opportunities

Sunny Angels

Zi Mo Zheng, Qi Le Zhu, Hao Tian Liu, Yu Fei Wang, Yu Cheng Huang, Jia He Bian and Sing Yin Hung

The University of Hong Kong 

The 6-year non-governmental organization aims at creating videos that share targeted teaching and learning materials for vulnerable groups including SEN kids while spreading the spirit of volunteering. So far, we have released 264 video episodes with 5 sections “Life Encyclopedia”, “Little Science Experiments”, “Picture Book Series”, “Art Station”, “Just for You Today”, achieving over 1 million total views, with more than 100 volunteers involved. As the influence and educational impact of Sunny Angel continued to grow, audiences expanded from children with special needs to include ordinary children, and some projects reached elderly people left behind in rural mountainous areas.

Farming for the All

Yerin Shin, Seobi Choi and Yoonji Hyeon

Korea University 

Our project, Farming for the ALL, is a digital platform designed to bridge generational and logistical gaps in Korean agriculture. It connects young and senior farmers through a reward-based knowledge-sharing system, while offering consumers direct access to fresh, local produce. By eliminating intermediary fees and enabling transparent transactions, the platform fosters sustainable farming practices, enhances rural community engagement, and aligns with key SDGs including health, responsible consumption, and economic growth.

Supetai Project

Saskia Novent, Yin-te Pauwels, Berend Buyle and Simi Macaulay

KU Leuven 

In Kenya, especially in rural areas, there is no formal waste management. Most of the trash gets burned or ends up in landfills which causes environmental damage. Our project addresses this problem by setting up a recycling centre to collect and repurpose plastic waste. The workshop produces sustainable products that meet Ewaso Ngiro’s community needs such as construction materials as well as souvenirs for tourists in order to cover operational costs. One of the key aspects of the project was local ownership, so we worked with a community member called Issack, that way the workshop is locally owned and operated.

Daylight Desks

Johannes Svensson

Lund University 

Modern humans spend over 90% of their lives indoors, harming circadian rhythms, creativity, and well-being. Daylight Desks is the solution: a portable, one-square-meter outdoor workspace module that boosts exposure to natural light while offering comfort and privacy. With openable walls, built-in power, and sun protection, it adapts to weather while supporting focus and productivity. Launched in December 2024 during our master's in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, we researched industry needs and rising interest in outdoor offices. They have built a 100% upcycled MVP, now installed on campus for student testing, with their first customer trial upcoming at Fredriksdal's corporate outdoor office.

EcoVolt

Eugene Ann Yao Chia

National University of Singapore 

Plug loads account for 1/3 of all building energy consumption. 40% of the energy here is wasted because of idle energy. That means higher bills and more pollution—without even using your devices. Our solution is Ecovolt - a smart technology that tracks, optimises, and reports your energy use—eliminating waste and powering a greener tomorrow. Ecovolt offers real-time monitoring, smart control, power savings, carbon reduction and greater energy efficiency. With our advanced AI smart socket and monitoring technology, say goodbye to energy waste and shrink your carbon footprint, all while staying ahead in sustainability.

VITA

Marías Berríos and Ian Fry

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 

Vita is a student-led project using AI to improve healthcare access in Latin America. It connects patients with the right specialists through WhatsApp, requiring no app downloads or registration. By guiding users based on symptoms and medical history, Vita tackles misinformation that delays diagnoses and treatment. The project supports SDG 3 (Health and Well-being), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure). Already in use in medical centers, Vita especially benefits older adults and underserved populations in Chile. Future plans include expanding to rural Chile, developing educational materials, and piloting in vulnerable communities to ensure equitable healthcare access.

EmpowerShe

Ximena Ortiz Gómez, América Castro Juárez and José Luis Spíndola Gómez

Tecnológico de Monterrey 

EmpowerShe is a social enterprise that provides STEM education to women in Mexico. With a gender equity focus, EmpowerShe aims to reduce the gap in STEM through two key pillars: Hands-on STEM courses in public elementary schools, designed to encourage interest in STEM fields through interactive, didactic learning methodologies. A STEM educational mobile app, programmed by high school and university women of TEC de Monterrey, designed to function offline, ensuring access to education in low-income communities. We’ve also launched the "Empowering Futures" program, which consists of donating phones, and other devices that students no longer use at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Appendable Drag Reduction Methods & Devices for Road Vehicles

Michael Connolly

University College Dublin 

In Europe, the transport sector is responsible for approximately 25% of total GHG emissions, highlighting an urgent need for more sustainable solutions. This project focuses on improving vehicle efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag using rear-mounted appendable devices. The solution targets the low-pressure vacuum that develops behind road vehicles, which contributes significantly to overall drag, especially at higher speeds. Simulation and road-testing results have demonstrated the potential for up to 20% fuel savings, a 50–100 km range extension for electric vehicles, and a 10-20% reduction in CO₂ emissions. The devices are designed for easy attachment using existing mounting technology.

