A brand new toolkit has just been launched by the Engineering Professors’ Council, and it’s here to help the engineers of tomorrow tackle complex systems head-on. This free online resource is designed to assist engineering educators in weaving complex systems concepts into their teaching, ultimately preparing future engineers to face the global challenges that lie ahead.
The Complex Systems Toolkit, created in collaboration with Quanser, aims to help engineers grasp and manage a growing array of interconnected factors that can behave in unpredictable ways. This initiative seeks to fill a significant gap in traditional engineering education, where subjects have often been taught in a more controlled and isolated manner.
With this toolkit, educators gain access to valuable resources that empower students to understand and design systems that are not just technically sound but also resilient, trustworthy, and ethically responsible. It encourages the development of skills to analyze and model complexity, collaborate across various disciplines, and manage intricate technical and sociotechnical systems.
Subscribe to PII and receive:
Our long-established bi-monthly digital magazine *Process Industry Informer*, featuring exclusive articles, news and updates across the Process Industries, plus commentary from our three industry experts:
Sean Moran
Gavin Smith
Dave Green
PLUS:
- Process Industry Update — our weekly e-newsletter
- PII Podcast
- Special messages from our advertising partners
But the benefits don’t stop with the students. By integrating complex systems thinking into engineering education, educators themselves can also enhance their professional development, especially since many may not have had formal training in the knowledge, skills, and mindsets they are now expected to impart.
To tackle these challenges, the Complex Systems Toolkit provides a rich array of guidance articles, teaching materials, and case studies. These resources are crafted to help build the essential competencies that future engineers will need, contributing to a safer and more equitable world.
Incorporating complex systems into engineering curricula aligns with professional standards and accreditation requirements, while also supporting institutional goals around interdisciplinarity, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion. This approach not only strengthens the UK’s position as a leader in engineering education but also ensures that both people and the planet can thrive.
The creation of the toolkit was led by a dedicated Working Group made up of experts from various fields, including academia, industry, and professional organizations. Their collaborative efforts have produced a resource that is firmly rooted in educational best practices and aligns with the UK Engineering Council’s Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP) criteria, as well as the competencies outlined by the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).
This toolkit offers guidance for educators eager to teach complex systems but unsure of where to start. It also provides ready-to-use classroom materials, including case studies and activities that tackle both current and emerging real-world challenges. All resources are available for free use and adaptation.
Dr. Nikita Hari, who heads the Teaching and Research Design Support Group at the University of Oxford's Department of Engineering Science and serves as Co-Chair of the Working Group, stated:
“Today’s engineering graduates are expected to design cities that can withstand climate change, ethically implement AI, and incorporate circular-economy principles into supply chains—all of which fall within the intricate world of complex systems. Unfortunately, many engineering programs still treat complexity as an afterthought or a specialized elective. This often leads to misunderstandings, misrepresentations, or outright neglect, pushing complexity to the sidelines.
“The Engineering Professors’ Council’s Complex Systems Toolkit is our academic answer to this issue. It aims to fill the gap by providing a freely accessible, peer-reviewed resource hub where educators can discover, curate, and share ready-to-teach materials, assessment frameworks, and real-world case studies that align with AHEP learning outcomes.”
Paul Gilbert, the Chief Executive Officer of Quanser, shared his thoughts: “At Quanser, we’ve always been driven by our mission to help educators provide genuine, system-level engineering experiences for their students. Collaborating with the EPC on the Complex Systems Toolkit presents a fantastic opportunity to further that mission in a scalable way. This Toolkit merges academic insights with practical, real-world systems thinking, empowering educators everywhere. I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and I’m even more excited about how it will help shape the next generation of engineers in a world that’s increasingly complex.”
The Complex Systems Toolkit will be officially unveiled during a free online webinar on December 9, where participants will get a guided tour of the resource. You can register through the EPC website.
The Complex Systems Toolkit is completely free to use and open access, available at epc.ac.uk/complex-systems-toolkit.
A comprehensive press pack can be downloaded from the EPC.
