The 2019 Advancing Development Goals International Students Contest invites teams of Master students from all academic programmes to devise innovative and pragmatic solutions to the Challenges of Global Health.

Eager to stimulate reflection and innovation on development from diverse disciplinary and contextual perspectives and with the generous support of Ambassador Jenö Staehelin, the Graduate Institute has launched in 2014 the Advancing Development Goals Contest, an international competition for graduate students.

The idea is to gather contributions that are both theoretically grounded and offer pragmatic solutions to a relevant international development problem stemming from an interdisciplinary collaboration between 3 to 5 enrolled master students from anywhere in the world.

Eligibility and Requirements

1. Participants of the ADG contest 2019 must be enrolled as graduate students at the time of their registration for the contest. They consider “graduate students” to be anyone enrolled in a post bachelor level university programme with a maximum duration of 2 (two) years, or anyone who can prove to be studying towards acquiring a masters level degree.
2. Participants must gather in teams of 3 (three) to 5 (five) graduate students. In the submitted analysis, they should contribute with an interdisciplinary approach or from at least 2 (two) different disciplinary perspectives. No participation on an individual basis will be admitted. The participants can be enrolled in a same graduate programme or can collaborate with students from other programmes from the university they are enrolled in or coordinate with students from different universities and institutions worldwide.
3. The category in which the team will be placed for the contest will be based on the continent of the universities predominantly represented within the team.  In case, there is an equal representation of continents within the team, the team decides in which category they wish to compete.
4. All team members must provide a scanned copy of a document that serves as proof of enrolment as a graduate student before the registration of the team can be confirmed and validated.
5. Any official document issued by the academic institution the student is affiliated to is accepted as proof of enrolment as long as it contains:
   a) The name of the student;
   b) The program he/she is enrolled in;
   c) An issuance date up to three months before the registration date or
   d) Validity beyond the registration date.
6.  Exceptionally, organizer might accept the registration of students who are transitioning into graduate studies, as long as they have already been accepted in a graduate student programme at the time of the registration.

Selection Process 

Applicants submissions will be evaluated by an interdisciplinary academic steering committee who will select 3 submissions per category to be published on the competitions website and then reviewed by an independent jury of experts with academic, governmental and private sector backgrounds.

Five finalist teams, one team per continent, will be invited (traveling and accommodation expenses covered) to an oral presentation in Geneva, where they will defend their ideas and answer questions from the jury and from the public. The finalists will also be present at an awards ceremony where the results of the contest will be announced preceded by a high-level keynote speech on the challenges of global health.

Prizes 

The ADG contest distributes CHF 25’000 in monetary prizes. The winning project will be awarded CHF 10’000; the two teams in second place will receive CHF 5’000 each and the two teams in third place, CHF 2’500 each.