Scholarship to help humanitarian student target poverty
A student from Darwin will travel to rural India as part of a humanitarian engineering program that develops creative solutions to real world problems.
The Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Australia’s EWB Challenge Scholarship program runs for three years and offers 10 students from Australia and New Zealand $10,000 each to assist them to apply their engineering skills to community development initiatives aimed at eradicating poverty.
Charles Darwin University Bachelor of Humanitarian and Community Studies student Michelle Pollard said she was excited to be accepted into the program and looked forward to developing her understanding of community development and humanitarian engineering.
“As a humanitarian and community studies student, it is really important to see how different communities integrate sustainable development projects to improve living standards for their current and future generations,” Michelle said.
“I am looking forward to further investigating the links between humanity, the natural environment and development.
“I am particularly interested in different cultures and the way different communities cooperate to achieve sustainable solutions, especially in remote areas.”
Michelle will be involved in a range of professional development programs, including the opportunity to travel to rural India to learn about sustainable community development projects that aim to improve living standards.
She was selected for the program after being part of the CDU team that took out the 2012 BHP Billiton Award for Consideration of Sustainable Design and Community Engagement for their innovative hand washing station at the EWB Challenge.
The EWB Scholarship program is supported by BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities.
When she graduates, Michelle said she hoped to work with an organisation involved in community development projects that improved health and living standards for the disadvantaged.
Her current work in Indigenous eye health in the NT involves coordinating and assisting locum optometrist visits to remote communities.