Humanitarian Design Summit
Travel overseas and learn how to work with real communities through human centered design and development approaches. View upcoming summitsThe EWB Australia Humanitarian Design Summit is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an immersive learning experience outside the classroom. Over 28 days, you’ll push your boundaries, gain insights into best-practice community development, and appreciate the role engineering plays in creating positive change. You won’t come back the same person (in a good way).
Humanitarian Design Summits are four-week professional immersives that provide participants with experience in:
- Humanitarian engineering skills and insights
- Appropriate technology best-practice
- Designing in resource constrained environments
- Working with community and clients on needs analysis and problem definition
- Evaluating solutions including maintenance, materials and cost
- Rapid prototyping and development
- Client engagement and communication
- Cross-cultural engagement, teamwork and project management.
Participation in the Design Summit program is secured by your deposit and program fee, which varies between programs (up to $7500).
Students attending the EWB Humanitarian Design Summit program may be eligible for financial assistance through their university. Common methods of funding Design Summit participation include:
- Self-funding
- OS-HELP Loans
- New Colombo Plan (NCP) Scholarships
- Other university scholarships and grants
For university specific information, see our ‘EWB Design Summit Eligibility, Work Experience, Academic Credit & Funding Guide‘. We aim to keep this up to date however things do change, so contact your university’s study abroad or global mobility offices for complete and latest information.
Check the eligibility requirements for specific funding options. Some funding will only be available if the Design Summit counts towards mandatory work experience or or other credit requirements.
Terms and conditions are available here.
Upcoming trips
Cambodia
Engineering for Equitable Climate Transitions
Dates: 22nd June – 19th July 2025
Location: Siem Reap, Phnom Penh
Price: $7500*
*with successful NCP funding, the out of pocket fee will be $1,500 plus airfare costs
Applications close 20 March 2025.
Cambodia
Engineering for Climate and Communities
Dates: January/February 2026
Location: Siem Reap
Price: $7500*
*with successful NCP funding, the out of pocket fee will be $1,500 plus airfare costs
Applications are not open yet.
Vanuatu
Engineering for Disaster Recovery Resilience
Dates: June/July 2026
Location: Port-Vila, Vanuatu
Price: $7500*
*with successful NCP funding, the out of pocket fee will be $1,500 plus airfare costs
Applications are not open yet.
Experience
Living and working in the heart of a community, you’ll gain more than just professional skills and a deep understanding of what it means to be an humanitarian engineer. See how the Humanitarian Design Summit has been a life-changing experience for some of our past participants.
Students to date
Universities
“We were lucky enough to become a part of the family. Observing and helping in day to day tasks such as cooking or farming gave us an insight into the inventiveness of our communities. As a result, the human centred design process and strength based approach made its way off the paper and became apparent in front of us through talking, doing and observing.”
Our Community Partners
The EWB Design Summit partners with local non-government organisations to promote and facilitate two-way knowledge sharing. Together with our community partners, we strive to facilitate meaningful and lasting change through a shared learning experience.
Three Sisters Nepal
Three Sisters is a women-owned company that specialises in providing female guides and assistants for various tours in Nepal and the region. They were established in 1994 and since then have trained over 2,000 female guides. They have established an NGO called Empowering Women of Nepal (EWN), providing training to women so that they may have the skills to determine their own future. For more information visit Three sisters.
Timor Unearthed
Timor Unearthed is a Dili-based company that facilitates educational travel programs and tourism development projects in Timor-Leste. Founded in 2017, Timor Unearthed programs provide opportunities for local tourism workers to gain training and practical experience in the tourism industry, which is a key industry for Timor-Leste’s sustainable development plan.
Cambodian Rural Development Team
Design Summit Stories
Meet our Futur-neers: Chelsea Hayward 19 May, 2022 - Feature image: Chelsea picking coffee beans in Railaco, Timor Leste during her time volunteering as a mentor on a Humanitarian Design Summit trip in July 2018. Nurse. Farmer. Social worker.… read more
Student research leads to award-winning thesis 9 December, 2020 - In 2019, as a final year Systems Engineering student at the Australian National University (ANU), Liam Highmore was accepted into EWB’s Research Challenge – the final-year offering in the EWB… read more
EWB wins award for engineering education excellence 9 December, 2020 - The Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) has recognised EWB and its University partners team for engineering excellence for the Humanitarian Design Summits in the Engineering Education Engagement category. The… read more