FCK3503 Engineering for a Sustainable Society 3.0 credits

The course will be organized in 6 seminars with lectures and presentations. It will be composed of inspirational lecture by KTH-staff and external professionals and presentations by the doctoral students. The inspirational lectures target opening perspective and provide tools to identify and understand societal challenges, technical needs and innovative science. Doctoral student presentations will complement the course and will consist of 3 presentations for each group of 4 or 5 students.

These presentations have different objective and will focus successively on

• reviewing litterature for the field  and prepare a 10 min online presentation.
• choose a societal challenge and present an analysis with adequate support, exemples and argument/facts.  The students will chose a societal challenge to examine, find and present data to define the challenge and set ground for addressing the challenge
• relate technical solutions and research challenges. The doctoral students will identify technologies and research bottlenecks that are relevant to the challenge presented earlier. Theses technologies will be presented critically and the students will examine the potential of better understanding  for empowering innovation and erase bottlenecks.

The course output (selected presentations by the doctoral students) will be in form of presentations and digital material. The latest can be presented at different events organised by KTH, e.g. KTH sustainability days, KTH Energy Dialogue.

• Seminars with external lecturers about on-going sustainability work
• Presentations given by students covering different aspects of sustainability
• Group discussions and analysis of material and information

After completion of the course, the students will have knowledge and knowhow for

• linking current societal challenges with engineering and research
• taking a wider perspective and analysing a problem or situation in the light of the sustainable development goals
• reviewing and quantifying technological and knowledge gaps with relation to the societal challenges

Eligible for studies at the third cycle level.

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

• SEM1 - Seminars, 3.0 credits, grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

Passing the course requires active participation in all seminars.

Presence and participation as well as preparing / presenting presentation material.

Christophe Duwig

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

The course replaces course FSG3133.

From 2025, there will be a course fee of 9 000 SEK/participant that will be paid by the PhD-student's department.