The Watt 2018 (Heriot-Watt University Alumni magazine)

the
For more
information on
supporting the
GRID, please
contact Thomas
Kelly, Senior
Development
Executive at
t.kelly@hw.ac.uk
Transforming STEM education –
powering up the GRID
HERIOT-WATT’S ground-breaking
new facility – the ‘GRID’ – has taken shape
on our Edinburgh campus. It will be the focal
point for our global research, innovation and
discovery and has been designed to remove
boundaries between academic disciplines,
industry partners and the global community,
providing an innovative teaching and
learning environment for our mathematics,
engineering, physical sciences and
computer science students and staff.
The GRID also includes an Enterprise
Hub to support business innovation,
showcase emerging technology and
inventions, and encourage staff and
students to pursue the commercialisation
potential of their creative ideas.
Dr Gillian Murray, Deputy Principal
(Enterprise and Business) has been
spearheading the development: “The GRID
will be powered by and connected through
the latest digital innovations, building on our
research strengths in artificial intelligence,
data analytics and virtual/augmented reality to
accelerate innovation. The real excitement has
come from designing flexibility and dynamism
into the concept and fabric of the building
so that the traditional barriers between
academic disciplines are marginalised.”
Professor Stephen McLaughlin, Head
of Engineering and Physical Sciences,
and Professor Beatrice Pelloni, Head of
Mathematical and Computer Sciences, are
members of the GRID’s project management
group and explained how it will operate as
a transformational learning environment:
Professor McLaughlin: “The GRID has been
designed to act as a catalyst to enable new
ways of learning, both through the impact of
its spatial dynamics and the exciting range of
facilities and equipment it will house. Much
of it has been conceived in a flexible way,
so that it can continue to change and adapt
over time. What it will facilitate is a much
more interactive and collaborative learning
experience. For example, the new Maker
Labs will allow students to rapidly prototype
and test ideas and explore solutions through
active learning. They’ll work on real-world
projects, implementing their theoretical
knowledge through practical application.
“The GRID facilitates this approach through
state-of-the-art technologies, including high
specification computer suites, a virtual ‘real
world’ simulation arena, and a wide range
of prototyping tools. Students can try things
out, and learn quickly from their mistakes,
so that their search for solutions much more
tangibly relates to the transformed world of
engineering. This type of learning supports the
development of confident and skilled problem
solvers, with excellent technical abilities
and a broader perspective on business
decision-making with all its constraints,
possibilities and layered interactions.”
Professor Pelloni: “The open spaces
designed into the GRID will play a role in
bringing students and staff from different
disciplines together, stimulating the
sharing of information, ideas and crossdisciplinary
working. New spaces will deliver
new potential: larger computer labs with
screen sharing technology will facilitate
direct communication with lecturers and
a more interactive learning experience;
bookable spaces for group work, coupled
with greater flexibility around the support
we can provide, will allow students to use
the facilities for longer time periods and to
work on projects as and when they choose.
Our new maths and coding gyms will be
open access, multi-purpose spaces with
the latest learning technology, and we’ll
utilise peer-to-peer support, with students
running coding clinics for students.”
The concept underpinning the GRID is of
technological innovation prioritising and
facilitating information sharing across our
campuses and with external organisations.
It will allow cross-campus collaboration
so that students in Scotland can work
with their counterparts in Dubai and
Malaysia on dynamic projects. Utilising
communications technology within the
GRID, our learning and teaching will be
one of working together, tackling the same
elements of a degree programme across
campuses, and drawing in expertise from
industry and commerce as required.
The GRID will also operate as an incubator
for talent and ideas and a place where
we cultivate and support entrepreneurial
minds to start, run and scale businesses.
For alumni who are interested in
supporting new enterprises, and being
part of an ideas sharing environment, it
will provide opportunities for connections
with the next generation of graduates.
Professor McLaughlin hopes alumni
will actively engage with the GRID:
“Supporting our project-based approach by
setting challenges based on their industry
or commercial knowledge would be a
terrific way alumni could interact with the
GRID. And we’d welcome their input to
stimulating enterprise – their real-world
experience will be invaluable to further
animate what we are trying to achieve.”
30 HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY www.alumni.hw.ac.uk 31