About us
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) NTNU is a local student department of EWB Norway, at Campus Gløshaugen, NTNU. We are a group of engaged students with a range of different academic backgrounds, skills and interests. Our common ground is our interest in humanitarian aid, technology and engineering. Throughout the events and projects we organise, we aim to establish bonds between professors, students, technologists and other organizations with a passion for humanitarian aid work.
Structure of our department
EWB NTNU is divided into Connect and Grid Ville. This site is dedicated to Connect, the department responsible for outreach and projects. For more information on Grid Ville, who are working on their very own electrical engineering project, check out their website.
Within Connect, we are divided into Events, Projects and PR, and each of those is in turn divided into subgroups with different responsibilities.
The Projects Group (Kompetansegruppa)
The projects group consists of 3 subgroups who are collectively responsible for many of our more technical activities, and "hands-on" aid work:
Meaningful Masters' (Master med Mening)
The Meaningful Masters’ program was initiated by EWB Norway to assist and support students who aspire to integrate the process of pursuing a master's degree with aid work. This is achieved by utilizing their technical expertise to innovatively address specific problems or fulfil needs within developing communities. Further information about the program can be found here.
The Meaningful Masters' group at EWB NTNU contributes to the planning and facilitation of these projects by aiding students in identifying suitable guidance counsellors at NTNU, outlining their projects, and establishing collaborations with organizations. As a member of this group, you will gain significant insights into technological aid and learn how an engineer's competence can be employed to construct and facilitate infrastructure and installations across various environments with distinct challenges.
Casebank
The field engineers of EWB Norway are engaged in several challenging projects that entail significant obstacles requiring innovative solutions. Casebank serves as a platform where all departments of EWB Norway assemble their members to collectively tackle these issues through creative collaboration and competence sharing.
The Casebank group organizes regular events, bringing together EWB NTNU members and other students at NTNU. During these events, participants are introduced to specific cases and engage in discussions about potential solutions. Regardless of age, experience level, education, or expertise, the objective is to unite the entire EWB Norway community through engaging, educational, and social gatherings, while concurrently enhancing the organization's collective achievements.
The Aid Portal
The Aid Portal aims to connect students seeking to undertake aid-related theses with professors who possess ideas for projects about humanitarian aid work, either existing or potential. Additionally, the portal functions as a platform for other academic activities related to humanitarian aid.
The Aid Portal necessitates more specialized competence and experience compared to the other subgroups within the Projects Group, particularly in the fields of web design and development. The following positions are available:
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Web developers: A team of developers primarily responsible for the further planning and implementation of the platform's required functionalities. |
Web designers: Mainly responsible for the continued planning and design of the website, determining its visual appearance, and ensuring a clean and user-friendly interface. |
Podcast
Members of the podcast group will participate in crafting podcast content from scratch. Tasks encompass scriptwriting, conducting interviews, final editing, and publishing. The podcast group will advance our vision by featuring interviews with individuals from EWB Norway, the business realm, and more.
Plastic Database
This is a new project starting january 2025. When engineers do voluntary work related to plastic in the field, unforeseen challenges and issues arrive. The project therefore aims to provide useful information to help prevent and solve these challenges as well as provide factual information regarding plastic. The group members will, together with voluntary members from EWB Norway, decide the framework and criteria for the project.
A new project?
Should you possess ideas for projects related to humanitarian/sustainable engineering, please inform us via email or in the designated section of the application form below. It is possible that we could bring your vision to life! Projects such as the Aid Portal and GridVille were initiated recently through the passion and innovative ideas of dedicated students, underscoring the realm of possibilities.
The expected workload in the Projects is the group: 4-5 hours each week on average. (Developers and designers of the Aid Portal may be required to put in a few extra hours a week.)
The PR Group (Profileringsgruppa)
The PR Group work with all necessary elements, making EWB NTNU stand out professionally as a local department. Some of the group’s responsibilities are graphic design, promoting all events, maintaining our website, distributing newsletters and operating our social media channels. The group consists of the subgroups listed below.
Social Media (SoMe)
Responsible for EWB NTNU's social media channels, as well as creating and publishing content. We mainly focus on Instagram and Facebook, where we, among other things, post information about coming events and give an inside on EWB NTNU.
Stand & Craft
In charge of organizing stands to ensure EWB's visibility on campus and promoting our events. Also in charge of Care Package, which is a recurring small event where we spread cheer and distribute small treats and gifts on campus to cheer up our fellow students, simultaneously promoting the organization. In the meantime, the group will organize workshops for other PR members so the members can get creative and do some crafts.
Graphic Design
The graphic design group is responsible for editing photos and videos, designing posters and flyers and other content to be posted on our social media channels.
The expected workload in the PR group: 4-5 hours each week
The Events Group (Arrangementgruppa)
The events group work with planning and arranging all events within EWB. The different subgroups are each responsible for other events, some recurring, and some not. As a member, you learn a lot about administration and planning of events, whilst also learning a lot about different humanitarian organisations and challenges within the field.
Missing Maps
The missing maps group arranges recurring events called Mapathons. Several areas in developing countries and communities - especially rural areas - have maps that lack information about specific buildings and infrastructure, which can be crucial in emergencies, E.G. in the case of natural disasters or wars.
In mapathons, members of EWB and anyone else who wishes to come to gather to help supply information and data to maps, based on satellite photos of areas where it doesn't already exist. The Missing Maps arrange these events and teach the attendees how to use the software while maintaining the cooperative relationship between The Missing Maps Organization and EWB NTNU.
Borderless
Borderless is EWB NTNU's very own humanitarian aid festival, with a wide variety of events, lectures, competitions, sofa talks and more! The borderless group is responsible for planning these events, and getting in touch with field engineers, organizations and other experts who can share their experiences and competence.
Course
Throughout the academic year, the course group is responsible for planning and arranging various courses for the members of EWB NTNU. The main point of the courses is to help to fulfil the goal of every EWB NTNU member to learn more about humanitarian aid through engineering and technology.
Everyday Heroes
The Everyday Hero’s group is a new group responsible for organizing events where different people come and give a small talk about themes such as technology, humanitarian aid, sustainability etc. The group will most likely collaborate with an external organisation and another student organisation. In addition to this, the group will be able to host workshops where students can meet each other and work with their hands.
The expected workload in the Events group: 4-5 hours each week
Our Department
The main goal of our department is to offer an extracurricular activity that unites NTNU students across different ages and fields of study and educates them on humanitarian aid through engineering and technology. In addition to this, we also aim to be an arena to make friends outside your own study program, and we arrange a lot of purely social events for our members, like cabin trips, parties, sporting events, board game nights and more!
Since the spring of 2022, EWB NTNU has been an international organization, with English as the official department language, so English fluency is a prerequisite for joining the department. Erasmus+/International students are therefore also invited to submit their applications!
Contact
General inquiries
ntnu
Projects, Meaningful Masters'
org-ntnu
Events and marketing
ntnu_event
