Dr. Obasesam Okoi, assistant professor in the Department of Justice and Society Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently led a special session titled “How Engineering Skills and Methodologies Can Be Applied to Peacebuilding” at the 18th annual Engineering, Social Justice and Peace Conference. The conference was held at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, from Aug. 12-15. The conference aims to create a welcoming space for critical conversations and experiences around education, engineering, social justice, and peace, while fostering the exchange of ideas across geographical and disciplinary borders.
The highlight of Okoi’s presentation was the decontextualization of engineering education. He guided engineers and non-engineers through a process of thinking that generated creative tensions as they attempted to make moral judgments about their values. This process led to new ways of merging engineering thinking with peacebuilding praxis by engaging participants in scenarios where they placed themselves in conflict situations and attempted to transform these scenarios with engineering solutions.
The experience from this conference will help Okoi teach a new course, Engineering Peace, in spring 2025. The course is designed for engineering and non-engineering students seeking to explore how technological innovation can prevent conflict, address critical humanitarian challenges, tackle the environmental drivers of displacement and refugee crisis, and support post-conflict recovery and peacebuilding.
