Big Debate: Covid-19 Friend or Foe of Civil Engineering?

Overview

The unpredictable, unprecedented, and unsparing crisis the entire world is facing is called Covid-19. More than a year has passed since the first lockdown in the UK and now it is time to step back and analyse what has changed, what still needs to be done and finally what we have learnt.

Chaired by ICE Senior Vice President Ed McCann, the Big Debate 2021 will try to understand in what ways Covid-19 has affected our industry, our way of living and our future goals. There will be two groups, each with two panellists. The topics will span health and wellbeing for our new way of working from home, climate change and the route to Net-Zero 2050 and finally technology, since Covid-19 has forced us to become more digital in many ways.

Covid-19 Friend or Foe? This is the disputed, provocative, and controversial question. However, the focus is on us, civil engineers, and our way of facing difficult scenarios to come back stronger than ever before, by learning from what worked and what did not.

The aim for this debate is to improve critical thinking by making rational and thoughtful arguments whilst understanding others’ points of view and conclusions.