“Creative Project”: program outline

The main objective of the course “Creative Project " is the development of students' creative thinking, acquisition of contemporary methods of creative activity, generating informed opinions and teaching scientific research skills.

The indicative list of assignments for the discipline "Creativity Project" for students enrolled on "Management". Assessment method: essays submitted after the completion of the following modules:

1. Module "Engineering Ethics"

   The module is based on case-studies identifying the key role of engineers in man-made disasters directly related to engineering flaws and errors made by engineers.

   • The Turkish Airlines aircraft crashing near Paris in 1974, when 346 people on board were killed due to the insufficiently thought-out system of stowage;
   • Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant accident (USA) in 1979, which resulted in severely damaging the reactor core, and part of the nuclear fuel melting down;
   • The collapse of Hyatt Regency hotel building structures in Kansas City in 1981 killing 114 people.

     The accident at the plant for the production of chemical fertilizers (Union Carbide in Bhopal, India, 1984) resulting in the death of 18, 000 people.

   • The Chernobyl Nuclear power plant accident and the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima-1 (March, 2011) and others.
2. Module "Social analysis of technological risks"

   The module is based on case-studies identifying the following situations highlighting technological risks.

   • A wide range of adverse effects up to and including global significance (e.g., distribution of aerosols in the atmosphere or the oceans).
   • An increase in the duration of the impact of technology (for example, because of the stability of chemicals).
   • Delayed effects: often significant damage can occur only after decades of the chemical use (examples include the account of chlorofluorocarbons situation, corrosive ozone layer, and the history of asbestos effect on human health).
   • The lack or absence of ability to perceive danger using human sensory organs (e.g. in the case of radiation).
   • The blurring of responsibility as a result of complex cause-effect relationships and the large number of persons involved in relevant processes (climate change).
   • Irreversible risks (for example, genetically modified organisms can no longer be fully assimilated in the natural environment after they return to it).