The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) will host the first-ever International Engineering Conference, from Feb. 3 to Feb. 5.
It is tagged “Engineering for the Sustainable Development Conference University of Nigeria, Nsukka (ESDCUNN).
A statement issued on Tuesday by the Coordinator of the conference, Prof. Paul Nnamchi, stated that the event would draw participants from across the world.
He said that among the stakeholders expected to attend the training workshop, were international education funders, Royal Academy of Engineering, United Kingdom, policymakers, government representatives and leading engineers.
Others were international experts, scholars, industrialists, students, lecturers, non-governmental organisations, farmers, community leaders and Small and Medium Enterprises entrepreneurs.
“The three-day conference will identify and showcase the steps already taken by industrialists, educators and policymakers to support inclusive and sustainable development in Nigeria.
“It will challenge the attendees and the entire engineering community to do more to surmount the challenges of tomorrow.’’
The don said that engineers had the power to help make a better world for posterity.
According to him, for this to happen, we must transform engineering and embrace that responsibility today.
“The result we seek is that graduates understand the concept of sustainable development and its place in engineering,” he said.
Nnamchi said that the conference would afford the participants the opportunity to develop and explore new continental collaborations.
He said that such collaborations would be in the areas of sustainable energy, sustainable cities, engineering innovations, clean technology/production.
Others were sustainable materials and engineering, mechatronics, renewable energy systems and others for the betterment of our communities.
He said that it was sad that in spite of advancements in technology and corresponding policies, humanity was still faced with unprecedented challenges.
“From a world population projected to grow to 10 billion by 2050, over 1.1 billion people still do not have access to electricity.
“Also 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation and 663 million people lack access to clean water and about one third of the world’s population is not served by all-weather roads,” he said.
He said that exponential technological changes were making the world smarter, faster and more connected, adding that there would be consequences if the country did not brace up.
“With infrastructure and engineering becoming complex, engineers need to integrate consideration of whole-life environmental and social impacts with the mainstream and commercial aspects of their work.
“It is only by applying the best talent that we can meet these challenges and continue to improve quality of life and economic prosperity for generations to come”, he said.
Nnamchi said that it was becoming increasingly important to ensure that the engineering community had access to a sufficiently skilled and innovative workforce to tackle environmental and global challenges.