What happens when engineers, scientists, and community practitioners from across the world sit together to talk not about success, but failure?
At the FeME Climate Challenge in Edinburgh, over 60 participants from 18 countries came together to explore that very question. For two days, the room buzzed with ideas, laughter, challenge, and the sound of unfamiliar disciplines finding common ground.
The event asked the question: What happens when our designs, systems, and assumptions don’t hold up in the face of climate change, social inequality, or exclusion?
Three voices from that gathering – Miguel Peña Varón from Colombia, Stella Stavrinou from Greece, and Dianah Alinaitwe from Uganda and the UK – capture the heart of what FeME is trying to do: to reimagine engineering not as a closed technical domain, but as a living, relational, and transformative practice.
“A fresher sensibility in engineering” – Miguel Peña Varón, Colombia
For Miguel, a professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at the Cinara Institute in Cali, the Climate Challenge was more than an event – it was a validation of decades of quiet work to bring ethics, community, and ecology into the core of engineering practice.“From the very first communication with the core group I felt there was here an innovative approach to the climate crisis. It is more centred on the complexity issues around the interactions between natural and human systems, in contrast to the conventional approach that is more focused on the natural and technological systems.”
Miguel has spent much of his career tackling the water crisis in Latin America, developing community-led bioremediation projects and advocating for the integration of social knowledge in engineering education. But what struck him most in Edinburgh was the tone of the gathering – shaped, he said, by the women leading it.
“During the workshop in Edinburgh, I could sense that the core women leadership in this initiative brings a new and fresher approach and sensibility to the current engineering practice which is kind of inflexible and very deterministic.”
Throughout the event, Miguel worked with several groups and methods designed to spark new forms of collaboration.
“I worked on different groups depending on the activities and tasks previously designed. In terms of methodology, I found very stimulating and interesting the gamification method. This served as a very good proxy to simulate real problem-solving interactions amongst stakeholders. My contribution was mostly to provide inputs and viewpoints for deliberation and consensus on the problems at hand, based on my expertise and fieldwork experience.”
His key learning was clear:
“By taking part in the event, I reconfirmed that inter and transdisciplinary work is the way out to find more integral, comprehensive and inclusive solutions to the climate crisis. It also seems to me that academia has got a central social role and responsibility towards achieving sustainable and legitimate change by working honestly and shoulder-to-shoulder with communities, leaders, and stakeholders from all sectors.”
The experience reaffirmed the direction of his work at home:
“My experience with the FeME event reconfirms that the work we are doing back in my home institution (Cinara Institute in Cali, Colombia) is pertinent and it is going in the right direction. I see that consideration of wider intersectionality issues along with the introduction of new methods such as gamification may qualify our work at home and bring about new spaces of interaction with people and stakeholders so as to improve inclusivity as a prerequisite to come out with better and more sustainable engineering initiatives, projects and solutions particularly in relation to the global water crisis.”
And his hopes for FeME reach beyond the event itself:
“My hopes for FeME are twofold: First, that it becomes a very interactive and open community for mutual learning that also expands and positively affects the lives and conditions of those persons and groups linked to the programme. Secondly, that the lessons learnt within FeME are widely disseminated to governmental organizations and decision-making instances in each participating country to have an impact on more inclusive public policy formulation and implementation.”
“We can do better than that” – Stella Stavrinou, Greece
On the Greek island of Lesvos, Stella Stavrinou has built her career where engineering meets crisis. As President of the Civil Engineering Federation’s Lesvos Department, she’s spent years navigating the infrastructural and social challenges brought by the arrival of thousands of refugees since 2015.
“Failure modes of engineering was a catchy title to begin with! We all talk and elaborate on how engineering solutions and practices work and we take credit for it as engineers, but it’s true we often fail to face successfully all the challenges. And it’s not because we are lacking the scientific knowledge, with so much information online, we can cover that any time. What we lack is the understanding on how social stereotypes shape our decisions when it comes to underrepresented groups such as refugees and low education women.”
For Stella, the Climate Challenge was a chance to confront both professional and personal realities.
“I am a civil engineer and I happen to be the president of the civil engineering federation. I am a woman professional and I’m seen as the exception when it comes to construction fields, leading professional meetings. Everyone else is male. There is so much sexism against women in construction areas that we tend to avoid it. I find this is unfair. And I keep thinking if my 2 daughters decide one day they want to work on that field their sex should not stop their ambition.”
At the Climate Challenge, she found unexpected connections across continents.
“During the workshop I focused on the Colombian women harvesting the clams and I was very surprised it was touching women in numerous countries around the globe. I felt that there are too many hard working women who simply lack the organizing skills to have a better life and our engineering knowledge could serve them. I also realised the complexities of the problems should be taken in to consideration by a group of specialists. It’s where engineers and social sciences should meet.”
