Engineers Without Borders UK

Our first walking tour of Fixing Factory is a wrap. Next stop: The Felix Project in a week tomorrow. This is your invitation - use your Friday morning to challenge your thinking about Climate Action! What you’ll do: ▶️ Get behind the scenes in an industrial scale surplus food rescue and redistribution depot ▪️ There’s nothing like facing a tower of waste vegetables to motivate action around the scale of waste and what can be done ▶️ Explore transformative green skills including #collaboration and navigating #complexity ▪️ It's obvious that The Felix Project have some serious skills as they navigate complexity in the wider food system, what’s less obvious is how this permeates through every level of the organisation ▶️ Take part in a quickfire workshop to connect those skills to your own situation ▪️ Transformative green skills can be sidelined as nice to have - especially when pitched against ‘hard’ technical skills (please don’t say soft skills anyone). Spoiler - they’re critical to a sustainable future - plus even LinkedIn agrees they’re in demand (see comments). Where and when: 🗓️ Friday 4th April, 9:30-11:30 am ▶️ Sign up here https://lnkd.in/ePYFYM7A Can’t make our in-person dates? Join our ‘spring edition’ wrap-up session https://lnkd.in/ec8vJksU or follow First Hand to keep an eye on our progress as we scale the programme. #GreenSkills #SDG12 #FoodWaste Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming Feedback London Councils London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Back in January we launched the first ever UK Chapter Design Challenge for Engineers Without Borders UK - and what a success it was! When I joined the EWB UK team as a Student Champion in September, one of my goals was to support the university chapters in engaging with design and engineering challenges. Little did I know this would lead to us creating a brand new design challenge! What began as an idea in discussions at Building Community Leaders in October became a reality this term, strengthening our chapter network and inspiring students to tackle critical engineering challenges. Earlier this month, the finals were hosted by Engineers Without Borders Warwick, bringing together 11 chapters from across the UK to pitch their ideas. As a pitching judge, it was inspiring to see the creativity, variety and innovation from the teams. Huge congratulations to CSGUoL Engineers Without Borders for taking home the very first trophy! A massive thank you to Modupe Jimoh, Tim Wilson and Mairéad Reid for giving up their Saturday to lead the judging, my fellow Student Champions, Alessia Morris Gouveia, Yaviin Jayasoma and Kayley Thacker, for supporting the event and the EWB Warwick chapter for hosting a fantastic day. Most importantly, thank you to Jonathan Gunaseelan for making it all happen, whose perseverance and determination turned this idea into reality in such a short space of time! The event was a brilliant showcase of inter-chapter collaboration, and I can't wait to see the UK Chapter Design Challenge grow year after year! Read more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/eQViaPfR

In case you missed it: the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge 2024-25 Grand Final, in collaboration with Engineers Without Borders UK, will take place on Thursday 26 June! The highly-anticipated annual Grand Final is the culmination of the hard work of students who took part in this year's competition, showcasing some of their incredible innovations. At the event, we will honour the most innovative and impactful submissions with awards. With a panel discussion on the achievements of the Challenge and a keynote speaker (to be announced), this is an event not to be missed! Sign up here:  https://lnkd.in/e2iVMYVB #EnergyAccess #Innovation #Sustainability #CleanEnergy #EfficiencyForAccess Energy Saving Trust Engineers Without Borders UK CLASP IKEA Foundation Transforming Energy Access 

From the classroom to shaping the education of students at a national level. I had the privilege of being a lead judge at the inaugural Engineers Without Borders UK Chapter Design Challenge Finals at the University of Warwick on the first day of March, and here is the back story: A couple of years ago, I was tasked with redeveloping an engineering interdisciplinary module titled "Technology in International Development." After putting together the foundational knowledge for the module and moving to the assessment, I wanted it to represent the module as much as possible with a real-life design. I found the Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB)'s Engineering for People's Design Challenge (EfP) and incorporated it into the assessment. The students loved being a part of the challenge. Moving forward to 2023, the focus of the EfP was on the challenges of the Govan community in Scotland. Two teams of my students qualified for the final, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland. They loved the knowledge and experience so much that they wanted to share it with others. They approached me with the idea of tweaking it for the EWB student chapter (society), and I gave them the guidance and signposting needed. Fast forward to November 2024. They held a regional competition for Universities in Coventry and Birmingham, and I was asked to be a lead judge and speaker. It was a successful program, and I was happy for the students. In February of this year, I received an email from EWB indicating that the initiative had been taken up nationally and that the University of Warwick was hosting the inaugural edition. I was also asked to be a lead judge, alongside Mairéad Reid and Tim Wilson, at the completion. EWB Student chapters from eleven universities competed. City University CSGUoL Engineers Without Borders won, with the University of Warwick Chapter (https://lnkd.in/ePm_M2Es) as the runner-up. It was indeed a lovely day, and the Warwick team hosted well. What has resonated with me the most is that as educators, beyond teaching, we inspire, and that tiny seed sown in one person can end up as a giant tree with multiple branches. #Therippleeffect Here is Engineers Without Borders UK's blog about the event: https://lnkd.in/eMfExw4d School of Engineering, University of Warwick, #UKChapterDesignChallenge #GloballyResponsibleEngineering, #EngineeringEducation

I'm really looking forward to joining Engineers Without Borders UK this Thursday in London for an exciting opportunity to shape the future of engineering education and practice. It would be great if others in my network could get involved - it's important we bring all voices and experiences to this discussion including those from technical and vocational education and apprenticeships. There are two ways to get involved: 🔧 Systems Change Lab (Afternoon) A dynamic, action-focused community dedicated to transforming engineering for 2025 and beyond. If you’re committed to reshaping the profession and turning bold ideas into reality, this is where it starts. 🔄 System Reboot (Evening) Not your usual community gathering! Expect interactive activities and collaboration, all focused on systems thinking and the future of engineering. This is a crucial moment to bring together perspectives from all areas of engineering education – let’s drive meaningful change together. 📅 Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/ezEryfVA If you can't make it this week but are interested, please fill out the registration form so you can hear about future events. The National Network of Institutes of Technology University College Birmingham Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology #EngineeringEducation #SystemsThinking #TechnicalEducation #Apprenticeships #SystemsChangeLab #SystemReboot