EWB-UK branches play an integral role in allowing the Research scheme to become active within their universities, and there's a number of ways for branches to be involved.

The main areas involve promoting the EWB-UK Research projects for 3rd and 4th year students at your university, setting up branch research projects, suggesting new research project proposal ideas to EWB-UK, and encouraging all students involved with engineering development research to register with the EWB-UK Affiliation Scheme to enable you to benefit from what we can offer. These are all explained in more detail below.

EWB-UK Research will be contacting branches regularly (approximately once or twice per term) to ask for updates. However, please keep us updated with what you're doing, as this will allow us to help you as much as possible!

More detailed information and support will be made available to all Branch Research Coordinators, and if there are any queries, then support can be found from emailing research@ewb-uk.org.

Academic Research Project Proposals

One of the most significant things is for EWB committee members to publicise the academic research project scheme (the EWB-UK research project proposals which can be run as third or fourth year projects) to both students and the key faculty members. In particular, it is important to publicise the scheme to the academics who organise third and fourth year research projects, and get their support for the scheme.

Finding New Research Project Proposals

EWB-UK are always looking for new ideas for research projects, and if you have any members at your branch who have research project ideas or links with suitable NGOs, we'd be very pleased to hear from them (in particular, we've found that many successful projects have come out of placements abroad, where students have had the opportunity to identify many possible areas for research).

Branch Research Projects

We're really keen to support branches in setting up their own research projects, and these have bee incredibly successful and popular in the past (examples range from Wind Turbine in Nottingham to an Oil-based Sanitation Project at Bristol). Branches are also free to investigate ideas from the Research Proposals List, though you would need to apply through the EWB-UK website before taking on one of those projects. However all branch projects, provided they are registered with EWB-UK through the Affiliation Scheme (see below) will be able to apply for up to £400 funding through EWB-UK, as well as benefiting from EWB-UK resources and support.

Research Project Affiliation Scheme

This year we've set up also the EWB-UK Research Project Affiliation Scheme. Applications for the Scheme are open to any UK university students running development-engineering related research projects, and this scheme offers a number of benefits (in particular, we have research grants of up to £400 available for successful applications!). Other support that we can offer affiliated projects include access to information and resources through EWB-UK, support with dissemination and implementation of projects, increased opportunities to attend EWB-UK Training courses and events and also the chance for successful research projects to be exhibited at national EWB-UK events.

Publicising!

To promote all these possibilities to students and academics at your university, it would be ideal for the branch to run a talk open to students (generally in the spring term when people are considering Research Project ideas) explaining the scheme and what's available. This would also be a good opportunity for the branch to showcase student speakers who've already taken part in successful research projects.

Research Key Points for Branches

• Raise awareness of the EWB-UK Research Programme to academics and students
• Encourage students at your university involved in engineering development research to register with the EWB-UK Research Project Affiliation Scheme
• Encourage students to suggest research proposal ideas, or links with suitable NGOs, to EWB-UK
• Set up branch research projects!
• Hold an EWB-UK Research Event in the Spring term to publicise all these opportunities and showcase previous successful projects from your university
• Keep us updated with what you're up to!