Stella also brought lived experience into the room:
“In the gamification activity I contributed with a real case scenario from the refugee camp I have been visiting. We talked about the problems refugees face, when solar panels were installed in the camp for covering electricity needs without first considering that the demand in such camps is changing (as the population changes) and the maintenance expenses was not included in the original buying contract.”
She left deeply moved by the people she met:
“I have been in a lot of European conferences but this stood out for the diversity of the participants. Since one of my hopes for FeME is to inspire future generations of female engineers, I would say, meeting Maty from Senegal was a blessing. She told me in our talks that she had created a mentoring group in Kenya for early engineer female professionals and we could be in touch for some insight on how to organise that in Greece.”
And she concluded with both realism and resolve:
“We are so trained to design engineering solutions based on financial terms and so unprepared to design a strategy which doesn’t overlook social needs and differences. This was pretty obvious at the gamification activity and the score board we had. Economical growth was what we easily scored higher. We can do better than that, our society needs more from its leaders and engineers.”
“Thanks so much for having me there, it was a life-growth experience for me.”
“The courage to speak honestly about failure” – Dianah Alinaitwe, Alinaitwe, Uganda / UK
For Dianah, an Environmental Scientist working with ScottishPower Renewables, the Climate Challenge offered something rare in professional spaces: the freedom to speak openly about what doesn’t work.
“I was drawn to the FeME Climate Challenge because it offered a space where we could engage in a different kind of conversation about climate action, social equity & inclusion: one that’s not just about celebrating wins or highlighting the actions we’re taking but is honest about what hasn’t worked.”
Her background bridges continents.
“As an Environmental Scientist, I’ve spent much of my career working alongside rural communities to deliver infrastructure projects aimed at improving access to essential services such as clean water, healthcare, energy, and education. Much of that work was in East Africa, often in communities living on the frontlines of climate change: women, children, indigenous groups and refugees. Across energy, transport, water, hygiene & sanitation, and environmental restoration projects, I’ve seen first-hand how even the most well-intentioned, technically sound projects can fail if planning and execution does not prioritise the lived experiences of those most affected.”
At the Challenge, she worked with a team addressing the resilience of rural communities.
“Our team focused on exploring how rural communities can gain reliable access to essential services such as healthcare, particularly in areas prone to floods. As part of this, we created a physical prototype of the challenge to help us explore it from different perspectives. Through this activity, we were able to challenge our assumptions, highlight overlooked aspects and think differently about the barriers that prevent equitable access.”
“I contributed by sharing lessons from my experience working on rural road construction projects in flood-prone areas, where in one instance, a road was built without fully considering how construction activities might affect flood risks in the wider area, and how changing rainfall patterns could impact its long-term durability. I highlighted the importance of integrating climate change projections into planning and designs as a foundation for lasting, resilient solutions, as well as continuously and meaningfully engaging communities, not just as a requirement to tick off but as a genuine way to better understand local conditions and to design with them, not just for them. We reflected on how technical solutions need to be rooted in environmental realities and community perspectives; a reminder that sustainable access isn’t just about engineering solutions, but about grounding them in the environment and the lives of the people they are meant to serve.”
The experience confirmed what she already sensed:
“The challenge was a powerful reminder that it’s time to reframe how we look at and approach climate challenges: not just as technical problems, but as interconnected, systemic ones that require collaboration across disciplines. It was really inspiring to work alongside engineers, researchers, and fellow practitioners who brought such diverse perspectives.”
And her hopes for FeME look outward:
“I hope FeME continues to provide a space where people can speak candidly about failures, not as blame but as opportunities to learn and improve. Too often, we share only success stories, but that leaves out the practical knowledge that can help us design and implement better, to make a real difference. My hope is that FeME becomes a go-to hub for rethinking how we design, deliver, and scale climate solutions with reflection, equity and inclusion.”
Threads of Connection: Towards a New Future Engineering
Though they come from different continents, generations, and fields, Miguel, Stella, and Dianah’s reflections converge on a shared truth: engineering must evolve from a practice of control to one of connection.
They each found in FeME a microcosm of what that future might look like – where engineers learn from social scientists, where communities are seen as partners, and where failure is welcomed as fertile ground for insight.
The FeME Climate Challenge revealed that what’s breaking is not just infrastructure or climate systems – but trust, communication, and imagination. Yet, it also showed how these can be repaired: through dialogue, empathy, and humility.
As Miguel put it, “By taking part in the event, I reconfirmed that inter and transdisciplinary work is the way out to find more integral, comprehensive and inclusive solutions to the climate crisis.”
As Stella said, “We can do better than that, our society needs more from its leaders and engineers.”
And as Dianah reminded us, “I hope FeME continues to provide a space where people can speak candidly about failures – not as blame but as opportunities to learn and improve.”
The future of engineering will be built by those who listen – to the earth, to each other, and to the lessons of what hasn’t worked. FeME’s Climate Challenge was not the end of that conversation. It is just the beginning.