The building sector is thought to contribute around a tenth of global carbon emissions, and require an estimated 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel annually.

That is enough material to build a wall 27 metres wide, and 27 metres high, around the entire planet.

This time on Shaping the Future, Heriot-Watt University chief scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Professor Gabriela Medero.

Alongside her role as Associate Principal for Enterprise, Gabriela is the inventor of K-Briq, a low-carbon building brick made almost entirely of construction waste.

This time, we are Shaping the Future of Sustainable Buildings.  

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

'Wicked problem' is a systems engineer term for something that everybody feels needs to change, but that is also stubbornly complex and multi-faceted.

One clear example of an urgent and intractable 'wicked problem' is tackling climate change, and the global transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy.

For this edition of Shaping The Future, Heriot-Watt University chief scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Prof Susan Krumdieck.

Susan is chair and professor in Energy Transition Engineering at our Orkney campus, and uses the term 'wicked problems' in her book Transition Engineering: Building a Sustainable Future.

This time, we are Shaping the Future of Energy.  

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

How can global universities better foster key attributes like innovation, collaboration, and community?

And how does higher education continue to evolve and adapt, to support in solving the world’s most pressing problems like climate change?

For this edition of Shaping The Future from Heriot-Watt University, Chief Scientist Prof Tadhg O'Donovan is with Principal and Vice Chancellor Prof Richard Williams, and Prof Mushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and Chief Executive of our Malaysia campus.

Together, they are Shaping the Future of Global Education.

Find Heriot-Watt University online here.

In the 'Shaping the Future' podcast series, Heriot-Watt University's chief scientist Tadhg O'Donovan speaks to the university's leaders and senior academics about their work.

How can design heal and enhance wellbeing in society? Anna Ploszajski and Robbie Armstrong meet Assistant Professors Euan Winton, Lucy Robertson, and Guobin Xia at the University’s School of Textiles and Design. A Future Made, a podcast by Heriot-Watt University.

Anna Ploszajski and Robbie Armstrong learn how seemingly intractable problems - from online delivery slots to handling refugee crises - can be solved using qualitative and quantitative data, and simulation models. Key to this is the work of Heriot-Watt university's data gurus, including Assistant Professors Christa Searle and Adam Gripton, and Research Associate Jyoti Mandhani. They are from the University’s Centre for Logistics and Sustainability and the Centre of Sustainable Road Freight.  A Future Made is a podcast from Heriot-Watt University,

In this episode of A Future Made, a podcast by Heriot-Watt University, Anna Ploszajski and Robbie Armstrong raise a toast - or three - to assistant professors Dave Jenkins and Rachel Sutherland and PhD student Rutele Marciulionyte. All three are doing groundbreaking work, with delicious results, at the University’s International Centre of Brewing and Distilling.  We also meet alumni Michael Johnstone, Jonathan Hamilton, and Marc Watson who are helping to shape the industry, proving that the ICBD is a one-stop shop for anyone interested in brewing and distilling, or setting up their own business.

In this episode of the new series of A Future Made, a podcast from Heriot-Watt University, Anna Ploszajski and Robbie Armstrong put their geological detective hats on as they sift the evidence surrounding the momentous discovery of the Nadir Crater, made by marine and sedimentary geologist Dr Uisdean Nicholson. They discuss the impact of the find on Earth’s future, with the help of Professor Thomas Wagner from the Lyell Centre at the University’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society.

In this episode of the new series of A Future Made, a podcast by Heriot-Watt University, Anna  Ploszajski and Robbie Armstrong join Associate Professors Fergus Guppy, Jennifer Meggs and Mark Ross as well as Assistant Professor William Low at the university’s School of Sport and Exercise at Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre – Oriam, to find out first hand how studying human performance at peak levels of sports can impact on everything from the safety of Olympic athletes, the rules for trans inclusion in competition, as well as the future health of the general public.

In the last of three episodes with a special focus on Psychology and Social Sciences, within A Future Made from Heriot-Watt University, Anna Ploszajski and Robbie Armstrong

look into their Future and face the prospect of ageing with fresh hope. They venture into the Ageing Lab of Professor Alan Gow and are reunited with Professor Thusha Rajendran and Associate Professors Ke Guek Nee and Mary Stewart. A Future Made showcases Heriot-Watt University’s innovative work in science, business, technology, design and engineering - which is helping to change the future, solve the problems of today, and make an impact on the global stage.