Welcome to the first email update from EWB-UK!Regular updates like this will help to keep us all in the loop with the exciting things that are happening at EWB-UK Branches around the country and what the National Executive have been up to in their individual areas. If you have any articles, updates or comments you would like to be included in the next email, please send them to; publicity@ewb-uk.org.Enjoy the update and have a great Christmas break!

EWB-UK Ceo Welcome:                                                                                                 We are proud to be circulating the first of hopefully many EWB-UK Updates thanks to the national Publicity team. We are even more proud to be giving you a taste of the tireless effort made across the country so far this year at all levels of the organisation. Branches, the national teams, the National Executive and the Board of Trustees are all united in mission of facilitating human development through engineering and focussed on what they each do best. 

Look out, in the next term, for the 2008 Placements, for the first round of EWB-UK Bursaries, for the national Research Conference, the Outreach Showcase day, training courses at your nearest EWB-UK branches and national Clare Farm courses, and much more which you can find out about on our brand new website. May you all have a creative and prosperous new year!                                                                                                 

Zareen and Thalia
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News  

The new website is now up, www.ewb-uk.org. Check out the very exciting and informative  Professional Network sections through PN Community, PN Get Involved and PN People and update your details . Any content from the old site may be viewed at http://old.ewb-uk.org   

• New Education coordinator, Winnie Yui, has been appointed for the National Executive, and new Outreach coordinator Irem Serefoglu. They will be joining Chris Cleaver (Placements), Sachi Findlater (Training), Hayley Sharp (Research), Yoke Thye (Bursaries), Andrew Hunt (Branch Support), Andrew Lamb (IT), Nigel Vaz (Fundraising), Ben Taylor (Treasurer), Alistair Cook (Publicity) and me (PN). Read on to hear about their plans for the coming year and see our lovely faces here
  
• Use the search engine www.everyclick.com to raise money for EWB-UK. Its easy! By setting the website as your homepage and specifying the charity you want to fundraise for, money is given to EWB-UK with every search.  
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Recruitment

Employees: The organisation is looking to hire 2 full time employees for the programme areas of Training and Research and 1 part time employee for the Placements programme. More information can be found at http://www.ewb-uk.org/node/2493. To apply please contact hr@ewb-uk.org.   

National Volunteers: The organisation is looking for volunteers to be part of the national teams of Training, Education, Outreach and Publicity. If you are interested please contact the team using @ewb-uk.org, for example training@ewb-uk.org.

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Placements

Look out for this year's EWB-UK placement opportunities on our website, coming early February. Tell your friends, class mates and colleagues: but don't forget to ask yourself - could this be for me?  

Last summer, 33 volunteers went on an EWB-UK a placement. Their reports tell a story of volunteers striving, to make a positive difference and lessons learnt about work in the development sector. 5 longer-term placements continue to be supported.   

This year the placements team has been recruiting: a new coordinator, a new national team and handfuls of potential project managers. We're targeting 35 high-quality summer placements with 13 partners, and 5 longer term placements.
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Bursaries  

The Bursaries team have been busy preparing for the bursary rounds next February and May. So far we have been improving the documentation from previous years. In January, there will be a training session for the branches reviewing applications - Birmingham, Bristol and Imperial - in preparation for the upcoming rounds, so keep an eye out for ways to get involved!  

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 Training 

Talks, Trips and Training for EWB-UK have had a great first term this academic year with activities taking place all over the UK. EWB Cardiff in particular has run a huge number of successful courses and trips, including RedR's "So you think you want to be a relief worker", a trip to CAT and an Alternative Energy weekend which covered practical workshops on solar cookers and wind turbines. Other branches have also run a range of talks, film showings and workshops. For example, the Bristol had a hugely successful showing of "An Inconvenient Truth", bringing together members of EWB-UK, Bristol Unplugged and Bristol U8 as well as hosting 2 sessions of the "Principles of Humanitarianism" workshop which demonstrated some of the complications involved in humanitarian aid. The hugely popular Clare Farm course was held again in November, giving participants an introduction to a range of topics from water testing to concrete and building materials.  

