Impact Stories
Making change happen across Australia and Asia Pacific.
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?”
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?”
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?
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...