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April 29, 2026
# Strategic Foresight and Innovation students participate in global competition
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OCAD University’s Strategic Foresight and Innovation (SFI) program has a new five-year partnership with Oxford University’s Skoll Centre to participate in their global Map the System (MTS) initiative and global MTS competition.
The Skoll Centre is an internationally renowned social impact centre, based at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. Since 2016, the centre has partnered with over 140 institutions across the globe and prepared more than 15,000 students with the skills and tools to become more effective change agents.
**GLOBAL COMPETITION**
This year, OCAD U SFI students taking systems courses were invited to participate in the MTS global competition, which challenges students to use systems thinking to analyze complex social and environmental issues of interest to them rather than just proposing solutions.
OCAD U had four teams and three individuals registered to participate along with volunteer advisors for all participants.
**MAY 1: PRESENTATION BY OCAD U SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES**
The selection of the team to attend the global event in Oxford in July (the competition is held from July 9 to 12) is through an internal competition that will first evaluate all submissions, then shortlist the best three candidates.
The shortlisted submissions are:
- “Fragmented Care: Mapping the disconnect across Canada’s health and social service systems” by Alba Au, Alison Clarke, Lesley Jeannotte, Aileen Nandy and Irena Pozgaj-Jones;
- “Nourishing the North” by Jackie Szabo, Kate Snack and Kylie Copeland; and
- “Child-Safe Platforms: Duty of Care” by Design by Ivan Leung
They will make oral presentations to an OCAD U community, which is taking place [virtually on Friday, May 1, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. ET](https://ocadu.zoom.us/j/89681699065?pwd=aIzmDBHgfnB1hjIGL5lHkiegDBZ0ik.1).
The panel judges then select the winning team that will attend the finals in Oxford.
**ABOUT THE SKOLL CENTRE AND MAP THE SYSTEM**
The Skoll Centre partners with universities worldwide each year, supporting educators to deliver the Map the System program at their institutions before inviting top student teams from all over the world to convene for a final competition in Oxford.
Through a structured learning journey involving online learning resources, carefully designed guides and activities, virtual gatherings, and peer interactions, students work in teams to dive deep into a social or environmental topic they are passionate about.
With Skoll Centre support, educators organize local Map the System competitions at their institutions. Participating student teams submit written materials, visual systems maps, and orally present their findings. Unlike traditional pitch competitions, participants are evaluated based not on a ‘solution’ to a problem, but rather on their depth of understanding of it.
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