The long-term objective of the NSERC CREATE Heritage Engineering program is to produce a cohort of trainees with technical and professional skills that are relevant to Canada’s built heritage industry.
The short-term training objectives of the program are to provide students with:
- Research experience in their core discipline (Civil & Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer & Systems Engineering, Industrial Design, Information Technology, Social Sciences or Architecture);
- An integrated training program in heritage conservation and documentation, including a core course;
- Targeted internships with heritage professionals in the private and public sectors, including national and international organizations;
- Professional development workshops to be given by industry professionals outside the university including round tables and conferences on heritage conservation; and
- Annual one-day Heritage Forums at which private and public sector professionals and academics discuss gaps and issues that might be addressed through research.
Other key activities for students and fellows in the program include:
- development of a cuPortfolio to showcase student learning and achievements;
- selection of a research topic and development of a Master’s or Ph.D. thesis within one of the three research tracks; and
- for Postdoctoral Fellows only, carry out a proposal for research and dissemination of a topic in digital workflows for heritage conservation.