Transition Engineering Lab

07/03/2025

I’m happy to share this podcast that features the work of Heriot-Watt University Transition Engineering Lab

07/03/2025

What is a Ting you ask.

There is the historical Viking Ting which has given its name to the places where the community could gather to hear arguments, get the law speaker’s expert knowledge, voice their opinions and a judgement received from the Jarl. We have melded that process with the Ancient Greek trial before a jury of peers, and we have looked at the citizens jury process.

The result is the Transition Ting. This is now an important part of the SYSTEMS Transition Engineering Processes (STEPs) that have been developed into a standard playbook that we use in Transitioneering with communities.

This is an exciting invention that could not have happened without the help of our partners and the Orkney community. We did the research, and used design processes that push the envelope of what is possible. But we only have a well founded idea until we can practice with people facing real transition dilemmas to improve the design.

We would like to thank the folk who have come along to our Transition Ting events at the Orkney International Science Festival and took the time to participate, share their experience and ideas for improvement.

The Transition Ting is held after a good deal of hard work and input from stakeholders across the community, and a lot of research, data analysis and engineering modelling and design. We put forward what we have discovered as explorers of the past and the future, and we ask for a community decision about what we should take forward to implementation.

14/02/2025

Join the ICNZ's Transition Engineering Lab team and Glaitness School for a 'Ting' event in the Pickaquoy Centre at The Phoenix Cinema next Friday 21 February.

The School Run to Net Zero Programme has been ongoing for 3 years and was co-developed by the Glaitness pupils, teachers and our team. It is all about acting as a school community to change the 'Glaitness Way' of getting to school.

On Friday 21st the School Run to Net Zero Programme is up for deliberation! The students will decide whether the Programme should be permanently adopted into the school culture 🙌

A 'jury' of students will hear from different 'witnesses' and make a go/no-go decision ⚖️ Come support the young people taking ownership of their school run. Doors open at 1pm for a 1:30pm start, until 3pm. Tea, coffee and nibbles included.

11/08/2024

Sunset in Orkney. Which photo should we use for our “sunset industry” article?

10/08/2024

We would like you to invite folk to the Transition Lab events in Stromness.

Here it is! A complete guide to over 100 Festival events, from gold in the stars to meadows beneath the waves, from changing lives with solar power to the music of deep time, from the most beautiful berries to what teeth can tell us. It's our programme brochure, ready for you to download and study at leisure.

https://oisf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OISF-PROGRAMME-BROCHURE-2024-DIGITAL.pdf

With so many events, and high-quality background images, it's a big file and the download may take a few seconds; and then you’ll have a complete day-by-day listing of events. You can find out about new shelter for fish and how to build in Orkney's earth and stone; about green chemistry and living on the moon; about Viking genes and the fulmars of Eynhallow.

There's sagas and seascapes disentangling DNA, an Orkney past and Orkney's future ... and a wealth of wonderful Family Day activities when you can learn about bats, hear the sound of whales and dolphins, create constellations and enter the strange and beautiful world of fractals.

Download the brochure and let your imagination soar!

06/08/2024

It is a long way from Orkney to London, and the Transdisciplinary Engineering Conference TE2024. The Transition Engineering Lab team presented 5 papers and 2 workshops on the great work coming out of the first year's work of the Islands Centre for Net Zero, and the Transition Engineering Lab. The work was very well received, and was frankly quite fresh and exciting. In fact, the paper about the School Run to Net Zero with Glaitness Primary School was awarded the best paper for the conference.

16/07/2024

Orkney International Science Festival will feature several events from the Transition Engineering Lab. Hope to see you there.

Prof. Susan Krumdieck takes Heriot-University’s time machine almost a century forwards, to explore the world of the future, and send back observations and pictures. Will it have changed as much as our own world has changed since the 1920s? How will the people of the future have coped with the chal...

24/05/2024

Heriot-Watt University sponsored the Friday night Stomp at the Orkney Folk Music Festival. Lots of jumping! A highlight was The East Pointers - I'm now a massive fan.

14/04/2024

On one hand, this is an AI generated song and video, where the AI was fed a 1 hour conversation to use as "inspiration". So I find it creepy.
On the other hand, it is probably the first time "Transition Engineering" has been used in the lyrics of a song. So I am having a right LOL over here.

