Blog
Stories from EWB Australia
A toilet that works underwater? Flood-affected sanitation in rural Cambodia
We’re living in the golden age of toilet design. It sounds like a weird thing to say but the idea of an inside toilet that immediately flushes waste away through a series of underground pipes is the kind of thing that would blow the minds of people living just 100...
Beyond the classroom: Victoria’s transformative trip to Cambodia
Since 2015, EWB’s Humanitarian Design Summits have created transformative learning experiences like no other. Designed for undergraduate engineering students, these study tours challenge thinking, push boundaries, and create first-hand understanding of just how...
A message from EWB CEO, Eleanor Loudon
As Eleanor wraps up six years as EWB Chief Executive Officer this month, she shares some reflections about her experience leading the organisation over the years: An Indigenous elder on an island in Kratie, Cambodia, once took me aside and asked directly, what can...
Navigating the tides: Saibai Island’s battle against climate change
In 2024, the First Nations context for the EWB Challenge will be delivered in partnership with Torres Strait Island Regional Council. Torres Strait Island Regional Council is Australia's most northerly municipality, representing 15 unique island communities, spread...
The Handi-Plough tool has one simple job: to empower Cambodian women farmers
In Cambodia, nearly 80% of people live rurally and many operate small farms to feed their families and generate income. These agricultural holdings are often run, and worked, by women who face unique challenges in the field. EWB engineers Mengheang Hak, Mitch Horrocks...
Volunteer adventures in Vanuatu: Sadia’s life-changing year abroad
When Sadia Abdullah arrived in Vanuatu, the first thing she noticed was the heat and the humidity. The second was how friendly everyone was, and the strong sense of community.
Sadia flew into Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, in August 2022. Months earlier, she was at home in Sydney under tight COVID restrictions and eager to go anywhere outside her living room. Now, just a three-hour flight from Sydney, she was in beautiful Vanuatu, a country she knew almost nothing about a few months prior — just “that it was a dot in the Pacific”. Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands with a population of around 300,000 people, located east of Australia on a similar latitude to Cairns.
Global travels and local impact – Bea Duffield’s volunteering journey
Bea Duffield isn’t an engineer, but her experience spans almost everything else. From her academic background in scientific research to her career across both private enterprise and government sector, she has worked in a range of diverse fields including resource development, communications and marketing, policy, and infrastructure development. Her varied career has taken her across the globe, from her home base in Brisbane to Vietnam, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.
Announcing our 2024 EWB Challenge community partner – Torres Strait Island Regional Council
Each year, over 10,000 first-year university students across Australia and New Zealand participate in the EWB Challenge. Students work in teams to develop a solution to challenges identified by EWB Australia’s community-based partners. We are excited to announce that...
Remote field visits, tuk-tuk commutes, and fish amok: a year in the life of an Australian volunteer
Water, risk, and sustainability engineer Nicole Locke had always wanted to work overseas but there had never been a good time to do it. She graduated into a difficult job market and was lucky enough to find a position with Water Corporation in Perth. Fast forward a few years to 2019 and Nicole was considering her next move.
“I was talking to a mentor and she said, you’ve always thought about going overseas and volunteering,” Nicole said. “’Why don’t you just do it?’ I thought—well, why not?”
Congratulations to the 2023 EWB Challenge Showcase award winners
Each year, the EWB Challenge Showcase brings together top university student teams from across Australia and New Zealand, EWB staff, our community partner representatives, and industry. Students present the most innovative, community-centred design ideas developed in response to the EWB Challenge Design Brief, and all event participants celebrate a year of learning, focused work, and collaboration. This year’s EWB Challenge Showcase saw students, academics, judges, and EWB staff from across Australia, New Zealand and Cambodia travel to James Cook University’s Nguma-bada campus in far north Queensland to battle it out for the top spot.
Building resilience to increasing uncertainty: the role of climate-resilient infrastructure
By Peter McArdle (Engineers Without Borders Australia), Anna Saxby (Humanitarian Advisory Group) and Neil Greet (Australian Security Leaders Climate Group) Increasing uncertainty Vanuatu is one of the most at risk countries in the world for natural disasters,...
Inside the Dili Water System Emergency Repair program
The Dili Water System Emergency Repair Program (DWSERP) addressed the catastrophic flood damage to Dili’s water transmission systems wreaked by heavy rains in April 2021. The program, funded by the Australian Government via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, commenced in June 2021 and concluded in June 2023. EWB Australia, along with its program partners, played a key role in providing technical support, concept design, advice and delivery of multidisciplinary engineering to repair and stabilise major sections of Dili’s water system. The project was a wonderful opportunity for EWB to display its ability to engage in emergency infrastructure recovery projects. With the project now complete, the project team shared some of their reflections.
