Talks & Events
The talks and events stream of EWB-Bristol has always been at the frontline of our activities here at Bristol, organising talks, presentations, workshops and education sessions.
Recent events in 2008
March 4th: From concrete to communities
Jim Welch
Jim described some of his recent work and travels and asked us to consider, given that he now works mostly with people and not with technical specifications, whether he is still an engineer.
We looked specfically at the Socio-Technical Evolutionary Cycle and how engineering innovation is potentially inseperable from the evolution of society.
It was particularly good to be reminded that Engineering, like the work of the Fire Brigade, is important in the short and long term. When Engineers get involved with development, they should be looking both to respond to immediate problems and to provide long-term support in campaigns, training and research, so that others are enabled to respond to the immediate problems themselves.
February 28th: Earthquake-resistant housing in Nepal
Dr Suby Bhattacharya
Suby outlined an undergraduate research project (which he supervised at Oxford) that won a Mondialogo award. The aim of the project was principally to delay, rather than prevent, the collapse of adobe buildings. Polypropylene meshing was used to prevent the walls from disintegrating at the same rate, and a video from a shake-table in Pakistan demonstrated how effective this could be.
Questions focused around the lifetime of the polypropylene meshing, cost, and the possiblity of elastic meshing.
We also watched a video from CNN where one of the Undergraduates talks about an EWB placement he is about to begin, and learnt that EWB is still pursuing this work through a placement for the summer of 2008.
It was fantastic to see what can be achieved by an undergraduate research project, and we encourage all Bristol students to look at the projects available through EWB.
February 12th: Pipes, pupusas & pickup trucks: Building sanitary systems in El Salvador
Sally Guscott
Sally Guscott, a student at Bristol last year, shared with us some of the design features and challenges from her summer placement with REDES in El Salvador.
The aim of the project was to construct simple systems for the disposal of greywater, which is the waste water from activities such as cooking and showering- it does not include the waste from toilets. The team supervised the construction of several systems which in some cases incorporated existing water tanks and shower bases, and in other cases necessitated their construction. Each system was connected in to a grease trap which could be easily cleaned by the beneficiary, and a 6 metre deep absorption well containing a sand filter, which enabled the absorption of the water in to the ground.
We were particularly interested in Sally´s description of the absorption wells and the potential risks involved in their construction. This raised awareness of the different contexts in which EWB-UK volunteers may find themselves working, and the different attitudes to health, safety and risk which they may encounter, compared to the UK.
Events in 2007 and earlier
Based on an extract from the EWB-Bristol AGM 2007, reviewing the Autumn Term 2007.
To begin the search for young engineers passionate about development, EWB-Bristol started this academic year with a presentation from Ian Baggs and Eddy Matos to all the freshers entering the faculty, kindly made possible by Professor Nick Lieven; this helped us gain over 130 new members at the Union Fresh event.
The term kicked off on October 18th with a talk from 4th year student Eddie Matos, about his EWB placement building water systems in rural Ecuador last summer. Those who came gained a fantastic insight to Eddy s experiences, as he explained with clarity and humour the challenges he faced, both technically and politically as well as addressing controversial questions such as should we have been out there at all?
November 1st saw the showing of the Oscar winning film 'An Inconvenient Truth' by Al Gore; the event was a big success, and at least thirty people attended including members of Bristol Unplugged and Bristol U8 societies.
On Saturday the 17th of November, we hosted two sessions of a workshop given by Andrew Lamb. Andrew works for the organisation RedR (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief) and is a former CEO of EWB-UK. His workshop, Principles of Humanitarianism , powerfully demonstrated the dangers involved with humanitarian relief work, and how if we don t know what we're doing, we can end up doing a lot more damage than good.
Monday 26th November saw the arrival of the EWB Photo Exhibition in Bristol, opened in style with a Monday morning cake sale, courtesy of the Fundraising team. The display provided an opportunity for people to literally see how EWB placement students have got their hands dirty and made a difference in the past.
3rd year student Mariam Niknejad spoke about her experiences with the Shelter Centre Project in Cambridge on Thursday December 6th. This NGO has an unusual approach to Humanitarian Aid by concentrating on improving procedures rather than any one implementation of them. Shelter Centre continues to offer placements with EWB.
If you have any questions about an upcoming event please contact us and we'll hopefully answer your query!