Mission Statement
Science of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Civil and environmental engineers capture, understand, design, calculate, plan and maintain systems in a constant interplay of natural and built environments. In doing so, they assume societal, ecological and economic responsibilities.
At the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering teaching and research are linked closely and pursued at the highest level. We educate future leaders and advise decision makers on socially relevant issues. Civil and environmental engineers thereby play a vital role in improving quality of life and creating a sustainable world in times of change.
Moving beyond the human scale, civil and environmental engineers enter both very small scales (e.g. building material optimization) and very large scales (e.g. transport planning). People are always the center of our actions, as is proclaimed by TU Wien’s mission statement: Technology for people.
As a faculty of TU Wien, we commit fully to this statement and pay special attention to gender and diversity competences being introduced, implemented and maintained sustainably on all hierarchical levels of the faculty. Through this, the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering will continue to support diversity and equal opportunities at TU Wien.
What defines us:
A culture of mutual appreciation
Treating one another respectfully and with appreciation is the basis of our challenging and independent research and teaching duties. We distinguish ourselves by our ability to handle conflicts and build relationships, by bravery, collegiality and knowledge of ourselves and those next to us.
Applied interdisciplinarity
In a world of ever increasing complexity, we believe interdisciplinarity is an indispensable means to improving our ability of understanding the world. Applied interdisciplinarity is therefore an essential part of our continuing learning process. To this end we continue to expand the spectrum of applications for civil engineering competences and support the emergence of new disciplines in research and practice.
Building bridges between fundamental research, application and practice
Our research is focused on generating scientific knowledge based on questions arising from engineering practice. We thereby build bridges in our research and teaching between fundamental science and technical applications, which are essential for our societal development. Civil and environmental engineers guide this process towards implementation of technical applications in everyday use.
Pioneers in mathematical modelling
We aim to make the world more calculable, as this was the starting point for civil engineering as a discipline. The increasing influence of mathematics in our society helps us maintain, shape and develop our world, and also further mathematics and natural sciences themselves.
Fusing experimental and theoretical research
We connect theoretical models, which represent artefacts and processes as modelled reality, with empirical data gathered from measurements from nature and experiments. The latter require theoretical frameworks; and also the nature of the experimental data influences the form of the theory.
Advancing innovation
We advance innovation and performance processes in civil engineering on the basis of our research-driven focus through the individual skills, expertise and abilities of our employees and students. We thus substantially foster the competitive potentials of domestic enterprises and the construction industry as a whole.
Leadership in times of technological, ecological and socio-economic challenges
We are profound problem solvers and take on a leading role in a world that is becoming more complex and fast-paced through our technical expertise and academic reputation.
The present Development Plan 2025+ of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering is the result of an extensive, participatory discussion process and contains the essential strategic development goals of the faculty in teaching, research and organizational development for the next two performance agreement periods until 2028.
In this context, the future challenges and necessary developments of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering are closely related to current and emerging socio-political, ecological and economic as well as technological trends.
The inclusion of environmentally relevant issues in teaching and research in recent decades has also been significantly initiated and driven by civil engineers. The faculty has given this fact visible to the outside world and renamed itself the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering in September 2022.
In scientific research, the following cross-sectional topics, which are to be treated as interdisciplinary, will be continued at the faculty accordingly
- Big Data in Civil Engineering
- Bionics and Green Building
- Risk and Disaster Mitigation
with the aim of establishing new research fields in these areas with international visibility or expanding existing expertise and assuming leadership in these topics.
Research-led teaching already characterizes the basic structure of the bachelor's program as an essential unique selling point of university education at the faculty and is consistently implemented in the master's program. In the next few years, the following main development goals will be pursued:
- Digitization of teaching and knowledge transfer
- Increased internationalization through expansion of exchange programs and development of an English-language degree program
- Coordinating the content and form of courses to improve the studyability of the degree programs offered
- Expansion of support programs for women, first-year students and gifted students
To achieve the goals in research and teaching, the following key strategic measures are planned in personnel and organizational development:
- Enhance structural engineering subjects
- Expanding environmental & sustainability expertise
- Creating an excellent environment for holistic "Civil & Architectural Engineering"
- Construction Economics and Management as a unique selling proposition and driver of digitization
- Create meeting places
With regard to the spatial infrastructure, the faculty will receive new excellent opportunities in the course of the "TU UniverCity" project by bringing all institutes together at the Karlsplatz main building location, approximately by the end of 2023.
The Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering is committed to pushing the process of gender mainstreaming to optimize the advancement of women. Equality of women and men and social equality of opportunity are to be supported in a targeted manner in all areas. The faculty strives for an appropriate gender balance, especially in management positions and professorships. In addition, a balance in numbers is also strived for in the Pre- & Post-Doc area, in the administration and in the collegial bodies.
The strategic goals are:
- Increase the proportion of women in top scientific positions
- Career and personnel development for young female scientists
- Acquisition of female students
To this end, numerous measures are taken and continuously developed, such as
- Target agreements with the Rectorate of the TU Vienna for the advancement of women and increasing the proportion of women in the faculty
- Women's advancement plan of the faculty 2016+ (revision planned for 2021)
- Establishment of women in the professorial curia and increase of the proportion of women in the academic mid-level staff as well as among the students
- Participation in information programs and information for prospective students
- Training of managers and commission members on the topic of gender and anti-bias
- Support for reconciliation programs
These activities are in close connection with the relevant departments of the TU Wien, in particular the Department for Gender Competence, the Working Group for Equal Treatment Issues and the Compatibility Officer of the TU Wien.
Links
Plan for Advancement of Women TUW, opens in new window
Gender Competence at TUW, opens in new window
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