Engineers Without Borders-UK (EWB-UK), a student led international development charity based in Cambridge, will soon be welcoming its first-ever paid Chief Executive thanks to The Vodafone Foundation.

Andrew Lamb, a young engineer with considerable experience in international development and disaster relief issues, was one of the six winners of the 'World of Difference' programme established by The Vodafone Foundation. The programme enables committed individuals to work for a year with a charity of their choice.

The award offers a salary of up to £25,000 with up to £20,000 in expenses. The model was initially developed by the Vodafone New Zealand Foundation in 2002 and was run in UK for the first time this year. Winners are chosen on merit through a public competition and Lamb was selected from among 500 applicants.

EWB-UK was founded in 2001 by a group of students at the University of Cambridge and has grown at an exciting pace with 16 university branches established over the last seven years. Its work demonstrates the vital link between engineering and human development, particularly through the projects it undertakes with partners in developing countries across the world.

Lamb was first involved with EWB-UK as an engineering student in 2002 and began by fundraising for the organisation — an association that strengthened over time and led to him serving as a volunteer CEO in 2004.

"I realised that EWB-UK was not just a gap year organisation but offered work that students could really get involved in," said Lamb. "It has tremendous potential and can contribute significantly towards relieving global poverty."

It is this potential that Lamb plans to harness as the paid CEO of the organisation. He aims to develop the identity, systems and capacity of Engineers Without Borders UK so that it can grow to involve more people in the UK and do more work overseas.

Lamb also plans to invest in staff, fundraising and in developing a formal membership system. "This award is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to help EWB-UK invest in its members and to realise their ideas so that it can really tie its strategy and its operations together and give more people the chance to learn about and get involved in development work: it really is going to make 'a world of difference' and we're going to be able to do some very interesting things!" said Lamb.

According to Andrew Dunnett, Director of The Vodafone Foundation, what set Lamb and EWB-UK apart was his level of commitment. "Andrew Lamb was an outstanding World of Difference applicant.  His dedication to Engineers Without Borders UK has been clearly demonstrated as he helped to set up the organisation when he was still a student, not an easy task.  We believe he'll make a huge impact to EWB-UK as he'll now be able to dedicate 100 per cent of his time to the organisation," said Dunnett. The Vodafone Foundation announced all winners on September 17.

Interestingly, the selection of Lamb and the promise that the coming year holds for EWB-UK under his leadership would not have happened had it not been for an advertisement spotted by chance on the London Underground by a keen supporter, who set the ball rolling.

Lamb has also worked with RedR, a training and recruitment organisation working in the disaster relief sector, and as a technical editor for the UNESCO Engineering Report. Previously, he worked with the Office of Community Affairs at the University of Cambridge, and he is a co-founder of the Humanitarian Centre in the city.