Engineers without borders

Helen Aries, Mechanical Engineering with a Year in Industry, shares her experience with Engineers Without Borders.

Our community wants to make a difference through engineering. This is not just a society, but a network of people from across the country supporting each other to work towards global responsibility.

Our "as much or as little as you like" approach is perfect for engineering students because you can get involved with different parts of the society (or every aspect) depending on what you have time for or are interested in.

Projects with impact

There's been so many projects and campaigns that have been so impactful and fun.

The National Designathon gets people from all disciplines across many universities to solve a wide range of problems. It was a great way to make new friends with people while creating open-source ideas that can be used in real life.

The yearly local projects explored the ways we can benefit our local community that can then be expanded on a more national scale. I was involved in a green wall project and a flood defense project.

The Wind Energy Speakers' event was another brilliant campaign to be involved with, encouraging green careers through industry professionals talking about their career paths.

Inspired to make a difference

I wanted to make a difference with the skill set I would hopefully gain through university. None of the other engineering societies really looked at this issue, even though there is increasing scrutiny from governments and industry when it comes to the impact we have on the planet.

When I joined in first year, I felt the community feel and loved the projects and outreach that I got involved with that year. I loved the impact we were making so much so I joined the committee to make an even greater contribution to this work.

Advice to new engineers

If you constantly question what the impacts of the decisions you make are, then you are on the road to global responsibility. The people around you will think differently because they have other experiences and cultures, so having discussion and listening are both extremely important. Speak out if something isn't right and explain why.