Can a student-led Repair Café develop a sense of belonging and provide hands-on experiences for engineering students?
Butchers, Joe; Lewis, Hollie; Corbett, Kat; Fogg Rogers, Laura
Authors
Joe Butchers Joe.Butchers@uwe.ac.uk
Lecturer in Engineering Principles
Hollie Lewis
Kat Corbett
Dr Laura Fogg Rogers Laura.Foggrogers@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor of Knowledge Exchange in Engineering
Abstract
Repair Cafés offer an effective challenge to the “throwaway society” providing a space where communities can work together to repair. Meanwhile, it has been shown that for engineering students from under-represented backgrounds, hands-on environments can promote the development of technical skills and a sense of belonging within the engineering profession. As part of a project funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering Diversity Impact Programme, a Repair Café was thus started at the School of Engineering at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Using several data collection methods, this paper explored the ability of the Repair Café to sustain itself, the extent to which it provided under-represented groups of students with hands-on experience, and its impact upon their sense of belonging within engineering. Over the course of the academic year 23/24, 8 Repair Cafés were held. It was found that the University environment was an appropriate setting for the Repair Café with skills, equipment and an adequate supply of goods to repair. For the students involved, it was deemed to be an inclusive environment for skills development that was supportive to students from under-represented backgrounds, and effective in providing them with hands on experiences.
