Instructors within the Honours Health Sciences Program, Michael Wong, Margaret Secord, Nevart Terzian, and Elyse Rosa, are empowering students to become agents of change by embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their fourth-year Child Health Inquiry Advanced course. Through an inquiry-driven, problem-based approach, students were challenged to go beyond the classroom and develop innovative grant proposals addressing pressing global and local issues related to child health.

The stakes were high as students pitched their creative solutions to a panel of experts, tackling critical themes such as youth mental health and school equity, enhancing Canada’s immigrant and refugee support system, reforming Ontario’s foster care system, and addressing tuberculosis among First Nations children. Other proposals explored the impact of Canada’s Bill S-211 on the global fight against forced child labor, the development of a tool to assess youth attitudes towards sexual consent, and the impact of natural spaces on adolescent mental health.

An interdisciplinary panel—including Mark Lee (Research Support Manager, MERIT); Katherine Cost (Assistant Professor Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences); Amira El Masri (Director of the Office of International Affairs), and Sarah Cairns (Health Sciences Librarian)- —engaged in a lively discussion with student teams, offering feedback and insights into the real-world implications of their ideas.

By integrating the SDGs into their studies, these students are proving that education isn’t just about learning—it’s about making a tangible impact on the world.