Changemakers
About Us → Our People → Changemakers
We are a passionate, collaborative community working together to facilitate positive, sustainable change across the engineering and design sectors. Meet some of our inspiring Members and learn about the changemakers behind EWB.
Gavin Blakey OAM
Asset Engineering Manager Brisbane City Council
EWB Board Member“I’m often asked, is Engineers Without Borders only for engineers? The answer is no, we need people with a range of experiences as the most potent change comes from people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience working together.
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Karen Cox
Operations Engineer with Inside Infrastructure in Adelaide
Engineering on Country Program Co-ordinator EWB SAI think it is very important for Non-Aboriginal Australians to develop a better level of understanding of Aboriginal history and culture.
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Natalie Tridgell
EWB Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnership Coordinator, University of Sydney“I never realised [before my studies] that programming is really important for development and you can use these skills to help people."
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Henry Spry
High School Outreach Coordinator SA
“We are not short of technical knowledge,” Henry explains, “we just need to get it to the people who need it the most so they can use it.”
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Daniel Sneddon
Local Partnerships Manager, Vic Region
Biomedical Engineering Studentthe most I have ever learnt about how the world works is when I learn about developing countries
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Matheesha Gunaratne
EWB Volunteer and Summer InternFrom inspiring rural students to inspiring change on a grander scale, Matheesha believes “small steps locally is the best way to do it, not trying to change the world in one foul swoop…
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James Hudson
EWB Volunteer
Civil Engineering/International Studies studentJames hopes to do an overseas placement with EWB so he can “use his expertise on the ground” before fashioning a career out of field development work.
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Rita Chandra
EWB Victorian Region Secretary“My father has always said “no matter what you do, always help those less fortunate around you’”
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Dan A'Vard
EWB VolunteerDan believes that “if we want to make meaningful and lasting change, it needs to be done as a community, not as an individual.”
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Hamish Banks
International Field Volunteer
Civil and Structural EngineerI loved the opportunity to really use my skills as an engineer to assist those in need, and the sixteen months in Dili were some of the most exciting, challenging and satisfying of my life.
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Kaj Lofgren
EWB Board Member
Director, School of Life MelbourneThere is a significant human power to engineering and EWB provides a vital humanitarian heartbeat to the profession.
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Monica Chong
International Program OfficerI realised I wanted to contribute more to developing communities, but thought you needed technical experience and had to be a doctor, nurse or engineer…the experience inspired me to figure out what a more meaningful career path would look like.
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Bryan Timmons
Monthly Donor“change comes from making people feel they own a project and have a stake in it. You can’t impose things on people; they have to have a sense of ownership. In working by agreement within communities, Engineers Without Borders (EWB) creates buy in and this is very powerful."
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Claire Dixon
GHD Innovation Leader - Victoria“Storytelling is important to bring people on the journey as you need to influence both the head and the heart to create passion and commitment for change.”
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Gabrielle McGill
GHD Process Engineer
International Volunteer Alumni and past President Sydney Region“It would be great if every engineer engaged with the idea of humanitarian engineering,” Gab explains, “as it can change your fundamental perception of what you are trying to do as an engineer if you think about the people who will be affected by the work you do.
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Professor Caroline Baillie
Chair of Engineering Education
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, UWACaroline’s current role is focused on enhancing student learning and education, and she is also researching how science and engineering can come together to solve social and environmental problems.
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"When you join EWB you are part of a very driven, active community of change makers and leaders, and being around people working on initiatives that can make drastic change is very inspiring"
- Dan A'vard, EWB Member