Ansys Academic Social Impact Audit Tool Application
In product design, the impact of a product throughout its life cycle can be assessed in many ways. The sustainability of a product is considered to have three core dimensions or capitals: planet (natural capital), people (human and social capital), and prosperity (manufacturing/economic capital). Recently, interest has grown in training students to understand the human and social aspects of sustainability, for instance using Social Life Cycle Assessment.
The Ansys Academic Social Impact Audit Tool (SIAT) application is an interactive tool designed to be used alongside Ansys Granta EduPackTM, a teaching software for materials education, helping students explore social sustainability by evaluating potential social impact on a nation-level scale using a variety of data visualizations. Based on a previous Excel tool (2019, Mike Ashby et.al.), this app was designed to help improve students' understanding of concepts related to Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). Users can compare different product life cycles to identify strategies for mitigating the social impact of a product.
The SIAT application is in-line with the UN Social-LCA guidelines 2009, 2020 as well as the Social Life Cycle Performance Assessment (S-LCPA) methodology in ISO 14075.
Learning Outcomes
- Examine potential socio-economic impact of product-related decisions.
- Evaluate socio-economic data visualisations and explore different scenarios.
- Examine sustainability impacts in conjunction with the Sustainability Database and Eco Audit Tool in the Ansys Granta EduPack software
Requirements
This application is only available to educators with a current Ansys Granta EduPack license.
The data used in the Social Impact Tool is sourced from publicly available sources. Users may calibrate the ranking and importance of such data at their discretion. Ansys makes no representation or warranty to the accuracy of the data or the ranking of the relative criteria.
Related Resources
Social Life-Cycle Assessment and Social Impact Audit Tool White Paper
Applicable Courses
- Materials and sustainable development
- Engineering for Sustainable Development
- Sustainable Design and Construction
- Sustainable Systems Engineering
- Sustainability for Industrial Design
Downloadable Content
- Application installation files
- User Guide
