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Chemical Engineering: Shaping a Sustainable Future

Learn how chemical engineering can help to solve global challenges and deliver sustainable development with this online course from the University of Leeds.

Duration

2 weeks

Weekly study

2 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

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Understand how chemical engineers can provide sustainable solutions

Chemical engineers are leading the way in providing answers to global challenges such as climate change, food security, and effective healthcare.

On this two-week course, you will be introduced to the exciting world of chemical engineering. You’ll explore how chemical engineers develop and design chemical manufacturing processes to provide sustainable solutions.

Discover sustainable energy solutions from renewable sources

You’ll be introduced to what chemical engineering is and the different ways it can help tackle climate change.

You’ll also explore how it can be used to promote renewable energy sources such as solar, wind power, and geothermal energy to secure a sustainable energy future across the world.

Explore how chemical engineering can promote food security

You will learn how chemical engineers optimise processes and improve fertilisers to ensure a more sustainable food supply.

You’ll then explore how they advocate new technologies such as the treatment of salt water to help tackle drinking water demands in times of drought.

Discover how chemical engineers are responsible for the future of healthcare products

You will understand vaccine development and how chemical engineers design and optimise the manufacturing process to produce vaccines that meet global demand.

You’ll then explore how digital design will lead to the development, manufacture, and delivery of high-quality personalised medicines which will revolutionise patient care.

By the end of the course, you will understand the importance of chemical engineering in every-day life and explore the huge range of career paths chemical engineers can take.

Week 1
Solving global challenges: Climate change
- Welcome
  Before you get started, take some time to meet your Lead Educator, Nicole Hondow, who will guide you through the course. You will also have the opportunity to meet other learners and plan your learning journey.
- Global challenge: Man-made climate change
  This activity summarises the effect of climate change in different parts of the world and focuses on how chemical engineers are developing solutions to ensure a sustainable supply of energy, water and food.
- Global solution 1: Energy
  In this activity you will discover how chemical engineers are helping to secure a sustainable future for energy supply via new innovative technologies and policies to champion the change to a global energy management network.
- Global solutions 2: Food security
  This activity explores how chemical engineers are securing a sustainable future for food security. You will investigate the major implications of having an all-year-round supply chain.
- Summary
  This section provides a summary of key points from the course to enable you to review and look back on any material you may need. You can also access the glossary in this activity.
Week 2
Solving global challenges: Health
- About Week 2
  This week, you will explore how chemical engineers achieved a large-scale vaccine-rollout, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. You will also explore personalised medicine, and hear from some chemical engineering graduates.
- Global challenge and solution 3: Large-scale production
  This activity showcases another example of how exciting it is to be a chemical engineer by exploring a chemical engineer’s role in large-scale production of healthcare products.
- Global challenge and solution 4: Personalised medicine
  You will discover how chemical engineers play a pivotal role in developing and producing the medicines of the future.
- What is it like to be a chemical engineer?
  After focusing on global challenges and energy supply, you will discover the importance of chemical engineering in every-day life and hear from chemical engineers who talk about their career path and experiences.
- Summary
  This section summarises your journey through the whole course. You will have the chance to review and look back on any material you may need and consider next steps.