The Geneva Challenge 2025

The Geneva Challenge, hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute, is a project funded by Swiss Ambassador Jenö Staehelin and aims to encourage graduate students to provide innovative and pragmatic solutions to some of the world’s complex challenges. This year, students are invited to develop analysis-based proposals on "The Challenges of Migration".

Since an interdisciplinary solution, crossing traditional boundaries between academic disciplines is key to addressing this issue, we invite master’s students from all academic programs and from anywhere in the world to provide helpful strategic recommendations. Five prizes, one per continent, will be distributed.

Teams of 3-5 master students must submit an 8,000-word proposal each, which:  

• identifies a challenge related to migration;

• constructs an interdisciplinary analysis of how it affects different aspects of development in a specific (but transposable) context;

• proposes innovation at the policy, practice, process or technology levels turning the challenge into a development opportunity.

The Geneva Challenge 2025 will distribute 25,000 CHF in monetary prizes and the five finalist teams will be invited (travel and accommodation expenses covered) to publicly present their work in Geneva before a panel of high-level experts. Networking opportunities are also envisioned as part of the prize package.