Open Application for “SDG Summer School 2022”! Devise Open Source Health Solutions at Chaihuo x.factory, Supported by WHO, Geneva Tsinghua Initiative, and Institute of Global Health!

Dear community,

Summer in Shenzhen is right around the corner, so is the annual SDG Summer School 2022. As you know, at Seeed, we’ve been supporting SDG Summer Schools for several years now. And I’m happy to share the good news that Seeed has become a corporate partner for the SDG Summer School 2022, for which we will be sponsoring the maker space venue for participants in Shenzhen.  Guess what! It’s going to be held at the amazing Chaihuo x.factory!  By cooperating with the Geneva Tsinghua Initiative (GTI), WHO, the Global Fund, and the Institute of Global Health at University of Geneva we are happy to officially open the application form for participants in China to join the SDG Summer School 2022 in Shenzhen.

Figure 1. Previous Editions of SDG Summer School

© Geneva Tsinghua Initiative (GTI, 2022)

What’s the Event About?

To harness the strengths and creativity of today’s young people in accomplishing the Global Goals, Geneva Tsinghua Initiative (GTI) – academic partnership between the University of Geneva in Switzerland and Tsinghua University in China since 2017 – has been proactively organizing an event called “SDG Summer School” every year with its trusted partners. Thus far, GTI has been facilitating young people from high schools, universities and graduate schools to work on teams through challenge-solving, hands-on, and open source learning on solution idea conception, prototype development, pitch-giving sessions, and scalable and impactful solution creation. Ever since the COVID-19, this educational program has been running in combination of online and offline activities.

So, the topic for “SDG Summer School 2022” is Open Source Health Solutions, which will last 4 weeks from July 4 to July 29. It is going to be held in a hybrid form, with teams working locally in maker spaces in Geneva, Paris, Seoul, and Shenzhen, while collaborating with one another globally online on opening ceremony, weekly pitch-giving sessions, mentoring and coaching, and final ceremony. Specific health-related challenges will be set by the Global Fund and WHO, and they will provide “mentors” to each team – provide pitching (or more, depending on circumstances) guidance to the teams, e.g.: providing feedback and suggestions after a pitch session. In addition, PhD students from the Institute of Global Health at University of Geneva, will “coach” the teams – manage the teams more closely, following their progress and of course providing support in their domain of expertise on a day-to-day basis. For all participants in Shenzhen, depending on their interests and needs, Seeed Studio can also provide a basic training on open source hardware!

Where Can I Register?

Each of the 4 locations (Geneva, Paris, Seoul, and Shenzhen) participating in the SDG Summer School have a separate and independent application procedure. There’s no participation fee for Shenzhen, and the application is open for enrolled high school, university, and graduate school students! However, every participant in Shenzhen must be able to fund themselves, including but not limited to, travel, accommodation, food, and insurance. However, if these expenses are a challenge for you, you can apply for “SDG Summer Student Stipends” (reserved for a few selected students only) in the application form to cover the above-mentioned costs. In your application, please  indicate that you would like to be considered for a stipend, and explain why you need this stipend the most in detail.

***Application Link (Only for Shenzhen Participants): https://forms.gle/huWf5apNaH4gswVT6

***Application Deadline: 23:59P.M., June 10, 2022 (China Standard Time)

***Note: Interested participant candidates have to provide a public url (ex. Dropbox, Shared Google Folder) to a folder containing your application documents: CV and Motivation Letter. The Motivation Letter has to include a 1 min. video where you explain your motivation to join the SDG Summer School. Be careful not to provide a protected url, but an open, public url.

***Only the selected participants will be notified by email by June 17, 2022 (China Standard Time).

What Are the SDGs?

In 2015, all the Member States of the UN committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (commonly known as the “SDGs” or “Global Goals”). This was the universal call of action for making a sustainable future for all, through delivering peace and prosperity by 2030. As displayed in Figure 1, the 17 SDGs are focused on the most pertinent social, economic, and environmental issues of concern for all the countries. (UN, 2015). Since the SDGs are interconnected in nature, reinforcing one goal can positively, negatively, or neutrally affect the other SDGs. That being said, a holistic perspective is necessary to prevent and reduce unforeseen negative externalities. How? By leveraging various resources of multi-stakeholders from local communities, governments, private sector, academia, civil society organizations (CSOs), UN agencies, and more.

Figure 2. The UN’s 17 SDGs (UN, n.d.)

Notes

1. Check out the outcomes of SDG Summer School 2021 in Shenzhen:

https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2021/11/22/sdg-summer-school-2021-students-open-source-health-solutions-facilitated-by-chaihuo-maker-space-geneva-tsinghua-initiative-unitar-and-other-multi-stakeholders-in-switzerland-france-sout/

2. For other locations, please apply via this website:

https://gt-initiative.org/education-programs/summer-school/

3. For all inquiries about the SDG Summer School 2022, contact: [email protected]