EWB Challenge | 2023 Showcase – Yirrganydji Country, Cairns

Past Events

The EWB Challenge Showcase: Over 15 years of connecting changemakers with stakeholders!

The EWB Challenge is our original flagship curriculum-integrated university program, typically delivered to first-year engineering students. Students are presented with a fantastic opportunity to design practical and innovative solutions to real-world problems, with the potential for future development by the community.

For the first time in EWB Challenge history, we offered two different community contexts for universities delivering the program in 2023; a First Nations context in Australia with Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation on Yirrganydji Country in Cairns, and a Pu Ngoal context in Cambodia in partnership with the EWB Australia team in Cambodia.

Finalist teams from up to 23 participating universities from Australia and New Zealand have been invited to come together on Yirrganydji Country to present their design projects and connect with the stakeholders.

7 – 8 December 2023

James Cook University (JCU) Ideas Lab

Building D4, 14-88 McGregor Road, Smithfield QLD 4878

*Curtin University team at the 2023 EWB Challenge Showcase, JCU Ideas Lab*

Find out more about the EWB Challenge and Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation.

Program at a Glance

Day 1: Half-day Yirrganydji cultural tour guided by Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation

Attendees to join the Yirrganydji cultural tour guided by Dawul Wuru in the morning until early afternoon. Optional for judges/guests to join.

Day 2: Presentation and awards all day at JCU Ideas Lab.

Students to pitch their design project to peers and a panel of judges! Our judging team looks forward to meeting you and will determine a number of awards to announce at the event’s conclusion.

Showcase Information Flyer

2023 EWB Challenge Showcase Event Preparation Guide

Showcase Finalists

First Nations Context

DESIGN AREA	DESIGN OPPORTUNITY	SHOWCASE FINALISTS
Structures	1.4 Transportable ranger base office	University of Western Australia* Melbourne Polytechnic
Energy	3.2 Solar-powered coral terrarium	University of Canberra* Murdoch University*
	3.4 Transportable and scalable clean energy system	University of Technology Sydney* University of Adelaide* University of Tasmania
Caring for Land Country	4.1 Nursery for cultivating bush tucker and native plants	Curtin University*
Caring for Sea Country	5.1 Tank for rehabilitating injured dugong	Charles Darwin University*
	5.5 Mechanisms to reduce noise and vibrations generated by crocodile monitoring boats	University of Sunshine Coast*
Water Management	6.1 Rainwater harvesting to support bush tucker gardening	University of Queensland
Waste & Reuse	7.1 Methods to reduce littering on Country	Flinders University*

Mondulkiri, Cambodia Context

DESIGN AREA	DESIGN OPPORTUNITY	SHOWCASE FINALISTS
Sanitation and Hygiene	1.1 Low cost/ affordable toilet	Federation University
Water Supply	2.1 Quality drinking water	University of South Australia
	2.4 Improved accessibility and affordability to natural water supply	Charles Sturt University Swinburne University
Energy	4.1 Affordable alternative energy sources to main grid	Western Sydney University
ICT	5.2 Tools to improve disaster response	RMIT*
Structures	6.3 Infrastructure to enable safe river access	Auckland University of Technology*
Waste & Reuse	7.1 Recycling or reuse opportunities with common waste	University of Canterbury*

*confirmed attendees

Meet the Judges

Gavin is currently a Project Manager with the Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation and coordinates the Yirrganydji Land and Sea Ranger Program and Yirrganydji Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreement. Gavin’s experience and contributions include representation on advisory committees such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Indigenous Reef Advisory Committee, Reef 2050 Indigenous Heritage Expert Group, and Cairns Regional Council’s First Peoples Advisory Committee. Gavin was a presenter/performer at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poland (2018), TEDx JCU Cairns (2018), and United Nations Oceans Conference SD-14 in New York (2017). Gavin has also featured in media networks and communication productions such as ‘ABC the Drum’, IUCN Video ‘Voices from the Reef’, Tangaroa Blue Foundation’s video ‘how to run a beach or river clean up’, and the Queensland National Parks Video ‘Be Pest Free’.

From the desert to the rainforest! Dr. Samantha is a globally recognised inventor, innovator, and entrepreneur spanning an impressive two-decade career at Aramco. Sam is now the Innovation and Venture Growth Specialist for James Cook University, where she develops and deploys a trifecta of brilliance: academia, research development, and industry – located at JCU Ideas Lab, Cairns. She connects and accelerates the collective genius of JCU, industry and business communities across Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane & Singapore. She is truly committed to developing exemplary inventors, next-gen innovators, and startup founders contributing to the region’s economic growth and job creation. Her legacy translates into a highly motivated thought leader due to her human-machine interface (HMI) technology portfolio of 60 granted patents, 15 prototypes, and 47 publications with 25 local, regional & global awards.

Grace recently managed EWB’s Youth Outreach programs and led the EWB Challenge scoping trips with Dawul Wuru in 2021 and to Mondulkiri with EWBA’s Cambodia engineering team in 2022. Before this, she was an EWB Field Professional in 2019 in Cambodia, where she applied tools from her degree in 3D Design and a master’s in International Development. Grace now lives in Gimuy (Cairns) on Yirrganydji/Yidinji Country and works in the community development sector with First Nations groups, environmental organisations and government agencies across Far North Queensland to support communities to plan and care for Country, culture and natural values.

Mitch is currently the Technology Development Lead at EWB Australia. He is an Industrial Designer with a strong human-centred design background in developing communities. He Studied Industrial Design at UTS and, during his Honours Project, was able to design a simple product that allows rural communities in Uganda to boil water and cook food simultaneously, alleviating the stresses related to the lack of access to clean drinking water. He then founded his charity in Uganda to distribute these products to remote communities. Since returning to Australia, Mitch has joined the EWB team to champion innovation and design as a tool for solving complex problems in the communities in which we work.

Ratha has over six years of experience in technical design and management in the WASH sector, predominantly urban and rural water supply. Ratha has been involved in numerous projects with organisations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, ADB and Australian Aid. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experiences with communities locally and overseas in countries such as Myanmar and the Philippines. Ratha holds an engineering degree in Water Resources and Rural Infrastructures from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia and a Master of Business Administration from the National University of Management in Cambodia.

Rika has been involved with EWB since 2018 when she participated in the EWB internship program with ATEC Biodigesters. Her passion for human-centred design (HCD) skills and critical thinking led her to volunteer as a co-facilitator for school outreach workshops and become a leader of the critical thinking team in 2019 and 2020. After graduating in bio-engineering in 2019, she began her career with EWB as an Engineering Education Officer in the Engineering Education Program in early 2020. This job opportunity enabled her to continue planting the seed for HCD skills and mindsets and strengthen the capacity of young engineers. In her current role as Engineering Technology Officer in EWB Australia, she’s leading two sanitation projects in Cambodia using her engineering skills and HCD knowledge.

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2023 EWB Challenge Showcase is presented in collaboration with