Overview Humanitarian Engineering

At the University of Twente, we believe in engineering with purpose. Our Humanitarian Engineering initiative brings together education and research to tackle pressing global challenges in regions facing resource limitations and crises.

We’ve launched a dedicated Master’s programme and research line in Humanitarian Engineering to educate future leaders and develop innovative, practical solutions that improve lives. This field blends technical expertise with social insight, empowering engineers and researchers to cocreate sustainable, efficient responses to complex humanitarian needs.

Aligned with UT’s Shaping 2030 vision, we focus on building a fair, sustainable, and digital society. Our joint initiative, involving the faculties of Engineering Technology (ET), Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), and Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS), aims to make UT a leading hub for Humanitarian Engineering in Europe. Together, we strive toward the global goal of zero poverty—through collaboration, innovation, and human-centered engineering.

With Humanitarian Engineering we combine engineering with social science. We believe that both social and technical solutions are needed to tackle complex humanitarian challenges. One of the main ones being poverty alleviation.

Peter Chemweno, Programme Director MSc Humanitarian Engineering

Key domains

Humanitarian Engineering at the University of Twente focuses on three main domains that represent its backbone:

  • Humanitarian Aid Engineering

    Humanitarian Aid Engineering is all about immediate responses in times of need. You can think of, for example, quick solutions for water supply, communication connections, first de-mining actions, or flexible and modular facilities. At the University of Twente, we focus on developing engineering innovations to serve humanity, especially in the direction of more vulnerable and underserved communities.

    Domain Coordinator

    dr. E. Hendriks MSc (Eefje)
    Assistant Professor of Disaster Resilience and Humanitarian Assistance
  • Resilience Engineering

    Resilience Engineering is about long-term planning and capacity building. You can think of, for example, maintenance planning, education facilities, robust infrastructures, but also context and cultural awareness and co-creation. At the University of Twente, we focus on a synergetic and common effort to increase the well-being and the global sustainable growth by significantly decreasing disaster risk.

    Domain Coordinator

    dr. A. Martinetti MSc (Alberto)
    Associate Professor in Maintenance Engineering || Humanitarian Engineering
  • Responsible and Sustainable Entrepreneurship

    Responsible and Sustainable Entrepreneurship is about the implementation and value creation from technology in a local and volatile context. You can think of, for example, job creation and small-scale economy planning.

    Domain Coordinator

    dr. M.L. Franco Garcia (Laura)
    Assistant Professor

Stay up to date about Humanitarian Engineering

In our podcast, our Humanitarian Engineering group introduces humanitarian engineering actions and their importance to society. We talk with our guests about initiatives that develop engineering solutions that promote the well-being and lives of people lacking access to fundamental resources. We release one episode per month.