Dean started off the session by talking about the ESJP Research project which aims to develop:
1. Skills inventory of ESJP members
2. List of past/current research of central to SJP work
3. Questions you would like answered about ESJP
4. A databse of approaches to ESJP
Dean, himself, is interested in expertise and the "problem of expertise" in social justice work.
Craig followed up Dean's presentation by talking about understandings of ethics among engineering students and how students don't understand the social impacts of engineered systems. He pointed to a "human-centered" design process developed at EPICS Purdue that uses authentic examples of engineering systems in social contexts to connect students with socially just engineering.
Arias from EWB-Columbia spoke about some questioning the EWB Columbia is doing such as:
- Why don't EWB chapters from the North work in the North? Why do EWB chapters from the South work in the North?
- What is the difference between intervention or education / intervention through education / education through intervention?
- Is the product more important or the process?
- What is the difference in projects/process in rural vs. urban environments?
- How do we deal with institutional support or intolerance?
Lizzie from EWB-Australia talked about the "EWB Journey". EWB-Oz works with communities through two-way sharing of knowledge. They also work with schools, universities, and engineering companies to connect engineering learning with social justice. EWB-OZ attempts to create a new engineering culture that is community-centered, encourages cross-cultural understanding, critical thinking and builds leaders of social change. They currently don't use the "social justice" articulation but their vision does match up nicely.