The MAKERS project

The MAKERS initiative - Making And Knowledge Exchange for Repair and Sustainability – aims to foster a stronger sense of belonging among diverse engineering students at UWE Bristol. By connecting students with local Maker and Repair communities across the West of England, the project provides a practical and purposeful environment for peer support and friendship to flourish.

The initiative is delivered by the Science Communication Unit at UWE Bristol. Through co-developed workshops and Repair Cafés involving local groups, students engage in hands-on activities that promote creativity, skill development, and community engagement. The project was supported with over £115,000 in funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering's Diversity Impact Programme.

MAKERS collaborates with organisations such as the Bristol Repair Café network and STEM Ambassadors from industry, bringing together intergenerational participants who share practical knowledge and offer informal mentoring. A key objective is to address the under-representation of women and individuals from Global Majority backgrounds in engineering, using collaborative maker activities to engage these groups in STEM.

The programme has established the Bristol Repair Coalition as part of the Repair Acts programme. MAKERS also actively supports UWE Bristol’s response to the climate and ecological emergency by promoting sustainability through repair, reducing waste, and extending the lifespan of everyday items. Since October 2023, a monthly Repair Café has been hosted at the School of Engineering on UWE Bristol’s Frenchay Campus, where students, staff, and community members are invited to bring broken items for repair.

The project has delivered measurable impact with several conference presentations. In its first year, 32% of the 30 regular student participants are women (compared to 16% in engineering overall), and 77% come from Global Majority backgrounds. MAKERS has prevented 248 kg of waste and saved 1.6 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. It has co-developed projects with 17 organisations, run workshops for over 70 community participants, and was shortlisted for a Green Gown Award in the Benefitting Society category.

By enhancing student confidence, motivation, and employability, MAKERS demonstrates the value of repair and making as pathways to inclusion, sustainability, and engineering identity.

You can also follow our progress on the Engineering Our Future blog or attend one of our monthly Repair Cafés.

Building on the success of the MAKERS project, the Creating MAKERS Spaces initiative has developed a guide and toolkit to help other higher and further education institutions implement similar programmes. The focus is on improving students’ sense of belonging and hands-on engineering skills, particularly among under-represented groups, while embedding sustainability and community engagement.

The toolkit will provide practical guidance on:

• establishing local sustainability and repair projects
• creating inclusive learning environments
• building community partnerships
• monitoring impact and sharing best practice

This work supports the higher education sector’s commitment to sustainability, addressing both environmental and social challenges through resource conservation, waste reduction, and enhanced civic engagement. By raising awareness of repair and making, the initiative encourages students, staff, industry partners, and local communities to rethink consumption and reduce waste within the global supply chain.

The legacy of MAKERS lies in producing graduates who are not only technically capable, but also confident communicators, team players, and active contributors to a sustainable future. The toolkit will help institutions embed repair cafés and community workshops into student experience strategies – enriching employability, inclusion, and climate action outcomes across the sector.

The Bristol Repair Coalition is a city-wide alliance of community groups, social enterprises, local businesses, universities, and city partners working together to transform how Bristol uses and cares for materials, products, and waste. The Coalition was set up in March 2024 through the Repair Acts initiative and is coordinated by the MAKERS team to connect partners and provide research expertise, aiming to strengthen Bristol’s repair and reuse ecosystem.

Purpose and activities

The Coalition links initiatives across the city, supports community-led repair activity, and works with local authorities to integrate repair and reuse into planning and waste strategies. This approach helps reduce emissions, extend product lifespans, and strengthen local economies, while also easing cost-of-living pressures for households.

Partnership with Bristol City Council

Collaboration with Bristol City Council is aligning efforts with the city’s new waste strategy. Existing successes include Bristol Waste’s reuse shops, which divert thousands of items from landfill while providing affordable goods, demonstrating the potential for expansion and wider social benefit.

Circular Economy Demonstrator

In July 2025, MAKERS and the Repair Coalition hosted a workshop at UWE Bristol that brought together more than 30 representatives from local government, community organisations, academia, businesses and the voluntary sector. The session focused on co-designing a Circular Economy Demonstrator for the city.

The Demonstrator is envisaged as a dedicated site bringing together repair, reuse and refurbishment of items such as furniture, electronics and bicycles. It would also provide training, create green jobs, and keep valuable materials in circulation. Insights from the workshop are being reviewed, with proposed next steps to be shared later in 2025.

Mapping Bristol’s repair network

To highlight existing activity, MAKERS and the Repair Coalition have developed a public Bristol Repair, Share and Reuse map. The map showcases community repair cafés, specialist services, social enterprises and training opportunities, while helping to identify gaps and opportunities for collaboration.

Looking ahead

By coordinating cross-sector collaboration through the Bristol Repair Coalition, MAKERS aims to strengthen repair and reuse across the city, building a more sustainable, resilient and equitable Bristol.

To find out more or get involved in any of the above initiatives, contact Dr Laura Fogg Rogers (laura.foggrogers@uwe.ac.uk).