A team of UVU students placed first in the U.S. and tied for fourth place in the world at a global social innovation competition held at Oxford University. UVU beat out 470 teams from across the globe to secure a place as one of the 15 remaining teams in the final competition.

The competition required students to research a problem of their choice, and then map the systemic problems, stakeholder relationships, and solutions landscapes in a clear, visual way. Using a systems thinking approach, the team submitted an academic paper of their research and provided a 10-minute presentation to judges consisting of executives from Ashoka, the Skoll Foundation, and PricewaterhouseCoopers among others. The UVU team focused on exploring the complexity of Utah’s inversion challenge.

After interviewing and surveying over a thousand stakeholders in Utah, the team presented a system map that showed the gaps in Utah’s current approach to this complex issue. They suggested a new path forward based on the data and other successful models used to solve issues in similar situations.

The team included UVU students Pierre Chesnais, Jake Davis, Aubrey Hanks, Brett Hoch, and Nick Varney. They were mentored by Luke Peterson, director of the Office of New Urban Mechanics and Kevin Castle from the Woodbury School of Business-- who traveled with the team to Oxford. The UVU Woodbury School of Business sponsored the team.

To achieve its ranking, the all-undergraduate UVU team beat graduate teams from Oxford, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and UC San Diego— a significant accomplishment. The top three teams from Canada and Australia consisted of professional doctorate and master’s students.

“These students showed that UVU is capable of competing with the best,” said Kevin Castle. “Everyone was amazed when they discovered our UVU team were all undergads beating some of the best graduate programs in the world.”

The team’s research suggested that to effectively address Utah’s inversion challenge, a new approach tailored to Utah’s unique situation is required. The research found that 58 percent of the inversion is caused by consumer related pollution. The students propose that an increased and coordinated focus on improving the Utah consumer’s value proposition for change is one new approach that is currently not happening in Utah. Even before the team left for Oxford, their unique research had already sparked significant interest here in Utah. The team is now sharing what they have learned with community leaders in the hope their research can influence change needed for Utah to address one of our most significant challenges.