Students to hear how they can engineer a brighter future for developing countries

Students from the Faculty of Engineering are invited to an information night – News

Monday 9 February 2009
By Colin Smith

Imperial College London undergraduates get the chance to see how they can make a difference working on engineering projects around the world by attending an information seminar tonight.

Opportunities for 2009 placements will be announced at the event by representatives of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), a national student-run charity that seeks to improve the lives of people in countries around the world through engineering projects.

Placements typically last between three and 12 months and provide valuable opportunities for students to travel abroad to countries in South America, Europe and Africa.

Imperial undergraduate Richard Cunliffe worked with villagers in Tanzania to build a tank that harvests rainwater from the roof of this church

Participants in the scheme say working abroad enables them to put their academic studies into practice, learn about other cultures, and work on projects that produce real benefits for communities. These include earthquake proofing homes, improved sanitation, clean water plus new irrigation and road networks.

Any student or recent graduate in the UK under the age of 27 can apply to work overseas on a placement. The recruitment process requires candidates to make themselves available for interviews and pre-departure training, with successful volunteers normally having a background in engineering or science.

On the night, students will find out about the placement selection process, how to apply, funding, and practical information about travel and accommodation arrangements. Students will also get the chance to ask questions and speak to other Imperial undergraduates and postgraduates that have taken part in this scheme.

Fourth year mechanical engineering undergraduate and former secretary of Imperial’s EWB branch, Patricia Steven, will be on hand to speak to students about her summer placement in Nepal in 2008.

Ms Steven worked alongside local aid agencies in the city of Kathmandu and the villages of Lekihuni and Reshu to assess the impact of newly installed ovens aimed at reducing indoor air pollution from open fires, which is a major contributor to lung disease including respiratory tract infections, asthma and lung cancer.

Ms Steven says they were able to analyse how effective these stoves were at taking smoke out of the home and offer advice and design adjustments to improve the stove’s efficiency. She adds:

“The Nepalese were great and they accepted us as part of the community while we were there. I experienced first-hand the choking air pollution in some homes that didn’t have these stoves, so I was really proud to be part of a project that was improving the lives of more than 100 families.”

In addition to placements, EWB also partly funds other student led projects via bursaries. Richard Cunliffe, fourth year mechanical engineering undergraduate, received money to further a non-EWB project that he had worked on the year before with his local UK parish in Tanzania. In 2008, EWB part funded him to go back to the town of Tabora to build a tank that harvested rain water from the roof of the church that he had helped to build the year before. He says:

“The bursary provided me with funds to travel to Tabora to do this project and the outcomes were excellent. If managed properly, parishioners will have enough water to last them through the yearly six month dry spell.”

Professor Stephen Richardson, Principal of Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering, says Imperial has been associated with EWB since its inception. He adds:

“Leading businesses are impressed by graduates who have gained as much experience as they can before they enter the workforce. Working in difficult situations enables students to further develop their problem solving skills and it helps them to apply their theoretical knowledge in practical situations. Those are the types of skills that employers are looking for. I encourage our engineering undergraduates and postgraduates to attend this information evening and get involved.”

Imperial’s EWB branch was founded in 2003 by Civil and Environmental Engineering students Alex McCredie and Jannicke Roos. Since then it has gone on to become one of the most active engineering societies at the College, establishing an outreach school programme, and winning awards for summer placement work carried out to earthquake proof homes in El Salvador.

The information session will take place on Monday 9 February in the Mechanical Engineering building in room 3.42 and will start at 5.30pm and finish at 6.30pm. Refreshments will be provided.