Welcome to TEACHENER

Integrating Social Sciences and Humanities into Teaching about Energy

Many engineers still tend to see engineering as a highly specialised practice, out of politics, cultural context and social values. However, science and technology are part of a larger context of policies, market structures, power relations and values, beliefs and ideologies. In the case of energy, the debates around CO2 emissions, climate change, conventional resources or controversies around nuclear energy or shale gas transcend the technical, engineering issues to complex socio-technical phenomena on the border between technology and society. In this context, higher education in engineering and energy systems needs to be set in a broader perspective and context, where engineers are expected to have skills and competences also in the social and ethical dimension.

With this in mind, TEACHENER aims to fill the gap between social sciences and humanities and energy teaching at universities in Europe, by transposing social sciences and humanities knowledge to the domain of higher technical education. Innovative educational practices will provide the graduates of technical energy studies with interdisciplinary skills, knowledge and competencies in social sciences and humanities, enabling them to better respond to the needs of the labour market related to the shift to knowledge society and a fair energy transition with new or adapted job profiles.

The project started on 1st September 2016.