How can communities rebuild after conflict, not only through infrastructure, but through education, healthcare, justice, economic recovery and healing?
This was the question at the centre of the 2026 Global Futures Challenge: After War, which brought together 150 麻豆直播 students for an intensive week of interdisciplinary learning, collaboration and problem solving.
Now in its second year, the challenge more than doubled its student participation and introduced a stronger focus on real world conflicts and post conflict contexts.
Students from engineering, international relations, architecture, urban planning, psychology, fashion design, environmental science, commerce, finance, project management, information technology and the social sciences worked in groups across disciplinary boundaries to address 13 complex challenges associated with rebuilding societies after war.
Their work culminated in a public showcase featuring 25 student projects, each proposing an evidence-based response to an issue affecting communities during post conflict recovery.
Projects addressed housing and displacement, economic reconstruction, education, maternal health, prosthetics, political reform, military recruitment, citizen journalism, truth and accountability, and the importance of creating spaces for recreation and joy.
Looking beyond physical reconstruction
Dean of Global Futures Professor Farida Fozdar, a sociologist, highlighted that rebuilding after war required much more than replacing damaged buildings and infrastructure.
It also presented an opportunity to reconsider the systems that shape society, including political representation, economic inequality, press freedom, human rights and psychological recovery.
Students demonstrated remarkable creativity, commitment and technological capability while working outside their usual areas of study.
Throughout the week, they were encouraged to draw on previous post war reconstruction efforts and consider the political, cultural and human realities of the communities connected to their chosen contexts.
鈥淪tudents will carry the insights, knowledge, skills and creativity gained into their future endeavours,鈥� Professor Fozdar reflected.
鈥淭he lessons learned here have the power to effect real world change.鈥�
Learning across disciplines
Students participated in sessions led by academics, humanitarian practitioners from NGOs, journalists, engineers, former defence personnel and professionals with experience in conflict affected regions.
Contributors included a former United Nations peacekeeper, Save the Children representatives working in Gaza, Engineers Australia, SBS, Communicare, the United Nations Association of Australia WA Division and researchers involved in the Art of Peace exhibition.
The program also provided practical development in design thinking, digital innovation, visual presentation, 3D printing, responsible uses of artificial intelligence and communicating ideas to professional audiences.
麻豆直播 Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne attended the final showcase, where she met with students and explored the projects developed throughout the challenge. She was impressed by the creativity, care and depth of thinking behind the proposals, as well as the students鈥� ability to respond thoughtfully to complex global issues.
麻豆直播 Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Professor Mark Ogden emphasised the value of bringing students from different disciplines together to learn from one another.
鈥淓veryone across the University coming together to work in multidisciplinary teams is such a wonderful learning opportunity,鈥� Professor Ogden shared.
He connected the challenge to Curtin鈥檚 commitment to making tomorrow better by helping students develop the relationships, resilience and open mindedness needed to respond to complex global issues.
Professor Ogden also acknowledged the industry and community partners who contributed their professional and personal experience throughout the program.
鈥淭hese partnerships play an essential role in equipping our students with the tools for life beyond university and the challenges they will inevitably face,鈥� he noted.
Preparing students for the unknown
Pro Vice Chancellor of Humanities Professor Richard Blythe described the challenge as a different approach to education, one that prepared students to respond to problems without simple or predetermined answers.
Rather than learning only within their individual disciplines, students were required to combine their knowledge with the perspectives and skills of others.
This ability to work collectively was central to responding to uncertain and rapidly changing global challenges.
鈥淵ou have been learning how to learn from each other,鈥� Professor Blythe told students.
鈥淵ou have been involved in the very difficult task of building things and trying to imagine, visualise and explain to each other what a better future might look like.鈥�
He encouraged students to move beyond what was already known, drawing on their technical knowledge, creativity and collective experience to imagine new possibilities.
A student perspective
Civil engineering and finance student Angel Moyo initially enrolled in the intensive unit to gain 25 credit points and reduce her workload during the semester.
By the end of the week, however, the experience had given her far more than she expected.
鈥淢y thinking has been challenged. I鈥檝e learned to adopt new perspectives and to view problems through a different lens,鈥� Angel reflected.
She spoke about the complexity and fragility of the systems that hold societies together, as well as the impact individual and collective decisions can have on communities.
The experience also strengthened her ability to collaborate, manage disagreements and work with people from different backgrounds and disciplines.
鈥淭hese are skills I unfortunately never learned in my concrete or steel design units, but skills that I will carry through my degree, my career and probably the rest of my life,鈥� she shared.
For Angel, one of the most important lessons was recognising that learning extended far beyond the classroom.
鈥淪ome of the most important lessons come from the people we meet, the experiences we share and the world beyond our own,鈥� she concluded.
鈥淲e are forever learning, and that is a privilege.鈥�
Building a better future together
The Global Futures Challenge: After War gave students the opportunity to move beyond theory and apply their knowledge to some of the most difficult questions facing communities around the world.
While no single project could resolve the complexity of post conflict reconstruction, the challenge demonstrated what can happen when students are given the space to listen, collaborate and think boldly.
Through their 25 projects, students considered not only how communities might rebuild, but how they might create societies that are more resilient, inclusive and peaceful. The challenge reinforced that rebuilding after war is not simply about returning to what existed before. It is about imagining what could come next.
