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Masen, Marc; Quazi, Sopia; Agg, Chloe

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Teamwork is an essential part of engineering projects, and it is well established that diverse teams deliver better outcomes: the open-ended nature of engineering challenges requires a variety of viewpoints to develop creative solutions, which leads to more robust, well-rounded results. However, diversity can also introduce challenges, such as communication barriers and bias, potentially leading to misunderstanding and conflict. This is particularly true in educational settings where the main (perceived) outcome is a grade rather than a real-world engineering solution and where students’ prior experiences have often been quite homogeneous, e.g. in single-sex schools. This dynamic can result in minority team members feeling their contributions are less highly valued and not being listen to by the team. Educator’s responses to this issue range from passive acceptance, i.e. arguing that such experiences prepare students for future workplace realities, to active interventions. Examples of the latter include the mandated rotation of administrative roles, assignment of roles based on self-identified skills and areas for growth, and avoiding having a lone minority student in a further homogeneous team. These interventions have been incorporated into XXXXX at YYYYYY. Arguably the most significant contributor to student wellbeing has been the co-creation, with student representatives, of dedicated active communities that organise informal sessions where students share experiences, realising they are not alone. Planned future developments include extending this approach to other underrepresented groups in the cohort whilst also raising awareness among majority-group students about any undesired behaviours and encouraging them to adapt their actions.

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