
The Edinburgh-led project ‘Failure Modes of Engineering (FeME): a network for future inclusivity, sustainability and global impact’ is one of six research projects who will benefit from the funding boost.
The project will be led by Encarni Medina-Lopez (School of Engineering), with Agnessa Spanellis (University of Edinburgh Business School), Laura Colucci-Gray (Moray House School of Education and Sport) and Sue Widdicombe (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences). They will also be working in partnership with colleagues from Heriot-Watt and Glasgow Universities.
FeMe will tackle the failure modes of current engineering practices, particularly in relation to climate change and its impact on women, children and underrepresented groups globally. The funding is intended to help address the challenges identified in the 2022 Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges (TERC) report.
Agnessa Spanellis, Senior Lecturer in Systems Thinking, said: ‘I will be leading a workstream on socially-acceptable solutions. This theme was inspired by my talk on public trust and acceptance and the panel discussion at Zenzic Connected and Automated Mobility Innovation summit last year, where this topic dominated all the discussions. In this network workstream we are going to flip the question upside down – how to get the public involved early on so that the engineered solutions for climate adaptation are trusted and accepted.’
I’m looking to put my gamification research at the core of this challenge.Agnessa Spanellis
The study will explore the use of ‘failure modes’, a method taken from traditional systems engineering to better link researchers, industry and communities, to delve into the complex relationship between engineering, nature and society. Women, children and underrepresented communities globally are the most affected by climate change. Engineering, as the link between society and nature, is at the core of a fair and sustainable future for all. This network will create and enable research in this important area from a truly interdisciplinary perspective.

Agnessa Spanellis is our Senior Lecturer in Systems Thinking.