Empathy, power and advocacy: how photovoice is transforming EWB’s qualitative data collection
A picture says a thousand words. And for our team on the ground, those words hold the power to transform the way we approach our work. At EWB Australia, collecting quantitative data is an essential part of our monitoring and evaluation process. We rely on numbers to...
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...
Engineer by profession, engineer in spirit
Picture this; you’re an undergraduate university student working on your first introductory engineering assignment where you are required to draw a bridge for a remote village in Cambodia. Or you are a Master’s student designing a HVAC system for households in Nepal, with variable temperature, pressure, and elevation levels to consider. University teaches you the basics – the software, the calculations, and how to write the report at the end – but how can you be sure that it’s fit for purpose in those locations? Do you really need to understand the socio-technical and cultural aspects of building something for a community you might never visit?
Building a reliable water supply for the residents of Darlau, Timor-Leste
In Darlau, a village in Timor-Leste, collecting water was until recently a slow and physically demanding task. Every day, residents would trek to the only springwater supply and carry buckets back up a steep hill. This job was generally done by women and children – a round trip that could take up to 2 hours, and in extreme heat during summer.
‘Impactful Futures’ Immersives return on Lama Lama Country
‘Look, listen, learn’ was the mantra of Traditional Owners on Lama Lama Country during EWB’s Impactful Futures Immersive in July, which took participants on a journey through the tropical landscapes and cultural sites of Cape York for a week. By observing and attuning themselves to the sights, sounds and voices around them, participants were able to experience a deep immersion in the culture and history of Lama Lama Country.
Inaugural Indigenous-led Youth Outreach program kicks off in Far North Queensland
A new place-based Outreach program – designed by Indigenous people for Indigenous young people – was recently piloted in a small community in Far North Queensland in collaboration with Engineers Australia’s Indigenous Engineers Group and Yintjingga Aboriginal Corporation, with the goal to inspire and support the next generation of Indigenous Engineers.
Engineering partnerships critical for progress: the case at Rawa
Over the past four years, Rawa Community School - one of Australia’s most remote Aboriginal Independent Schools, located on the edge of Great Sandy Desert in the Pilbara Region of WA on Warnman and Manyjilyjarra Country - has been working on improving the decline of...
Piloting handwashing stations in rural Cambodian schools
Many school children in Cambodia do not have access to appropriate sanitation facilities, particularly in rural areas where a third of schools lack adequate hygiene facilities with soap and water. The link between sanitation and education became especially apparent...
Exploring opportunities for native plants at the ‘Nguluway’ Local Design Summit
The cultivation of native grains through careful land management was once central to Aboriginal life. However, following colonisation, the shift to European foods and farming methods damaged native grasslands and reduced biodiversity.
At Nguurruu farm, 40 minutes north of Canberra, Murray Prior is working with Ngambri custodians to implement regenerative farming practices and revive native foods and land management. Farming practices at Nguurruu are informed by Indigenous knowledges and seek to restore biodiversity and reverse ecological damage.
The second iteration of the EWB ACT Chapter’s ‘Nguluway’ Local Design Summit, held earlier this year in collaboration with Nguurruu farm, gave university students and industry professionals a firsthand insight into regenerative farming practices on Country.
Drones, disasters and design – new STEM outreach for regional classrooms
It’s a sad reality: regional students all too often miss out on important educational opportunities that their peers in the city get to enjoy. When it comes to STEM outreach, many programs are run out of capital cities, which means regional school students can easily...
A climate resilient and community-led solution to sanitation challenges in Vanuatu
For environmental activist David Kalsal, fishing and swimming in the Emten Lagoon on Vanuatu’s Efate Island has always been a part of local life for him and his family. In recent years however, the lagoon has also become an indicator of how climate change and sanitation challenges are impacting his community.
The Erakor Bridge community lies on the edge of the Emten Lagoon and is home to approximately 200 residents. The community consists of low-lying areas with a high groundwater table, meaning the area is especially vulnerable to cyclones and frequent flooding during periods of heavy rainfall. As a result of flooding and inadequate household sanitation systems, swimming and fishing is no longer safe for the community due to high levels of e.coli bacteria detected in the lagoon.
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