Faculty Development and Educational Governance in Humanitarian Engineering in Latin America: HELA Workshop Design for Central American Faculty

Abstract

In the 21st century, professional and educational realities have shifted, and the vision of Humanitarian Engineering (HE)—founded in 2003—emerged as a response to the social and environmental threats societies have faced since then. However, this approach is not equitably distributed across regions. Central America lacks the institutionalization of Humanitarian Engineering in both formal curricula and faculty training, despite its extreme social and climate vulnerability, where HE would be particularly relevant. This study adopts an exploratory-descriptive and educational action-research approach, aimed at identifying methodological gaps and strengthening engineering education with a humanitarian purpose. The objective is to design a curricular model for faculty development in Humanitarian Engineering (HE) that contributes to the institutionalization of the HELA (Humanitarian Engineering Las Américas) framework within Central American universities. The research concludes that strengthening the faculty is the most effective path to consolidating HE in Latin America, fostering inter-American academic networks, and positioning engineering education as an active agent for human, ethical, and sustainable development in the 21st century.