Science is about creation of knowledge that has external validity. Engineering is about creating new and useful things using natural phenomena. Engineering Science is about creating scientific knowledge with which to inform and improve engineering practice. The talk will take a quick tour of the variety of research carried out under the broad umbrella of engineering science, and provide an overview of the goals and nature of engineering science, before delving into the main theme of the talk: what might be some of the heuristics of how to carry out quality research in engineering science? Using cases from both natural and engineering sciences including its youngest aspect - design science - the talk will illustrate some of these heuristics that seem to have been at work in the making of impactful discoveries and inventions in engineering science.

Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti led for 10 years the Design Synthesis team at the EPSRC Centre for Excellence on Engineering Design at University of Cambridge before joining CPDM IISc as Associate Professor. He works in design creativity, eco-design and product informatics. He authored 9 books, 250+ peer-reviewed articles, 8 patents granted/pending. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engg Designers (IED), UK, the first recipient from Asia to receive this highest honour by the IED for outstanding contribution to engineering design and its education.