‍WHO IS THE COURSE FOR?

Bachelor and Master's students interested to learn how to use citizen science and artificial intelligence to tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as part of a global competition called the SDG Olympiad.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The theme of the 2025 edition of the SDG Summer School is “Planetary Health” with a focus on gathering and analysing data about the impact of climate change on human health. The school lasts two weeks in Geneva, from Monday 30 June to Friday 11 July, with a challenge definition phase before and a solution documentation phase after the in-person event.  Teams work locally in the SDG Solution Space, an innovation space for students in the heart of International Geneva, while collaborating online with other SDG Summer Schools taking part in the SDG Olympiad.

The SDG Summer School focuses on team-based problem-solving. The agile development of practical prototypes, including regular pitching sessions to a diverse jury, is inspired by concrete challenges formulated by experts from the International Organizations in Geneva.

Examples of previous editions include:

• Smartphone-based self-monitoring to help tuberculosis patients ensure that they take their medication regularly. (challenge mentored by the Global Fund for the Fight Against AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis).
• Using Machine Learning to adapt physical education curricula in African schools to available resources, teacher competencies and student interests and abilities (challenge mentored by UNESCO and supported by the International Olympic Committee)  

COURSE CREDITS

Students will be provided with a Certificate of Completion from the Geneva Summer Schools at University of Geneva, stating the course is worth 6 ECTS. It is the student’s responsibility to validate this course for credit at their home university prior to the summer school.

HOW TO APPLY

Prepare a public link (eg. GoogleDrive, Dropbox, etc.) with your Motivation Letter and CV in one PDF document. Applicants should provide a certificate of registration confirming they are currently studying at their home institution.

Application deadline - 30 April 2025

For all inquiries about the 2025 SDG Summer School: gss@unige.ch  

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