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Student Competition

Innovative Technology and Global Citizenship for the 21^st Century

CHALLENGE: Can you form an interdisciplinary team to come together to address one (or more) of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals?

We welcome all undergraduate and postgraduate students of our member universities to enter WTUN’s annual student competition.

All you have to do is produce and present an idea (via a video) to address one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

We are seeking new and innovative solutions to address the goals, and we invite project proposals from student teams (undergraduate, postgraduate or a combination and preferably multi-disciplinary).

We invite you to submit your ideas in the form of a proposal and short video that will be assessed by our panel of judges.

Winning Entries:

Winning teams (prize per team member to max team size of 4) will receive:

1st place: £500

2nd place: £250

3rd place: £100

In addition, the winning team will be invited to present their winning idea, virtually, at WTUC 2023. The winning team will present their project to delegates as part of the Congress programme.

1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams will receive a certificate of achievement. Each will be profiled, and their idea showcased on the WTUN website.

UN SDG 4 “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”

Target 4.7 states: “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development”

The project proposal must be able to articulate which of the SDGs it seeks to address and how it demonstrates Global Citizenship for the 21st Century. The entry must also include an element of Public Engagement.

Students are encouraged to focus not only on technical aspects, but also on the social, economic and regional challenges of addressing the Sustainable Development Goals.

What do you have to do?

Form a team of four students (Maximum team size is four, undergraduate or postgraduate)
Choose one (or more) of the 17 SDGs to address, formulate your idea into a proposal and short video (3-8mins in length)
Email wtun@bradford.ac.uk to register your interest in attending an optional online student and mentor knowledge exchange session in April (Exact date and time tbc)
Submit your proposal using the form below by 23.59 (11:59pm)Thursday 1 June 2023

Winners will be announced by 13 July 2023.

Student and mentor knowledge exchange session will aim to cover:

What are the UN SDGs and why are they important?
What does it mean to be a Global Citizen?
How to produce a winning entry

Submission format

Submission for the competition are completed via Microsoft Forms at the link below. You will be asked to answer a range of questions set to the assessment criteria below. Each proposal must also be accompanied by a short 3 minute video showcasing the proposal. The video should be uploaded to a video streaming site (preferably either Vimeo or YouTube) and the link submitted with the Microsoft Form proposal.

Any additional materials that teams wish to submit must be done through WeTransfer, Google Drive or similar.

Students are encouraged to ensure that their proposal confirms:

How effectively does the proposal address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?
How effectively is the proposed public engagement demonstrated?
Will there be a measurable societal impact? If so, how?
Does the proposal demonstrate an understanding of what it means to be a Global Citizen?
How deliverable is this proposal?
Is this a cost-effective proposal?

There will be the opportunity for the teams to score bonus points as follows:

Is the team multidisciplinary (points will be awarded if team members are from different subject disciplines)?
Can the proposed solution be applied to the geographical area of another WTUN member (judged on demonstration of research and application)?

There will also be assessment around the video element of the submission including:

Is the idea explained in a coherent, engaging and understandable way?

We encourage students to be innovative in how they present their idea!

DEADLINE – Thursday 1 June 2023

APPLY HERE

If you have additional documents, demos or media to go alongside your proposal, please email this to wtun@bradford.ac.uk clearly stating your team name.

Previous Entries

To view the videos from previous years please visit:

2022

2021

2020

Good luck!

Hackathon for Climate Action

Please note that the WTUN Hackathon 2021 has already taken place and is now closed. Please see below for details and see here for the announcement of winners. Videos and presentations from the event can be found here.

The climate emergency is the defining crisis of our era, it poses a real global threat to all of us, however science tells us there is still time to avert catastrophe and by working together we can create a cleaner, greener and more resilient future.

Do you want to tackle responsible climate action?

Do you want to help solve a world issue?

Do you enjoy being innovative and coming up with new ideas and solutions?

Do you want to work in an international team with other students from across the world?

Do you want to improve your innovation and entrepreneurship skills through masterclasses from world leading experts?

Can you do all this in 48 hours???

We are welcoming all undergraduate and postgraduate students of our member universities to enter WTUN’s 1st innovation and entrepreneurship Hackathon.

View the programme See the resources

What is a Hackathon?

The WTUN Hackathon will be a 48 hour sprint event where you will be given the chance to address an issue around Climate Action. You and your team will have to decide on a part of the climate change problems and come up with a new product or service to solve this issue either locally, nationally or internationally. Over the 48 hours you will be given a number of tasks alongside a schedule of masterclasses to help you develop your product/service, enhance your skills and complete the tasks. This will all guide you into creating a final pitch presentation which you and your team will give at the end of the 48 hours to our panel of experts who will pick a winner – prizes are available for the top teams!

