The EWB Influencer Fellowship is a transformative mentorship program that individually supports students who have already displayed a particular drive and commitment to using their skills to address inequality, sustainability and peace. Now in its second year, five outstanding students have just been announced as the 2021 fellows.
This year, the inaugural Influence for Peace Fellowships are supported by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW) Australia, enabling three scholarships for exceptional students completing their final year at one of EWB’s ten strategic university partners. These Fellowships have been designed to empower engineers to explore how their skills can be used to prevent, rather than perpetuate, the harms of war and militarism.
MAPW is a national network of health professionals working to prevent the harms of war, and is the founder of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The three students who have each been awarded an ‘Influence for Peace’ scholarship are:
- Bec Micallef – RMIT, Sustainable Systems Engineering & Industrial Design
- Ally Moodie – Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Civil Engineering (Honours)
- Adele van der Winden – QUT, Civil Engineering (Honours)
Elise West, MAPW Executive Officer, said, “Technology can be a powerful force for peace, but the industries that perpetuate insecurity and conflict are major recruiters of engineers. In Australia, major weapons companies are shaping the STEM education ecosystem – from as early as primary school.
We’re delighted to provide a counterweight to their influence through our partnership with EWB. We look forward to supporting students to build fruitful careers that address our greatest social challenges and contribute to lasting peace and human security. MAPW thanks our generous donor who has made these Influence for Peace Fellowships possible.”
Two additional students are also supported by two of EWB’s valued university partners – the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Australian National University (ANU). These universities partner with EWB to support student education across a number of initiatives, including curriculum embedded real-world research and engaging student-led Chapters that activate grassroots activity, including school outreach workshops.
The two students who have been awarded these scholarships are:
- Emily Gerrard – UTS, Structural Engineering
- Yafet Bereket Araya – ANU, Mechanical and Renewable Energy Engineering
The EWB Influencer Fellowship seeks to foster a network of progressive graduates helping to reform practice and culture in the engineering sector, creating a more diverse human-centred sector supporting equitable and sustainable development. Over two semesters, fellowship students receive professional mentoring training (supported by development mentoring partner WhyDev) and education, which helps skills-development and the building of the networks needed to help them influence the changes they want to see in the world.
“Australia needs to be producing innovative, capable and motivated engineering graduates who have an understanding of the complex challenges of our world, and a willingness to enact change. In its inaugural year last year, fellows reported feeling much more confident in creating and leading opportunities for engineering to have a positive social and environmental impact. They feel able to shape a career that truly reflects their values. The Influencer Fellowship is the bookend to EWB’s deep student engagement pathway, and gives our fellows an incredibly empowering platform to kick-off their professional journey,” said Eleanor Loudon, CEO, EWB.