Navigating social sustainability in engineering education: Student experiences and challenges of using a social impact audit tool in a product design project

Giliam Dokter; Plinio Fernandes Borges Silva; Jonas Tuveson; Peter Hammersberg

doi:10.54337/plate2025-10458

Authors

Giliam Dokter Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5667-3293
Plinio Fernandes Borges Silva Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8862-0041
Jonas Tuveson Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Peter Hammersberg Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6005-3118

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54337/plate2025-10458

Keywords:

Social sustainability, Social impact analysis, Engineering education, Sustainable product design

References

Ashby, Mike, Brechbüchl, Eliane, Vakhitova, Tatiana, & Vallejo, Alicia. (2019). Paper: Social Life-Cycle Assessment and Social Impact Audit Tool | Ansys. https://www.ansys.com/academic/educators/education-resources/paper-social-lifecycle-assessment-and-social-impact-audit-tool

Corsini, L., & Moultrie, J. (2021). What Is Design for Social Sustainability? A Systematic Literature Review for Designers of Product-Service Systems. Sustainability, 13(11), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115963

Gould, R., Missimer, M., & Mesquita, P. L. (2017). Using social sustainability principles to analyse activities of the extraction lifecycle phase: Learnings from designing support for concept selection. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 267–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.004

Mesquita, P. L., & Missimer, M. (2020). SUPPORTING ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN ANALYSING SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF A PRODUCT: LESSONS LEARNED. Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference, 1, 1755–1764. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsd.2020.266

United Nations Environment Programme. (2020). Guidelines for Social Lifecycle Assessment of Products and Organizations. https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Guidelines-for-Social-Life-Cycle-Assessment-of-Products-and-Organizations-2020-22.1.21sml.pdf

Wu, R., Yang, D., & Chen, J. (2014). Social Life Cycle Assessment Revisited. Sustainability, 6(7), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6074200