Are you ready to change the world?

Tackling the world’s greatest challenges starts with understanding a problem and its wider context. Join the competition to explore, probe and research the issues that matter to you, and share your findings with the world.

map-the-system-unc-sharita-thomas-and-hiba-fatima

Map the System is a global competition focused on exploring the wider context of social and environmental issues. The UNC final competition includes cash prizes for current UNC students and the winning team will compete in the semi-regional final competition this year. One team from the semi-regional finals will be chosen to attend the competition in Oxford. Innovate Carolina will provide travel stipends to every current UNC student who is selected to attend the final competition.

What you’ll experience

By participating in the Map the System competition, you will have the opportunity to gain experience in many areas:

  • Research a social or environmental problem that matters to you.
  • Gain skills in systems thinking to understand ways to address your chosen problem.
  • Gain exposure to career paths and professional endeavors across multiple industries.
  • Hone your skills: research, presentations, pitches, and more.
  • Connect with other students, faculty, staff and professionals with a passion for social and environmental change.

The most recent team that traveled to the global finals at Oxford University in the United Kingdom experienced the international competition – and so much more. They had the chance to meet with other students, faculty, entrepreneurs, business leaders and public policy experts from around the world – all of whom are interested in transformational change. Over the course of a weekend, team members participated in educational workshops, engaging presentations and networking events. They walked away from this cultural experience better informed and highly inspired by ideas for using systems thinking in ways that they never considered to solve problems they never knew existed.

2023-2024 Key dates

  • Oct. 13 – Systems Thinking Workshop: Meet the Method, Learn to Apply It, Practice Pitching Results presented by Kristen Hassmiller Lich and Hiba Fatima
  • Oct. 24 – Virtual Information Session for Map the System
  • Nov. 9 – Team Mixer
  • January 2024 – Student Team Registration
  • January 2024 – Office Hours with Hiba Fatima and Faculty Mentors begin
  • January 23, 2024 – Map the System UNC Information Session & Team Mixer: Register online now.
  • February 2024 – Research Workshop with Nancy Lovas
  • April 2024 – UNC Student Submissions Due
  • April 2024- UNC Finals

Eligibility

The Map the System competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill. No experience in systems mapping is necessary. Individuals who are not part of the UNC–Chapel Hill community are also eligible to join a team. However, all teams in the competition must be comprised of at least one UNC-Chapel Hill student or recent graduate and have a maximum of five active team members. If you would like help finding team members with similar interests, email us at mapthesystem@unc.edu. We can connect you with potential teammates.

Map the System at Oxford University

Map the System is run by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, in partnership with educational institutions across the world who each run the competition at their institution. On the Oxford site, you will find winning submissions from previous Global Finals, list of past judges, FAQs, and much more.

Map the System explanation video by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

Resources

Join the Map the System GroupMe to ask questions, connect with other interested students and find a team.

How to register

Registrations for the 2023-24 Map the System competition will open in the fall. If you have questions, please email anise.robinson@unc.edu. Watch the fall information session here.

System Thinking Experts

System thinking advisors offer guidance to teams in the use of systems thinking, regardless of the project.

Fatima

Hiba Fatima, MS

Evaluation Coordinator, National Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development Center

Faculty Mentors

Faculty mentors help and advise teams working on projects that fall within their scope of expertise.

Berner

Maureen Berner

Professor of Public Administration and Government, UNC School of Government
liz-chen-2.5x2.5

Liz Chen, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor and Co-Director of CIPG, Department of Public Health
Iruka

Iheoma Iruka, PhD

Research Professor and Faculty Fellow at FPG, Department of Public Policy
Kant

Andy Kant 

Director, FastTraCS, UNC School of Medicine

Story spotlights

074535600-cigarette-smoke-wooden-backgro

Giving a global voice to minority smoking inequities

A UNC-Chapel Hill student-led public health team placed third among 3,500 participants in Oxford University’s global systems mapping competition, exploring racial and ethnic disparities in tobacco control.
map-the-systems-finals-screen-shot

Mapping social impact solutions

In spring 2020, five teams presented in the final round of the UNC competition. A public health team focused on equity in tobacco control took the top spot among finalists that explored many issues: hog farming, food insecurity, colorectal cancer and marine ecosystems.

Program partners

oxford-card
Innovate-card
Honors-card
Gilings-card

Previous UNC finalists

2022

In 2022, more than 40 student teams registered for the local competition at UNC-Chapel Hill. Four top teams competed in the UNC campus finals:

  • “Food Insecurity in Wards 7 and 8 of Washington, D.C”. by Eugenia Chow and Jaya Dayal
  • “Unheard Voices: A Systemic Investigation of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Crisis” by Abigail Rinderle and Adora Nsonwu
  • “Studentification: The Growing Problem of Student Housing in American College Towns” by Sita Tayal and Charlotte Dorn
  • “Maternal Mortality: Illuminating SPARCS (Systems, Paradigms, and Restorative Community Solutions) for Maternal Health Equity in North Carolina” by Hiba Fatima, Sana Behnam-asl, Doyoung Kim, Raunak Mahtani and Sharita R. Thomas

The Maternal Mortality team was selected to represent the University in the Map the System Global Finals. This team traveled to Oxford University, where it competed with 64 colleges and universities from 21 countries. Watch team member Sharita R. Thomas describe her experience using systems as a problem-solving method.

2021

In 2021, four teams competed in the UNC-Chapel Hill campus finals. The Rising Waters team was selected to represent the University in the Map the System Global Finals. Watch all four Carolina finalist teams deliver their presentations during the 2021 UNC Innovation Showcase.

paddy-5389458_640

Team 1: Rising Waters

How has a lack of long-term planning, overly qualitative evaluations, and top-down federal reforms led to inequalities in community resiliency to floods in North Carolina, mostly along socioeconomic lines?
financial-inclusion

Team 2: U.S. Financial Inclusion Gender Gap

What are the root causes of the financial inclusion gender gap and some viable, high-impact solutions for increasing female access to and understanding of personal finance?
urban-greenspace

Team 3: Disparities in Urban Green Space Access

Which organizations and stakeholders are involved in the implementation of green infrastructure across the United States? And how does their work intersects with the work of environmental justice organizations around the North Carolina?

2020

In 2020, the top team from UNC-Chapel Hill placed third in the international Map the System competition by delivering a virtual presentation at the global finals hosted by Oxford University. The UNC team (named Using Systems Science to Advance Health Equity in Tobacco Control) used systems science to better understand racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in smoking and to identify opportunities for change. Watch the team’s presentation during the final global round.