UQ Repair Café

Do you have an overly loved personal item in need of repair? Threads that need patching up? A bike that needs fixing? A clock that’s stopped ticking? A stool on its last leg?

Toss it? No way!

Bring them to UQ’s Repair Café and they will be fixed for free by our apprentice fixers under the expert guidance of UQ Innovate staff.

UQ’s Repair Café aims to fix items that would otherwise go to landfill, and teach students and staff skills to repair their own broken items, all while enjoying a cuppa and chat.

The UQ Repair Café is a partnership between Engineers Without Borders UQ, UQ Innovate and the Sustainability Office.

To get involved, join the Engineers Without Borders' Repair Cafe Facebook Group.

Promoting a circular economy

A Repair Café promotes a circular economy system where materials never become waste. Instead, they are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, refurbishment and recycling. You can read an excellent overview of the topic here.

You can also visit the website for the global Repair Café movement to learn more about how repair cafés aim to help reduce consumption of raw materials and energy by lowering the demand for new products. They also help attendees to build and swap skills that will help them to apply more circular economy principles in their everyday lives.

Our next UQ Repair Café event:

Check out the Engineers Without Borders' Repair Cafe Facebook Group for details on the next Repair Cafe event.

Please register your repair here.

Frequently asked questions:

How does it work?

Everyone is welcome at a Repair Café – bring a broken item or just come and see what it’s all about, enjoy a cuppa and show your support for this new project!

When you arrive you will be paired with an apprentice fixer, who will take a look at the broken item and discuss what is needed to get it back in action again. Under the supervision of UQ Innovate staff, the apprentice fixer will complete the repair. We invite you to stay with your fixer, watch, and learn– it’s a great chance to find out more about how it works, how to look after it and how to fix it yourself.

There will be refreshments available so you can enjoy a cuppa and a chat before or after your repair has been done.

What can be fixed and do I need to register?

At UQ Repair Café events the following repairs will be made available:

Sewing repairs such as clothes, household furnishings, bags and even simple upholstery jobs
Woodwork repairs such as broken furniture or handheld wooden items
Mechanical and bicycle repairs
Jewellery repairs

To be sure we can fix your item we require people to register before turning up.

Please register your repair here.

Interested in volunteering?

Interested in becoming an apprentice fixer? Repair Café volunteer positions are open to both UQ students and staff. If you have experience in fixing household items or sewing we'd love if you could share your skills. If you don't yet have repairing skills, sign up and learn these valuable skills from our expert UQ Innovate staff.

Volunteering time will be recognised through the UQ Employability Award, and can be claimed as Engineering Professional Practice hours.

UQ Repair Cafe House Rules

The work carried out in the Repair Café is performed free of charge on a voluntary basis by UQ Repair Café apprentice fixers.
Visitors offering broken items for repair do so at their own risk. Repairs are not guaranteed.
Experts making repairs offer no guarantee for the repairs carried out with their help and are not liable if objects that are repaired in the UQ Repair Café turn out not to work properly at home.
Neither UQ, the UQU club Student are liable for any loss that may result from advice or instructions concerning repairs, for the loss of items handed over for repair, for indirect or consequential loss or for any other kind of loss resulting from work performed in the UQ Repair Café. The limitations set forth in these house rules shall not apply to claims declared justified on the basis of liability arising by virtue of applicable consumer protection legislation which cannot be lawfully superseded.
Repair experts are entitled to refuse to repair items.
Repair experts are not obliged to reassemble disassembled appliances that cannot be repaired.
Visitors to the Repair Café are solely responsible for their items at all times and for tidy removal of items brought in that could not be repaired.
To cut down on unnecessary waiting times during busy periods, a maximum of ONE broken item per person will be examined. The visitor will join the back of the queue if there is a second item for repair.
Handheld items only
Visiting minors (under 15) must be supervised at all times by an adult.
Visitors to the Repair Café are not permitted to physically engage in any build or repair activity.
Visitors to the Repair Café must
- follow all directions given by UQ
- must wear closed footwear at all times in the Space, and must at all times use all safety and protective gear required by UQ

UQ may require you to leave the Space or withdraw your entry into the Space at any time for any reason, including if you breach these terms, and if so you must comply promptly.

Download the House Rules here.