Who will I be working with?

Once you have registered for the event, we will assign you to international teams with students from other universities. You will then have some time to get to know them before the event kicks off on 29th June 2021.

Do I have to attend all 48 hours?

The event will be continuously over the 48 hour period but we understand it is hard to stay awake for that long! As you will have teams based around the world, you can split up some of the more difficult hours depending on timezones. However remember this is a colloboration event so you should all be working together as much as possible. Facilitators will be checking in on your progress in your breakout rooms and there will be new lectures, information and tips posted all throughout the event – you don’t want to miss anything!

How will this work?

The Hackathon will mainly take place as a Zoom meeting and students will be given their own breakout rooms. There will be tasks and templates to work on through Miro (a collaboration platform) and then at the end of the event all teams will be asked to give a short pitch on their new product/service. These will be judged by our panel of experts and we will select a winner.

How do I get involved?

Register for the event (registrations are now closed).
Attend the pre-event on Tuesday 8 June.
Virtually meet your team and get to know each other before the Hackathon.
Come with your team to the Hackathon beginning on 29 June 11:00am (UK time) – you will be sent a Zoom link before the event.
Get innovating!

Video from the pre-event

If you have any questions please get in touch with us at wtun@bradford.ac.uk.

Good luck!

WTUN privacy notice

The World Technology Universities Network is a network of global technology universities committed to undertaking cutting-edge, challenge-led research with direct benefits to people and society, and providing education for the next generation of global citizens who will have to respond to the world’s 21st century challenges.

The Network (WTUN) provides an international forum for networking, sharing and advancing ideas at the Annual Congress, including but not limited to facilitating links, exploring potential collaborations and co-operating in areas of university teaching, learning and research.

The work of the WTUN is administered by the University of Bradford which is committed to protecting your privacy, keeping your data safe and not doing anything with it that you wouldn’t reasonably expect.

This statement sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you will be processed by in relation to the management of the WTUN. It describes how we collect, store, manage, protect and use your personal information.

Under what legal basis does the processing of my personal data take place?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 provide for a number of different legal bases under which processing of personal data may take place. In this case, the following bases apply:

Legitimate Interests: For members, in signing the memorandum of understanding and consortium agreement each institution provides their personal data. This is held under the legitimate interests of WTUN and your own institution.

We will collect and process personal data relating to employees and representatives of world universities and organisations we consider share the values and vision of WTUN in order to issue invitations to attend the World Technologies Universities Congress or join the network.

What categories of personal data are used?

The WTUN processes the following data to for the purposes of administration and in order to maintain the Network:

personal contact details;
visual images (for use in marketing materials);
biographical details;
education and employment details;
Information contained in newspaper articles; and
Information published by companies house or other legal regulators.

For the organisation and delivery of the Congress we use the following personal data:

family, nationality or other information as stipulated by VISA regulations;
gender ;
disability status (to allow consideration for travel or event requirement);
dietary requirements; and
social media handles.

Where do we get your personal data from?

from you and your institution;
from online research from publically available sources (for example information published on the web);
shared by colleagues or associates who refer you to WTUN; and
from Event registration forms.

Who else do we pass this information on to?

Your information may be shared with the individual member organisations of WTUN, supporters or associate members of WTUN, suppliers of WTUN and potential members of WTUN in cases of a request for a testimonial about the Network.

We may need to disclose your details if required to the police, regulatory bodies or legal advisors where there is a legal requirement or an overriding public interest to do so.

Other than this WTUN would normally only share your personal data with contractors we use to deliver an event and in such cases, only for the purposes of delivering that event. Examples include external event venues, caterers etc. We never sell or trade your personal data.

Who has access to your information and to whom is it disclosed?

Some of your personal data (list of participants with names, first names, photos and video images) may be published on the web.

We provide options to enable you to inform us if you do not agree with publication of your personal data or you may, at any time, contact the WTUN coordinator and let us know that this is the case.

How we keep your details safe and secure?

For WTUN members your personal data will be held and processed on University of Bradford’s secure drive and our cloud based CRM system, Salesforce. Booking to the WTUN Congress is via a Google Form. For more information on Salesforce and Google, please see the next section

Access to information held for WTUN is restricted to individuals who need to see the data to carry out their duties. Your information is only accessible by appropriately trained staff and contractors.

We take appropriate measures to ensure that the personal information disclosed to us is kept secure, accurate and up to date and kept only for so long as is necessary for the purposes for which it is used.

