Engineers Without Borders Australia

21/08/2026

Give a room of kids some tape, pipes and sponge, and ask them to build a prosthetic leg. Here’s what happens.

First they ask questions. How does a human leg actually work? What does a prosthetic have to do? Why can’t everyone who needs one get one?

Then they get a tight time limit and a single instruction: work together, and build the most stable leg you can.

The room gets loud. Teams argue about the joint. Someone reinforces the wrong part. Tape gets used with real enthusiasm.

Then they test them. Some hold. Some collapse the moment weight goes on. Now they have to work out why, rethink it and go again. That isn’t the lesson going wrong. That’s testing, learning and improving. That’s engineering.

This is one of the hands-on challenges in our STEM Pathways program.

This National Science Week, the theme is Seeds of Science: Nurturing knowledge for all. A future in STEM can start with something very small — a question, an experiment, an idea a young person wants to test.

Someone has to plan the session, pack the tape and pipes, and stand in the room while it folds. People do that across Australia every week. Thank you.

Photographed at the University of Melbourne, at a STEM Pathways session delivered by our EWB chapter there.

29/07/2026

Australia throws out working solar panels every day.
We're giving them a second life. ☀️

Circular Solar has just been named a recipient of the Macquarie Community Resilience Prize, powered by MIT Solve.

Here's what that looks like on the ground: Two refurbished solar systems now power coffee processing in Timor-Leste. Energy costs down 85%. Farmer incomes up by as much as 80%. Less diesel. More freedom.

Same panels. Whole new story.
"This recognition reflects what's possible when communities, partners and industry come together around a shared purpose. This prize will help us scale a model that turns Australia's renewable transition into lasting social, environmental and economic impact." — Russell Shewan, CEO, Engineers Without Borders Australia

Congratulations to our partner Raw Material, and to every other recipient.
Most of all, thank you to the communities leading this work. ❤️

27/07/2026

The next chapter on Lama Lama Country.

This month our team walked Yaakarru (Running Creek) and Rindoparr (Marina Plains) with the Lama Lama community, scoping new visitor facilities that will help Country and community thrive. Here's why it matters: better amenities mean more visitors welcomed safely and more support for Lama Lama Rangers caring for Country, plus economic opportunity for the next generation.

This one is community-led from day one. Elders set the priorities through the Healthy Country Plan, and the design work happens together, on Country. Watch this space!

21/07/2026

"It was my first time on Country. Sitting with community, listening, learning. It was really special, and it taught me things no textbook ever could." — Evelyn Todio, Education Program Coordinator and Environmental Engineer

Something worth celebrating: This month our team headed up to Lama Lama Country in Cape York to check in on the community's new rainwater harvesting tank. And guess what? It's holding its very first full load of wet season rain. We spent the trip listening with the community and making sure the whole system is set up to go the distance. Reliable water on Country is a big deal, and this is just the beginning of the story. Follow along for more on this.



Image descriptions: Aerial view over green bushland and winding waterways from a helicopter, with a text overlay of a quote and title. A person inside the helicopter looking out at the landscape below. Community members standing at the edge of a green waterway with water containers nearby. A wide golden savanna under a big sky with two four-wheel drives and people spread across the plain.

06/07/2026

hello from Vanuatu 👋

The Humanitarian Design Summit is happening right now, and we're taking you along for the ride. Here's the question Week One hands you: how might we design for a system we've never lived in?

Not a brief. Not a spec. Just a question big enough to sit with.
And before anyone reaches for a solution or a prototype, the crew on Engineering for Disaster Recovery & Resilience do the quiet work first — they arrive, they observe, they listen, and they meet the community as the client. That's where you start mapping a socio-technical system from the inside, instead of guessing at it from a lecture theatre back home.

Because Week One was never about answers. It's about learning to ask better questions and getting comfortable sitting in that space of not knowing yet.
28 days. Vanuatu. The questions start here.

Follow along as we take you through the latest summit, straight from the field.

04/07/2026

A toilet isn't just a toilet.

It's a kid back in class. A family that stops worrying. A community that built its own future and owns it.

Thanks to you, our end of financial year appeal raised over $81,000. That means more safe, clean toilets, built with communities across Vanuatu and the Pacific. In homes. In schools. Built together, owned by the community. Thank you to everyone who donated!

04/07/2026

25/06/2026

There's still time. We're in the final days before 30 June, and every donation right now gets us closer to the goal.

A safe hygienic toilet is one of the best things you can give people in countries like Vanuatu, where EWB is supporting local people to improve their health and futures. We're trying to raise $100,000 by 30 June to get more compost toilets to more families, schools and communities.

Please help by clicking here now and making a tax-deductible donation: https://appeal.ewb.org.au/

30 June is also the end of the financial year. Donating today means you can claim it on this year's tax return, and help a family get a safe toilet before time runs out. There's still time to be part of it.

25/06/2026

One immersive. Evidence toward 13 of 16 competencies for CPEng Chartered status.
But the real shift isn't on paper. It's learning to lead complex, cross-cultural work where the textbook runs out: on Country, in Cape York, alongside the communities living it.

Seven days that change how you practise. Bring it on.

23/06/2026

This International Women in Engineering Day, EWB Australia celebrates the women redefining what engineering is for. Engineering is still too often seen as a male-dominated field tackling the world's problems from a distance.

We believe at EWB Australia, it can be something else entirely: creative, collaborative, big-picture, and built alongside the communities most affected.

The breakthroughs we need won't come from technical skill alone - they come from diverse perspectives, honest listening, and the confidence to engineer differently so no-one is left behind. Women are central to that shift. When more women shape the technology of the future, engineering becomes a profession that restores dignity, regenerates the planet, and works for all people. That's a future worth building.

Building a world that works for everyone takes more than technical brilliance. It takes all of us.