The 53rd Annual Conference for the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) took place in Tampere, Finland from 15 – 18th September 2025 with the theme of Engineering and Society. CASTeL was represented by Dr Leah Ridgway (DCU School of Electronic Engineering) presenting two papers.

“reDIRECT – Modernising Concept Inventories. A Case Study In Electrical Circuits” discussed the design process to update questionnaires to evaluate student understanding of fundamental concepts in response to new technologies in the classroom and piloted the diagnostic at both DCU and the University of Nottingham, UK. The work aims to provide a tool which can be used to measure learning gains which can be deployed in large classes and provide educators with an overview of the understanding of core ideas within their classes.

The second paper “Accreditation Considerations in Engineering Ethics Education: Bridging Global Standards and Local Practices” brought together engineering academics from a range of universities; Louise O’Gorman (ATU Sligo), Alison Gwynne-Evans (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Leah Ridgway (DCU), Marek Rebow and Shannon Chance (TU Dublin) in discussion of how we can educate ethical engineers and the opportunities and challenges of international accreditation frameworks in this space. This collaboration came from a SEFI Symposium on Engineering Ethics where the newly published Routledge Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education was discussed, reflecting on the implications for practitioners.