{"id":12814,"date":"2023-04-25T18:03:16","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T17:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/?p=12814"},"modified":"2023-04-25T18:03:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T17:03:21","slug":"uwe-bristol-academic-laura-fogg-rogers-discusses-the-universitys-new-repair-cafe-on-bbc-radio-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/uwe-bristol-academic-laura-fogg-rogers-discusses-the-universitys-new-repair-cafe-on-bbc-radio-bristol\/","title":{"rendered":"UWE Bristol Academic Laura Fogg-Rogers discusses the university\u2019s new Repair Caf\u00e9 on BBC Radio Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Laura Fogg-Rogers<\/a>, Associate Professor for Engineering in Society, was recently featured on BBC Radio Bristol, where she talked about her work at UWE Bristol and her latest project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the interview with host Steve Yabsley, Laura talked about how her work focusses on the relationship between people and technology, and her passion for sustainability, climate action and climate education. As such, she feels strongly about designing a future that makes a difference to communities and the environments they are embedded in, something that is not only evidenced by her work at UWE: alongside her role at the School of Engineering, Laura is also very active in her local community, where she runs a climate action group and, as part of that, a Repair Caf\u00e9. She is also a key figure in the wider Bristol Repair Caf\u00e9 network<\/a>, where she has helped to set up numerous Repair Caf\u00e9s in the city and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura is a strong supporter of the Repair Movement and the Circular Economy, as they address numerous challenges typically associated with the throwaway culture and overconsumption dominant in the Global North, something that is further fuelled by planned obsolescence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen you throw something out, it doesn\u2019t go out, it just goes somewhere else in the world and creates problems for other people. So, we need to think about our stuff and where it goes, and that\u2019s the circular economy: things going round in circles, being re-used, and really thinking about the best materials, that are going to last the longest.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nLaura Fogg-Rogers in her interview on BBC Radio Bristol<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

However, Repair Caf\u00e9s do not only tackle the practical challenges around Climate Change, but there are wider societal benefits, too: Repair Caf\u00e9s can generate a real sense of community, helping to create a sense of belonging and purpose, alongside increased levels of confidence that come with the \u201cjoy of problem solving\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some impressions from Repair Caf\u00e9s “in action” in Eastville and Winterbourne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Having experienced the benefits of Repair Caf\u00e9s first hand, Laura was keen to bring the Repair Movement and all its benefits to UWE Bristol and its students: Her latest project, MAKERS, which stands for \u201cMaking And Knowledge Exchange for Repair & Sustainability\u201d is designed to help students from all backgrounds feel a sense of belonging, and for them to grow and develop their engineering passions, whilst supporting their community at UWE Bristol and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Academy of Engineering awarded nearly \u00a390,000 to the project from its Diversity Impact Programme, which aims to inspire change within university engineering departments. The programme provides funding for schemes that transform the experiences of engineering students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the project, engineering students at UWE will be setting up a Repair Caf\u00e9 on campus, drawing on the experience of volunteers in established Repair Caf\u00e9s in the Bristol area: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe want to encourage that hands-on and intergenerational learning between students and communities. [\u2026] A lot of engineering these days is digital, it\u2019s very technical and high-tech and you don\u2019t get to take things apart as much because you might break it, so we are going to re-teach those skills. [\u2026] It\u2019s also about tackling loneliness, community isolation, and students forming a community together.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nLaura Fogg-Rogers on BBC Radio Bristol<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from local Repair Caf\u00e9s, The MAKERS project will also be working with Community and Youth Projects in St Paul\u2019s and Easton, building on UWE Bristol Engineering\u2019s growing reputation for supporting representation and belonging in engineering for Women and people from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic groups, alongside inter-sectional backgrounds of lower socio-economic status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kat Corbett, who is a Repair Caf\u00e9 volunteer at the Old Library in Eastville, has since joined the team at UWE as a project co-ordinator, where she will be drawing on her experience in the community to help MAKERS thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laura Fogg-Rogers, Associate Professor for Engineering in Society, was recently featured on BBC Radio Bristol, where she talked about her work at UWE Bristol and her latest project. In the interview with host Steve Yabsley, Laura talked about how her work focusses on the relationship between people and technology, and her passion for sustainability, climate … Continue reading “UWE Bristol Academic Laura Fogg-Rogers discusses the university\u2019s new Repair Caf\u00e9 on BBC Radio Bristol”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":12829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,150,119,1],"tags":[218,217,30,214,215,216],"class_list":["post-12814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity-and-inclusion","category-engineering-and-society","category-engineering-in-the-community","category-uncategorised","tag-climate-action","tag-community","tag-diversity","tag-makers","tag-repair","tag-repair-cafes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12814"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12880,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12814\/revisions\/12880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}