EWB-UK

Mission: To facilitate human development

through engineering

Vision: A world where access to technology and infrastructure is not a barrier to

poverty alleviation

EWB-UK

The Challenge :

900 million people lack access to safe drinking water2.4 billion do not have basic sanitation facilities1.6 billion live without electricity1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day820 million are undernourished9.7 million children under the age of five die every yearFewer than 1 engineer per 100,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa

EWB-UK

Our Organisation:Engineers Without Borders UK is an international development organisation that removes barriers to development through engineering. Our programmes provide opportunities for young people in the UK to learn about technology’s role in tackling poverty. Supported by the EWB-UK community, our members can work on projects around the globe.

EWB-UK

How:By both making direct contributions to alleviating poverty and providing learning opportunities for the next generations of engineers about the importance of international development and the issues surrounding it.

Placements Bursaries Research

Training Education Outreach

EWB-UK Research Programme

The EWB-UK Research Programme offers students the opportunity to pursue real issues and face real challenges through final year research, PhD or similar study in connection with partner organisations working in the development sector. 

EWB-UK Research

Do you want to do something

different?

EWB-UK Research

Do you want to do

something that will set you apart from

your peers?

EWB-UK Research

Are you interested in

development?

EWB-UK Research

Do you want to make a contribution that matters, and produce

engineering research that is

relevant, exciting and can make a perceivable

impact?

EWB-UK Research

Alongside our Placements & Bursaries Programmes, the EWB-UK Research Programme is one of our most direct contributions to alleviating poverty across the globe by creating greater links between academic institutions and partner organisations working in the development sector through research.

EWB-UK Research

Our projects fall under these six communities of practice.

Support and Benefits

EWB-UK supports researchers throughout the course of their research through:

•Providing access to relevant information, resources and people•Financial support through  Research Bursaries•Offering the opportunities for researchers to present and discuss their work•Sharing their research with the wider international community •Increased opportunities opportunities to attend EWB-UK Training courses and events. 

How to get involved

Students:

Application or Affiliationwww.ewb-uk.org/programmes/research/researcherinfo

Academics:

Registrationwww.ewb-uk.org/programmes/research/academicnfo

EWB-UK Research ProgrammeCase study

‘A biodiesel transesterification plant for Pabal, rural India’

Hayley Weston, University of Bath

Aim: To design a biodiesel transesterification plant to run on locally available karanj or jatropha oil.  

   

 

In rural India, much of the population depends on diesel to run tractors, jeeps, buses and other vehicles. There are also a lot of power cuts in the Maharashtra state and diesel is used in generators to produce electricity. There was a need for a sustainable source of diesel fuel which could be used in diesel engines, cleanly and safely.

    

 

Working on the plant when there was power – at 3:30am!

    

 

EWB-UK Research Programme

Hayley’s Story: I began by working at the university and carrying out small-scale experiments in the laboratories while in close contact with EWB-UK and the partner organisation.  

 

    

 

The almost complete plant

    

 

Using money from a grant, I went out to Pabal to implement the final design. For four weeks I worked with four local people to produce a working biodiesel plant that now contributes to the fuel required by a generator to produce electricity during the twelve hours a day when national grid electricity isn't available. The final design was a simple gravity-driven solution which minimised the number of mechanical parts and thus reduced the initial capital costs and future running costs of the plant.  

EWB-UK Research Programme

Today: The biodiesel plant is currently operating at 12,000 litres per year and the plans are to introduce the design to local farmers in and around Pabal. Karanj and jatropha oils grow naturally and abundantly in the region, so farmers are now enabled to obtain a sustainable source of fuel more cheaply and easily, giving the community greater independence. The partner organisation hopes to transfer the design and have 20 farms producing their own fuel by the end of 2010. 

 

 

One of the students with the jatropha vegetable oil (left) and the final biodiesel (right) .

    

 

EWB-UK Research Programme

Thank you for listening

Any Questions?

EWB-UK Research Programme

 

Contact Details

Research Programme Manager: Katie Cresswell-Maynard

Email: research@ewb-uk.org

Telephone: +44 (0) 1223 305888

Skype: katie.cresswell-maynard