Our guest today is Alison Stoakley from Engineers Without Borders Australia.

Engineers Without Borders Australia is a member-based community organisation with 15 years experience mobilising engineering skills and knowledge to ensure everyone has access to essential services and infrastructure.

Founded in 2003, EWB Australia's vision is for everyone to have access to the engineering knowledge and resources they need to lead a life of opportunity, free from poverty.

The organisation partners with education, industry leaders, social entrepreneurs and community development specialists to foster the knowledge, skills & opportunities that empower engineers and communities to engineer a better world for everyone.

Originally from the US, Alison graduated from the University of California, Davis with a degree in civil and environmental engineering and a thousand sparks of ideas around what kind of positive impact engineering might have in the world.

In 2011, she moved to Melbourne to pursue an interdisciplinary Master of Environments degree that allowed her to kindle those sparks and now, as an Engineering Education Officer at EWB, she is able to continue these conversations every day.

In this chat with Professor Euan Lindsay from CSU Engineering, Alison chats about her 'greenfield' - the EWB Challenge program that partners with universities in Australia and New Zealand, and community partners at Engineers Without Borders.

"Through this platform we're able to create really interesting real-world design projects identified by communities that students can learn through and also come up with really creative ideas to address," says Alison.

The EWB Challenge was first trialed in 2007 and since then has grown and become embedded in the curriculum at universities. The program currently engages 9000 students across 28 universities in Australia and New Zealand, including CSU Engineering.

LEARN MORE:

• EWB Australia website
• EWB Australia on Twitter
• EWB Australia on Facebook
• EWB Australia on YouTube