Since its inception, the UNSW Makerspace Network has provided thousands of students and staff with barrier-free access to state-of-the-art equipment and hands-on making experience. 

Now the initiative is expanding, with a growing number of workshops on campus adopting the Makerspace model to enable students to work seamlessly across the spaces and access a wider range of tools, equipment and skills. 

ENG Makerspaces Workshop Manager Mel Wimborne says, “the culture on campus is changing. People want to share their resources and run their workshop spaces in the Makerspace style – offering barrier-free access to tools and tech.”

“The idea is that these are resources to be shared, for everyone to come in and use.”

The Makerspaces are a network of on-campus workshops where participants can use real-world manufacturing equipment to design, prototype and develop ideas. These workshops are open to anyone with a UNSW ID, including current students, and professional and academic staff. 

After completing a brief safety induction and receiving their first Makerspace badge, participants can use the Makerspaces at their leisure to complete student projects, participate in creative society events, and even construct personal items like gifts for their loved ones.  

“One secret to success has been our badging system, which has become like a passport,” Mel explains. “A student could do a Makerspace badge at the Build Environments Workshop and then come to the James N Kirby Makerspace and show me their badge. It has made it more simple to move from one Makerspace to another, and the Schools are now coming to us and saying they want to run their shared labs in the same way."

There are three official ENG Makerspaces housed within the Engineering Faculty: the James N Kirby Makerspace in the Willis Annexe; the Renewables Makerspace in the Tyree Energy Technology Building; and the Elec Makerspace in the Electrical Engineering Building.

The program is also collaborating with the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre (MCIC) to support Chemical Engineering student projects and has just launched the Fluids Foundry, a high-tech food laboratory being run in the Makerspace model. 

15-20 years ago, the emergence of more affordable and safer digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printers, laser cutters and CNC machines revolutionised the maker movement.

“It’s fascinating,” says Mel, “suddenly we had this ability to make something without having to spend 10 years honing artisan skills. You could produce a prototype with complex geometries without needing to do an apprenticeship first.”

The development of smaller, safer equipment has also removed the reliance on larger machinery that carry more risk of accidents. Mel explains, “this new equipment suddenly opened a door. It democratised ‘making’ by making it safer and easier to do.”

At the same time, the engineering industry was becoming vocal about the need for engineering graduates with a more robust combination of theoretical and practical skills. UNSW Engineering responded by adding a program of project-based learning back into the curriculum, and in 2018 a generous donation from the Kirby Foundation enabled the Makerspace founders to purchase equipment to establish the first workshop. 

“We bought everything specifically for the program after being given an amazing donation from the Kirby Foundation,” says Mel. “They gave us a million dollars to buy equipment, which had a significant impact. It was quite radical what they did for us.”

The Makerspaces now employ dozens of students to help run the workshops and have become the backdrop for countless student-run projects and initiatives like the Girls’ Big Day Out, a workshop for women in engineering run by The Mechatronics Society. 

The Biomedical Engineering Student Society (BESS) also run a project out of the Makerspaces where they adapt toys for children with disabilities. 

Mel explains, “BESS sell tickets to cover the cost of materials and the people who do the workshop are given the option to either keep or donate the toy – 100% donate. The atmosphere is buzzing, it’s such a joy.”

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