Rise From The Ashes: A Symphony for Earth is our first TLLish song that was inspired on a Friday while letting the creative flow inspire us on what to post o...

10/04/2024

Real-World Labs
PhD student, Florian Ahrens, is presenting his poster at the Real-World Labs Conference in Dresden, Germany. It will be interesting to see how the Transition Engineering Lab process is received by other experts in the field.

05/02/2024

The School Run to Net Zero

"The kids can figure out how to take back their freedom and they can teach us how to do it."

In this presentation, we give the story of the Transition Engineering Lab on personal transport, specifically the trip to school.

Presentation at OREF

Glaitness Primary School has worked with Professor Susan Krumdieck, and fellow researchers, at Heriot-Watt University to help the school find their own pathw...

17/11/2023

SCHOOL RUN TO NET ZERO

The first Transition Lab was actually initiated by Ms. Towsey's class at Glaitness Primary School in Kirkwall, Orkney. The students wrote perfectly formatted letters to Professor Krumdieck expressing their concern about climate change, what they valued about Orkney, and what they were promising to do, even if it was hard.
The research into the Transition Lab Process design had early results, so the team went to work with the Principal Rendall, the amazing teacher Ms Towsey, the great Glaitness kids, and their parents. The project also involved the Orkney Island Council transport officer and SusTrans.
The case for the concept design was given the green light by the citizen's jury (or Ting in local dialect) held at the Orkney International Science Festival 2022. The outcome of what the teachers and kids achieved was inspiring. Now the shift project is moving to the Demonstration and Testing phase.

PhD Student Florian Ahrens presents the project progress so far at the Global Association for Transition Engineering annual conference.

08/09/2023

Big news for the Transition Engineering Lab and the Glaitness Primary School!

Our first project in the Islands Centre for Net Zero (ICNZ) has been nominated, and named a finalist in the Scottish Council for Development and Innovation (SCDI) Business Excellence Awards!

The School Run to Net Zero project is a finalist in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Award for Innovation. Well that is certainly true in this case. While the problems of congestion of cars dropping off and picking up from Schools has been known and has been unsolved in most places for 30 years.... the Net Zero Heroes and their intrepid teacher, Kate Towsey and their principal Ingrid Rendall have taken the Transition Engineering Innovation from the lab to the community with inspiring results.

The project has received support from the UKRI Community Climate Change grant and has involved the whole community of families and teachers.

Good Luck for the Award!

Engaging Civic Scotland: Driving Inclusive Economic Growth

12/06/2023

Would you like to know the story of Transition Engineering? Here is a podcast from New Zealand featuring a discussion with Professor Krumdieck about the origins of this new way of looking at technology, the future, society and the new thing we are learning to do... Change what we don't want to change.

Listen now (59 min) | Loo talks to Professor Susan Krumdieck, co-founder of transition engineering, about her vision to reimagine our economic systems on the firm foundation of science and engineering.

08/03/2023

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

How did folk find a place to live in 1911?

We explore the history of housing in Scotland and Orkney and what we find is that people were where they needed to be. The houses were more crowded than today - but there was something that allowed folk to be live where their life happened.
Do you have someone who remembers how living in 1911 was? Or photos from the grandparents? What are the differences and are there similarities to the housing system of today?

08/03/2023

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

What is at the heart of the matter in the housing crisis?

We explore different aspects of the housing system in general - What do you think is special about the housing system in Orkney?

07/03/2023

A PLACE TO CALL HOME CLINIC

Do wicked problems actually prevent us from thinking proactively about the net zero challenges? Can you guess what the real problem of the little monkey is?

We are exploring the concept of wicked problems and how working through them they can help us to discover the real problems to work on.
What do you think are other wicked problems we are facing around housing and other things in Orkney?

07/03/2023

WHAT IS A TRANSITION ENGINEERING LAB?

What are Transition Engineering Labs in Orkney? How will we achieve a net zero island in the future? What will be the first lab in Orkney?

This video explores what Transition Engineering Labs are, why we are doing them, and how they will work as a community tool for exploring new ways about current unsustainable trends.
Tell us what you think about the wicked problem of housing in Orkney!