Students Lead Change at UCL Grand Challenges Innovation Week

Over three action-packed days, the UCL Grand Challenges Student Innovation Lab brought together students from across UCL to brainstorm, build, and pitch bold solutions to pressing global issues.

Driven by student insight and leadership, the Innovation Lab was shaped in collaboration with student ambassadors from last year’s Build-a-Lab programme and the Grand Challenges team. Over three inspiring days, students from across UCL’s disciplines came together to develop creative solutions to real-world problems.

Igniting Innovation: Laying the Groundwork

The event began with Chris Howard (Professor of Materials Physics) delivering an engaging introduction on cultivating an innovation mindset, emphasising the value of embracing failure. Following the introduction, Kaitlin Fritz (Enterprise Educator) guided students through a dynamic sandpit session, allowing space for groups to define the problem they wanted to address. These problems were framed within two key Grand Challenges themes: Food Security for the Climate Crisis and Disinformation for Data-Empowered Societies.

By the end of day one, each group had refined their problem statements and started to consider how to apply the innovation framework to their chosen issue, laying a strong foundation for the two days ahead.

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From Ideas to Impact: Shaping Solutions

Day two began with a lightning talk from Kaitlin on public speaking, before moving into ideation sessions. Co-facilitated with Levi Fernandez (Student Social Enterprise Manager), the sessions encouraged students to rapidly refine and iterate their ideas, develop potential solutions, and use the innovation framework to provide context and rationale. The day culminated in a series of elevator pitches where each group presented their solutions.

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Pitch Perfect: Presenting with Purpose

The final day, hosted at Friends House, opened with an insightful talk from Yash Rane on crafting an excellent pitch. With growing confidence in their team roles, students put the final touches to their solution before an afternoon pitching their idea to a judges panel.

To close the event, an awards ceremony and networking session celebrated the dedication and innovation of all the fantastic students and collaborators who brought this initiative to life.

If you’d like to get involved next time, sign up to our newsletter to hear about future opportunities.

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Group Projects

• Fake or Fact? -  Equipping teenagers with the knowledge and tools to recognise, understand, and navigate disinformation on social media.
• CoHealth -Bringing together healthcare professionals in marginalised communities to promote and develop digital inclusion.
• Ctrl+Fact - Tackling online disinformation among 11–18-year-olds from low socioeconomic backgrounds across the UK
• Soil Smart - Empowering farmers in Malawi while restoring soil health for future sustainable agriculture.
• EATRITE - Tackling childhood obesity by expanding access to nutritious food for children in highly deprived areas.
• New Meret - Restoring degraded lands in Ethiopia by improving soil health and ensuring long-term food accessibility.

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