Blog
Stories from EWB Australia
How traditional sand filtration methods are solving complex engineering problems in Cambodia
As the Mekong River ambles south from its origin in the Sanjianyuan nature reserve in China, it passes through Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand before arriving in Cambodia where it fractures into winding ribbons that create islands in the flow. The people of Koh Tnoat...
A climate resilient and community-led solution to sanitation challenges in Vanuatu
Caption: A launch ceremony for the Erakor Bridge community toilet held in October 2022. The ceremony was attended by community partners including the Vanuatu Ministry of Health, the Vanuatu Society for People with Disability, the Shefa Provincial Government Council,...
Meet our Futur-neers: Eve Visser
Caption: EWB ACT Chapter Member, Eve Visser, gliding with the Richmond Gliding Club. As a high school student, Eve Visser was told by a career advisor that she shouldn’t consider university. However, Eve was determined not to let this dissuade her. She took it as...
Scoping for best-practice
Much has been written about the EWB Challenge—our ground-breaking, first-year University program, now in its 13th year. Embedded into the curriculum of 28 Australian and New Zealand Universities (and adopted by EWB organisations around the world), the EWB Challenge...
Water shortage solution for Cambodian families
4 EWB Field Professional volunteers placed with RWC since 2015 Underground rainwater tank pilot tested in 10 households (57 individuals total) Over 20 RWC staff and interns capacity strengthened Climate change has brought about significant drought and rain-scarcity...
Link Research Symposium 2019
On Monday 2nd December RMIT kindly hosted our annual Link Research Symposium. The Symposium is the closing event of the year where students engaged in the research program present their findings to staff, peers and members of the engineering education community. It...
ATEC* about to roll out first PAYGO-tech for biodigesters and expand across Asia
ATEC* Biodigesters (ATEC), an Australian Social Enterprise, has raised US$1,600,000 in a Series-B equity round to rollout the world’s first PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) model for biodigesters as well as to expand its operations from Cambodia to Bangladesh. The investment was...
Workshopping the new national guiding principles for sanitation in Cambodia
A key focus of our recent work in Cambodia has been the development of National Guiding Principles on Sanitation in Challenging Environments for Rural Households, a highly consultative process involving government (national and provincial), NGOs, UNICEF, WHO,...
How demonstration toilets inform the socialisation of Vanuatu’s sanitation and hygiene guidelines
On Vanuatu’s 85 islands, many people live in challenging sanitation environments, including areas that are drought or flood-prone, coastal, on hard rock, with high groundwater or in difficult social contexts. Sanitation issues in Vanuatu are exacerbated by natural...
Teach a girl to fish
Erin and the MECCA-M Power grant: Chapter One. On the eve of setting off on my trip to the Torres Strait as part of my undertaking for the MECCA-M Power grant, I’ve been reflecting on how this project is a fantastic synergy of my personal journey. A very strong theme...
Announcing our 2020 EWB Challenge community partner
Each year, the EWB Challenge works alongside a community partner to design a brief that can directly address the challenges of a specific community. For many years we’ve focused this work on our overseas partnerships, with past Challenges exploring solutions for...
The EWB Challenge Series – from first year to post grad
For over a decade, EWB has worked with universities across Australia and New Zealand to deliver the EWB Challenge, engaging emerging engineers (as well as students in associated disciplines) in a range of real-world challenges. Students are entering their careers in...
School Outreach volunteer survey results
School Outreach is the largest program within EWB’s Schools Portfolio reaching approximately 20,000 across Australia annually powered by volunteers from EWB’s chapter and corporate partner network. University chapters are a huge contributor to this program. While the...
Addressing the diversity challenge in education
EWB Australia recently took part in the third Women in Engineering and IT Symposium hosted by UTS and UNSW, a two day initiative that brings together universities across Australia who are working towards increasing the participation of women in STEM degrees,...
Schneider’s Innovation Champions training
What could the role of an organisation like Schneider Electric look like when working with organisations, such as EWB, to reach the last mile - the very end-users in remote communities that are often the most challenging to reach? This question was explored as part of...
The realities of climate change in rural Cambodia
For communities like Koh Thnaot in Cambodia, the impacts of climate change are already being acutely felt. An ever-shortening and inconsistent wet season has cut their rice-harvesting season in half and made agricultural farming unpredictable, forcing the need to...
Eight engineers, eight days, three communities
EWB Australia pilots its new professional skills development program in three remote Cambodian communities. Today’s engineers are working within a rapidly evolving global economy and are required to address issues like climate change, technology emergence, automation,...
Linking technology to my principles of social justice.
Rameen Hayat Malik reflects on a life changing experience, as part of the first ever EWB Australia Design Summit Study Tour to Samoa In July 2017. “For me, there was always a motivation to do something meaningful. I just didn’t quite understand what that looked like...
Bringing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander perspectives into STEM
Chelsea Hayward, supported by the 2017 MECCA M-Power scholarship, travelled to the Torres Strait Islands with a group of volunteers to pilot some new School Outreach resources. “Streaks of yellow and orange fill the sky as the sun sinks below the ocean horizon –...
How do we stop turning our environment into an open sewer?
Stephanie Hamel, WASH Program Manager in Vanuatu with EWB Australia and EWB New Zealand, shares her reflections on sanitation and the global environmental crisis. "For the past three years, I have worked as a Water Sensitive Urban Design/Drainage Officer in an...
School students remind me of ‘the why’
“For me, there was always a motivation to do something meaningful. I just didn’t quite understand what that looked like or how it was to be done." “Streaks of yellow and orange fill the sky as the sun sinks below the ocean horizon – another beautiful sunset to...
Exploring ways to encourage Pro-Bono
How can we encourage Pro Bono services in our industries? This was the question raised at the recent think tank event organised by Engineers without Borders (EWB) and Engineers Australia (EA).During this event participants were given the opportunity to engaged with a...
Kinship and Culture – training promotes understanding
It has been 27 years since the famous handshake between the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and his Opposition counterpart, symbolising a great beginning to the statutory Aboriginal reconciliation process. Yet constitutional and legislative deficiencies in the...
Subscribe to our newsletter
Subscribe to receive The Changemakers, EWB’s monthly newsletter, as well as information about upcoming events, volunteer assignments and career opportunities.