FAQs
Grand Challenges has now finished for this year. We will release information on Grand Challenges 2023 in the next academic year on our Grand Challenges website. In the meantime, follow us on @gc_exeter to check out the events of GC2022 and find out information as it is released!
This is entirely up to you! Challenges Online is a student-led project week, so you can work on any type of project or content creation that you feel addresses the specific Challenge you have chosen to take on.
We have had many types of outputs in the past, from a climate change board game for children, to a website to give guidance for foster child carers.
For more information, find out more from the Climate and Environment Emergency, Fighting Fake News, Food For Thought and Loneliness and Mental Health challenge past projects!
Yes, it will count towards the volunteering hours for the Exeter Award.
If you have committments such as in-person practicals or labs on one of the days during Challenges Online week, that's ok! We understand that people have various committments that can overlap with CO week.
Challenges Online is a roughly 35-hour time commitment across Challenges Online week (7th-11th June). However, there is some flexibility about when you can complete this work. In your first Monday group session with your team (which it is important that you attend), you can communicate any restrictions on your availabilty and work together to address when is best for any 'live' meetings with your team. The important thing is letting your team know well in advance any times you will be unavailable so that this does not impact the group work you are undertaking together.
Students are able to carry on with their projects if they wish to. The week after Challenges Online, there will be an information day for students who would like to carry on with their projects over the summer and into the next academic year.
The Success for all Fund has been created to help you if you are experiencing financial challenges affecting your ability to study.
You do not need Microsoft Teams downloaded to take part in Challenges Online, however there are more tools available to you in the Desktop app than in the web browser. Therefore is may be useful for you to download the software before the week, information on how to do this can be found here.
We are looking to make the programme as accessible as possible to people in different time zones. Live speaker sessions will be recorded so that you can watch them back in your own time.
For your group work, you will decide amongst your team when the best times for 'live' meetings would be. In these meetings, you can catch up on progress and delegate out future tasks. Where necessary, other work can be carried out independently in your own time. Live chat feeds will remain accessible so that anyone can read back over discussions and updates that were posted whilst they weren't around.
When you sign-up for the programme, you will be asked to let us know your time zone. We will take the distribution of time zones into account when designing the programme.
If you or any member of your group displays COVID symptoms, please email us at grandchallenges@exeter.ac.uk as soon as possible. We will do our best to make sure that you can still take part as much as you can!
Yes, all students will be asked to make a new sign-up to the Challenges Online programme, and you can sign up to a different theme to the one that you signed up to before.
No, the whole programme will all be carried out remotely, so you don’t need to be in Exeter.
Yes, you can take part in both programmes.
If you wish to change your challenge, please email challengesonline@exeter.ac.uk.