European Repair Café
Webinar

Background

Repair Cafes are grassroots, community-led approaches to extending the life of products through repair. The 1st Repair Café was established in 2009 in the Netherlands and since then the concept has expanded globally. The Repair Cafe Foundation highlight that there are now over 2360 Repair Cafes in the world, with new projects being set up daily. Due to the skilled nature of volunteers at Repair Cafes, significant repair rates are being achieved: a global study in 2016 indicated that repairers had achieved average 63% repair rates per session. Repair Cafes are reinforcing the importance of social and community dimensions, alongside the environmental benefits. As the concept of Circular Economy evolves, Repair Cafes are likely to play an increasingly important role at a local level.

Event objectives

The webinar will

• Provide recent research on repair cafes
• Give an opportunity to hear different European perspectives on Repair Cafés
• Highlight practical issues associated with running Repair Cafes
• Provide insights for those considering setting up a Repair Cafe

Agenda

Chaired by: Professor Martin Charter, Director and Chair, Board of Trustees, Farnham Repair Café – listen to podcast here, The Centre for Sustainable Design (®), Business School for the Creative Industries, University for the Creative Arts (UCA)

15.00  Introduction

Professor Martin Charter

15.05  Repair Cafés

Martine Postma, Founder, Repair Café Foundation

15.20  Global Repair Café Survey

Professor Wouter Spennick, Erasmus University

15.35  Q&A/Discussion

16.00  Panel

Kate Boursnell, Representative, Cambridge Repair Cafe Network, UK

Phoebe Brown, Director, Repair Cafe Wales, Wales

Tom Hansing, Research Associate, Foundation Anstiftung and Co-Coordinator, Network Repair-Initiatives, Germany

Jessika Richter, Board Member and Volunteer, Repair Café Malmö and Repair Café Lund, Sweden

16.30  Breakout Groups

• Funding
• Insurance
• Recruiting volunteers and customers
• 3D printing spare parts 
• Getting young people involved

17.15 Report Back

17.40 Discussion

17.55 Summing Up

18.00 Close

Registration

The event is free of charge but you need to register via an email to Ros on rcarruthers@uca.ac.uk

Further information

For more information contact:
Ros Carruthers
The Centre for Sustainable Design ®
Business School for the Creative Industries
UCA
+44 (0) 1252 892772

Funding

Funding received from Research England 2019-20 QR Strategic Priorities Fund. Research England is part of UK Research and Innovation, a public body funded by the UK government. For more information visit www.ukri.org or re.ukri.org