Social Media Resilience: Digital Leaders UK

Abi Edmunds

University of Birmingham 

Social Media Resilience is an education initiative tackling the urgent need for AI literacy, critical thinking, and digital wellbeing in schools. In response to the growing threat of disinformation and digital harm, we equip young people to understand, question, and lead in an AI-powered world. Through whole-school training, a student-led Digital Literacy Champion programme, our flexible tools empower educators, parents and young people with the skills to thrive online. Our scalable solutions bridge the gap between policy and lived experience and create lasting digital wellbeing culture change.

SecureDIY: A Scalable and Deployable Cybersecurity Learning Platform for Everyone

KunQI Zhang

University of Glasgow 

SecureDIY is an open-source security education platform built with Node.js and React. It features decoy honeypots to capture unauthorized access, logs and blacklists suspicious IPs, and offers real-time alerts via WebSocket. Users can filter and export logs as CSV, manage blacklists, and visualize attack trends through interactive dashboards. The platform supports in-memory and persistent storage and is internationalized for English and Chinese, making it easy to deploy in educational or testing environments.

Growing Futures: School Food Gardens as Living Classrooms for Sustainability and Enterprise

Phillip Mutemasango

University of Johannesburg 

Emerging from a PhD study on empowering school principals as entrepreneurial leaders, this project reimagines school food gardens, initially developed to support nutrition schemes, as dynamic, living classrooms. Through collaboration with teachers and community members, these gardens became hubs for entrepreneurial learning. Learners developed business skills, surplus produce supported vulnerable households, and sales to local vendors generated third-stream income. By embedding real-world value into the curriculum, the project champions education that prioritises sustainable livelihoods and life success, transforming school gardens into catalysts for educational innovation, community upliftment, and economic empowerment.

Sankofa Empowering Women in Ghana (SEWING)

Zehra Syeda

University of Maryland 

SEWING (Sankofa Empowering Women in Ghana) is an international initiative that combats gender-based exploitation by equipping young women in Northern Ghana with entrepreneurial and practical skills. Through a community-rooted, climate-conscious fellowship, SEWING provides an alternative to the exploitative Kayayei labor cycle. The program empowers girls to gain financial independence, repurpose textile waste, and become leaders in their communities. SEWING has built local and global partnerships, secured funding, and advanced systemic change aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Beyond the Pivot (BTP)

Shiyang Chen, Yufei Wang, Yuhan Zhang, Wenbin Song and Christina W Y Dong

The University of Hong Kong 

Beyond the Pivot (BTP), founded in 2009 at the University of Hong Kong, is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to volunteerism and empowering students to drive meaningful social change. Guided by the motto 'Think Beyond, Act Beyond,' BTP operates eight independent volunteering projects. These include Go2Africa (Ghana), Hello Neverland (Hainan), SinCere (Sichuan), Home Kong (Hong Kong), Into Miracle (Inner Mongolia), Yonder Narnia (Yunnan), Mianhuasha (Hunan), and SAGA Online Classes. These projects address critical issues such as education, poverty, health care, information technology, and cultural conservation.

RemodelLing

Minjun Kang, Minji Kim, Seonhye Kim and Juhyeon Chun

Korea University 

RemodelLing reduces the energy footprint of large-scale AI by coupling algorithmic efficiency with thermal circularity. Low-power language-model architectures discovered via AutoML cut computation demand, while data-center waste heat is piped into greenhouses to cultivate high-value subtropical crops. The approach curbs electricity use, CO₂ emissions and cooling water consumption, and creates a new agri-tech revenue stream—offering a scalable path toward carbon-aware AI operations.

Global Ultimatum

Teodora Vladusic

Lund University 

Global Ultimatum is a fantasy role-playing game inspired by the UN’s Global Goals, designed to engage politically disengaged youth. Guided by a game leader, players tackle global challenges using creativity, communication, and dice rolls. The game aims to inspire action and reduce eco-anxiety through immersive, meaningful play. Encouraged by a teacher to develop it beyond fantasy, the creator and a classmate made it their final project in a youth entrepreneurship course. Now, she is refining the game using evidence-based psychology, exploring the impact of role-play, mindfulness, and Inner Development Goals (IDGs) to ensure it's both fun and educational.

Bamboobon

Shannon Xin Yun Bek

National University of Singapore 

Bamboobon is a social enterprise dedicated to using bamboo as a catalyst for economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. With rice and corn markets saturated, bamboo offers a lucrative, economically sustainable alternative that can significantly boost income. Through our flagship Bamboo Learning Centre (BLC) in Ubon Ratchathani, we equip farmers, artisans, and enthusiasts with the skills, resources and industry connections needed to cultivate, treat, create and sell products with bamboo. Bamboobon's impact now extends to more than 200 workshop participants, with 3 treatment tanks constructed, over 10 industry experts in our network, and 14 rai of farmland dedicated to planting bamboo!

