At Engineers Australia, Volunteer Week is one of our favourite times of year. While we appreciate the work of our volunteers every day, this is when we truly get to celebrate their achievements and contribution to our organisation. 

Volunteers and office bearers are an important source of the insights and leadership it takes for Engineers Australia to stay relevant and impactful, both to the profession and among wider society. 

Even with almost 2,000 office bearers and volunteers at Engineers Australia, we see enormous untapped potential in our membership, which motivates us to design and implement more flexible and rewarding models of volunteering.  

There are many reasons people volunteer, regardless of their age, engineering discipline or the stage of their career. Participating in Engineers Australia expands professional networks, amplifies knowledge, develops leadership skills and offers ways to give back that can be hard to find in day-to-day work. Volunteering is also great for mental health because of the social networks we form and the positive feelings we enjoy through giving back.  

Australians are generous volunteers, responsible in no small way for making our communities more vibrant, connected and tolerant and that’s something we should never take for granted. Whether they are giving their time to patrolling the beaches, helping migrants settle in, running a bake sale or shovelling mud out of someone’s flooded home, the dedication of volunteers is what adds colour to the fabric of society. For Engineers Australia, the passion our volunteers bring to everything they do carries the torch for our organisation and the profession more broadly.  

There is a diverse array of projects that rely on the contributions of our volunteers, from the work of the Society for Fire Safety in the development of practice notes, Engineering Heritage Australia’s recognition program and Newcastle Division’s STEM engagement in schools. Indeed, far too many to list, but plenty for us to celebrate this Volunteer Week.  

To our volunteers and office bearers, thank you for all you do for Engineers Australia, this Volunteer Week and every week.

Engineers Australia CEO, Romilly Madew and National President and Board Chair, Nick Fleming