At the start of 2021, five students who displayed exceptional drive and commitment to using their skills to address inequality, sustainability and peace were announced as EWB’s 2021 Influencer Fellows.
The EWB Influencer Fellowship is a program to create a network of progressive graduates helping to reform practice and culture in the engineering sector. It seeks to create a more diverse human-centred sector supporting equitable and sustainable development by producing graduate engineers that are able to lead change.
Over two semesters, the Influencer Fellows receive professional mentoring (supported by development mentoring partner WhyDev), training and education, helping them to develop the skills and networks needed for them to influence the changes they want to see in the world.
Bec Micallef, Adele van der Winden and Ally Moodie were awarded the inaugural Influence for Peace scholarships, supported by the Medical Association for the Prevention of War.
Now one semester in, Bec has been reflecting on what she’s learnt so far. Bec says she has found that developing her own theory of change has helped her realise the positive impact she can have on the world from the very beginning of her engineering career.
Adele began her degree wanting to combine civil engineering with her passion for social justice. Now approaching the end of her studies, Adele says she has found great benefit in the industry insight her Influencer Fellowship mentor has shared with her, and has enjoyed discussing the future opportunities in humanitarian engineering that are available to her.
Emily Gerrard and Yafet Bereket Araya were awarded university partner scholarships, supported by EWB’s valued university partners – the University of Technology Sydney and Australian National University.
For Emily, the Influencer Fellowship has revealed the power that engineers have in driving positive social change, and the influence that fresh graduates can have in that process.
Find out more about the EWB Influencer Fellowship and the 2021 Fellows.