear from Kings College London, who featured in our very first season of the podcast. And we are going to talk about a paper published in the Journal of Engineering Education entitled Exploring engagement narratives among self-identified Hispanic women's experiences in engineering counterspaces which Madeline co-authored with Elizabeth Volpe, Idalis Villanueva Alarcón and Denise Simmons.For the full paper, follow this link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jee.20630Timestamps0.00 Welcome and introduction0.27 Introduction to the episode an publication1.22 The research team3.08 Summary of the work4.30 The research gap5.58 The research questions6.35 Theoretical underpinnings10.15 Methodology; Data Collection and analysis12.21 The findings15.32 Implications for engineering education practice17.12 Implications for engineering education research19.10 GoodbyesJoin us! Become a member of the European Society for EngineeringEducation, SEFI, Europe's largest network of engineeringeducators: www.sefi.be Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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