Do we transfer the information overseas?

WTUN is a global network so transfer overseas is essential to its operation. In cases of transfer outside of WTUN members the WTUN host will seek your consent.

WTUC is delivered internationally. In this case it may be necessary to share data overseas in which case we will check there is adequate protection.

Salesforce and Google are US owned cloud based service providers. Both of these organisations have signed up to the Privacy Shield Framework https://www.privacyshield.gov/list which ensures that they apply the same levels of protection as the GDPR..

What are your rights as a data subject?

As a person whose personal data we are processing, you have certain rights in respect of that personal data; you have the right:

To access your personal data that we process;
To rectify inaccuracies in personal data that we hold about you if it is inaccurate or incomplete;
To request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing;
To restrict the processing of your personal data in certain ways;
To obtain your personal data for reuse;
To object certain processing of your personal data;
To complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about the way in which we process your personal data.

For more information on any of this information, please contact the WTUN Coordinator in the first instance wtun@bradford.ac.uk , University of Bradford, Richmond Road Bradford BD7 1DP

To contact the University of Bradford’s Data Protection Officer, please call +44 (0)1274 233021 email: data-protection@bradford.ac.uk.

Our Members

WTUN Vision

Technology universities are at the heart of the 21st century information revolution, with countries worldwide competing aggressively to build knowledge economies.

Economic strength depends on high tech manufacturing and international trade, with a knowledge economy based on high-quality research, and a steady flow of highly-trained graduates.

This has created demand for both the research and the graduates from well-established technology universities like those in the World Technology Universities Network.

The Network launched at the second World Technology Universities Congress on 31 August 2017.

Our objectives

to promote better understanding of the role and the characteristics of technology universities across the world
to promote mobility and global citizenship opportunities
to collaborate on research and knowledge transfer to address global challenges
to develop position and policy statements
to facilitate links between world technology universities and industry, NGOs and SMEs
to share best practice, and provide opportunities for capacity-building among member

We will deliver these objectives through:

exchanges between member universities
collaborative research between member universities
facilitating links between world technology universities and industry, NGOs and SMEs
delivery of an annual Congress, hosted by a member institution around the World

Our vision

WTUN Vision

Home

To discuss joining the Network please contact the WTUN Development Manager
Denise Whitehead
Email: wtun@bradford.ac.uk

WTUN Exchange Programme 2022/23

Applications for the WTUN Exchanges Programme 2022/23 are now OPEN

We welcome applications from all member institutions. There are 18 grants available of £2000 each for staff (academic and professional services) and PhD students to visit another member institution. Exchanges are open to new projects, initiatives and teaching and learning opportunities as well as those that have been involved in previous rounds and wish to utilise the funds to continue their work.

The exchanges will provide opportunities for member institutions to explore or conduct activities stated in the WTUN Memorandum of Understanding included, but not limited to:

collaborative research between member universities;
capacity-building, including collaborative teaching initiatives among member universities;
developing position and policy statements;
facilitating links between world technology universities and industry, NGOs and SMEs.

The exchanges or joint research meetings must support the vision and purpose of WTUN as set out in the MOU.

This year WTUN would like to encourage exchange proposals within the WTUN focus areas:

Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Gender Equity
Clean Water and Sanitation
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Affordable and Clean Energy
Climate Action
International collaboration between HE institutions

All proposals will be considered equally, however, in the of the event that we receive more applications for funding that spaces available (18) priority be given to new members and/or members who have not previously participated in the Exchange Programme.

WTUN Exchange Proposal and Agreement Form 2022-23

As our members look to re-engage on a global scale or begin new cross institutional activities, we will be encouraging exchange applications which specifically seek to develop further international activities (joint modules, summer schools, joint research bids).

There will be a two proposal limit per member institution and therefore all proposals must be approved by the sending institution’s Operational Board Member.

If you have any queries please contact WTUN on wtun@bradford.ac.uk

See case studies from previous exchanges

WTUN Exchanges 2021/22 Timeline

December 2022

WTUN exchanges launched

Identify exchange idea with other member institution

Member institutions link up and create proposal form

Dec 2022 – Mar 2023

30 March 2023

Deadline for submission with signatures

All proposals to be sent to wtun@bradford.ac.uk

Operational Board Assessment Panel to review proposals

April 2023

May 2023

All decisions to be communicated to applicants

Exchanges must be completed within the allocated timeframe

After exchange reports to be completed within 1 month of exchange

Jun 2023 – Mar 2024

The WTUN team will work will all successful applications and assist throughout the processes pre and post exchange.