Student Public Policy Lab (LEPP)

Antonia Ortiz, Roberto Durán, Alonso Vargas, Jairo Palma and Catalina Olivares

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 

The Student Public Policy Lab (LEPP) is an interdisciplinary student-led initiative that fosters civic engagement and public policy analysis within the UC community. Through research, expert talks, and visits to public institutions, LEPP promotes critical thinking and informed participation among students. It supports SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), while addressing other SDGs depending on its annual research focus. LEPP aims to expand nationally and across Latin America through events like a regional student congress, creating inclusive spaces for dialogue, collaboration, and concrete contributions to public policy from diverse academic backgrounds.

CONCORA

Fátima Gaytán, Estefania Antonio, Miranda Eugenia Colorado Arróniz, Luis Felipe Hernández and Paulina Ibáñez

Tecnológico de Monterrey 

CONCORA is a digital platform that democratizes access to education and employment in Latin America. Through personalized learning journeys, we connect users with scholarships, internships, courses, and real-world challenges from companies and organizations. By focusing on skills, mentorship, and practical experience, we empower young people to improve their employability and access life-changing opportunities.

Emotion Dysregulation in Autism

ZeZe Sohawon

University of Birmingham 

EDA is a lived experience-led mental health charity for autistic young people. EDA supports autistic young people with mental health needs aged 12-25. This is done via providing peer mentoring informed by a psychological model. EDA has supported 1002 individual young people across schools, mental health units and young people not in education or training (NEET). There is no other charitable service in the world delivering lived experience-led, psychologically informed peer mentoring that is done in the intersect between autism and mental illness. EDA has featured at 10 Downing Street, in a global conference in Vancouver, Houses of Parliament, BBC and ITV.

The Movement Street

Lyric Amodia

University of Maryland 

As a UMD graduate student, I’ve expanded The Movement Street—a nonprofit I founded—into a national chapter-based model rooted in civic leadership and community care. While the organization began before I arrived at UMD, my time here has been pivotal: I piloted a campus chapter, built a national events calendar, launched a student leadership recruitment initiative, and scaled our impact through the Do Good Accelerator. Our work directly addresses the national volunteerism crisis by eliminating barriers to service through creative entry points—including in-person service events, remote volunteering through livestreams, and passive engagement through service-driven apparel.

BioVita

Carlos Uriel Vega Rodríguez, Ana Lozoya Mandujano, Denisse Güemes Frese, Nashiely Ojeda Pazos, Enrique Castro Escalona, Oscar Manuel Pulido Silva and José Alberto Andrés Asenjo Pino

Tecnológico de Monterrey  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 

BioVita is a biotechnology-based project that develops biodegradable bioplastics from organic waste generated by the brewing and winemaking industries. Our goal is to offer a sustainable alternative to conventional plastics by transforming agro-industrial residues into eco-friendly materials, promoting a circular economy and reducing environmental impact.

RIVAAN

Priyanshu Jaiswal and Darsh Mehta

Rivaan is a sustainable fashion startup promoting India’s organic and indigenous fibres — starting with Kala Cotton and expanding to hemp, Eri silk, wool, bamboo, and banana fibre. We aim to build a trusted brand that empowers farmers, weavers, and artisans while offering eco-conscious consumers authentic, naturally grown alternatives. Rooted in sustainability and tradition, Rivaan brings forgotten Indian fabrics back to the mainstream through clean design and meaningful storytelling.

SEVA - Surveillance tools for Early Vigilance of AMR (antimicrobial resistance)

Aakriti Jain

Project SEVA is envisioned at building and deploying AI/ML powered tools for detection of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals. Such surveillance tools will assist in early detection of resistance in the admitted patients and thus help prescription of specific antifungals/antimicrobials. This early step of vigilance can prevent prescription of broad spectrum antimicrobials and help save patient lives in the long run. With a focus on fungal pathogens, we have performed a scientific study to extract useful information for building a database. This database will further be the foundation for ML based detection tools.

The Cropsies

Tenia Puspa Lestari, Jamaica Layos, Floreto Jr. Quinito, Nur Faizah Paiz and Ridwan Amsal

The University of Queensland 

The Cropsies is an online tool that helps people who want to grow food but don’t have land find empty farms that aren’t being used. It’s like a smart matchmaker for farms and farmers! In places like Southeast Asia, many farmers are getting older, young people can’t find jobs, and a lot of good land is just sitting there doing nothing. The Cropsies helps by: Connecting people to land they can use, Teaching them how to farm, and Making sure they can use the land safely and fairly. This way, more people can grow food, earn money, and take care of the Earth