CAT Trip EWB Cardiff Earlier this month

We are also looking forward, next term,to the previously successful Imperial Alternative Energy course, the South West Water course and the Cambridge Shelter course.  Branches will also be running some new courses including one on Biogas Technologies, one on Ram Pump Technology and two on Information Communications Technology the latter to be run in conjunction with Aptivate. Look out for further details of these exciting events on the website calendar and don't hesitate to get in touch with us at training@ewb-uk.org! ___________________________________

Research  

The Research Programme got off to an exciting start this year. We now have an EWB-UK Research Project Affiliation Scheme, enabling students undertaking sustainable development related projects to link with EWB-UK and benefit from a number of exciting opportunities. These range from access to resources through EWB-UK and support with project dissemination and implementation, to the chance to exhibit the project at a national showcase and eligibility to apply for Research Grants. In addition to this, we already have a number of new research projects which students have taken on, and we are currently forming new links with international NGOs to set up new ones. 

The team is also planning for the EWB-UK Research Conference to be held in April 2008. This event will be the launching-pad for the new EWB-UK Research Scheme and will showcase all types of EWB-UK Research projects, from group branch projects to third or fourth year degree-accredited projects. It will be a fantastic opportunity to learn and be inspired by research in sustainable development and appropriate technology from across the country. Of course those who are conducting the research will get their work seen by a large audience, including representatives from companies and NGOs, which can open a number of exciting opportunities!

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Outreach 

For those who do not already know, Outreach is the newest addition to EWB-UK. Our aim is to raise awareness of development issues and the significance of engineering in tackling these in children and teenagers, to encourage the development of engineering skills in schools and provide material to other outreach organisations.  

Over the last 2 years the branches have done a fantastic job of running outreach activities in local schools. So far the sessions run were adaptations from EWB Canada's Outreach programme and included Water for the World, Energy Matters and Food for Thought. A number of branches also produced their own material. For example, Imperial College and Arup volunteers ran numerous sessions on 'Improving Water and Sanitation Infrastructure in Slum Communities' at the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007. Great job guys!!!  

This coming year is going to be incredibly exciting, headed by our National Executive Outreach coordinator, Irem Serefoglu who has just been appointed. Congrats Irem J. Irem, a team of national volunteers and Rob Cottrell (Trustee) will be working with the branches to create a defined direction for Outreach for the next 5 years. Currently we are short of National Volunteers so if anyone wants to show some more love for EWB-UK then please get in contact with Irem or Rob. We would also like to hear from you if you have any contacts of organisations or individuals we can collaborate with. These could range from your favourite school teachers to other Outreach organisations which you feel we could work with and learn from.  

Here are some key dates: Outreach is planning a 'Showcase day' in January which will bring together both those previously involved in setting up outreach activities and those keen to do so in the near future. We will exchange ideas, experiences, tips for what works and what doesn't and end the day with drinks down the pub. If this sounds like your cup of tea then please give Irem or Rob a ring….

The second event being run is a one day strategy workshop in April. This will bring together key stakeholders from schools, NGOs and EWB-UK to contribute in creating an Outreach initiative that is in line with the aims of primary education, the aims of EWB-UK and has a well structured action. Please send us information if you would like to/ think someone should be involved.  To finish we are also here this year to support you, the EWB-UK members, in running outreach initiatives around the country. So if you want any help please contact these guys!   

Rob: rob.cottrell@ewb-uk.org
Irem: I.Serefoglu@sms.ed.ac.uk 

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Professional Network 

Last year, fundamental developments in the way that the Professional Network, PN, is organised and thought about, lead to a wave of enthusiasm and involvement across the country. The number of those registered though the website rose from 150 to 420 during 2006/2007 and this year has continued to be an active time for the PN. With the new programme structure professionals and young gaduates can get involved with the organisation on more levels than ever before, ranging from national volunteering to being an EWB-UK trustee.  

Also, new communities have been established in Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh. 10 Professionals from the Network have signed up to be Placement Project Managers and a further 6 Project reviewers for this year's programme. Training events have been given and attended by PN members and many have supported activities within the Research, Bursaries and Outreach programmes.   

To get involved with your nearest PN community, sign up on the website.  

Please keep an eye on our new website for more details on the programme areas, branches, events and opportunities! 

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