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Western Australia dominated the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) 2008 Challenge, with first-year engineering students from The University of Western Australia taking the majority of prizes including the 2008 EWB Challenge Overall Champion Team Award, EWB Challenge Poster Award and the BHP Billiton Award for Sustainable Design and Community Engagement.

The Engineers Without Borders Australia Challenge is a national design program for first-year university students. Students work in teams to create conceptual designs for sustainable development that contribute toward real international community projects. The winning team designed an effective lowcost water filter while the runner-up built an environmentally friendly washing machine. Both projects are designed to be used and will contribute towards the sustainable development of rural communities in Kandal Province, Cambodia.

According to the World Health Organisation, about 69 per cent of the Cambodian population do not have safe drinking water and 72 per cent do not have adequate sanitation. Professor Frank Bullen, representative of The Australian Council of Engineering Deans on the judging panel, said the Challenge was one of the few events across Australia that acted as a benchmarking exercise between universities. “The competition result is therefore a great endorsement of the quality of the engineering program at The University of Western Australia,” Professor Bullen said.

Dr Brad Stappenbelt, coordinator of UWA’s Introduction to Professional Engineering unit, said the student projects, ‘Water Purification in Cambodia’ and the ‘Cambodian Washing Machine’, were good examples of Engineers Without Borders’ motto of “engineering a better world”. “It’s the first time teams from UWA have entered this challenge so to make the finals was exciting but to actually win three out of four prizes is fantastic,” he said.

The two UWA teams were up against about 1300 teams from 26 universities around Australia. On 19 December engineering students from the teams met with Australia’s Ambassador to Cambodia, Ms Margaret Adamson at UWA and in 2009 UWA’s winning team will travel to a developing country to see an Engineers Without Borders project in operation.