FAQs
Undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Exeter can access our Grand Challenges Week for free as a part of your tuition. This includes students who are studying abroad at the University. Students who are from partner universities that choose to attend the programme pay a fee that is discussed with your domestic institution. Prices are subject to change yearly.
Yes! We have lots of videos on our YouTube of students sharing their experiences, as well as testimonials on the website and on our Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn handles. We also have a great podcast on students' experiences of Grand Challenges. To listen, click here.
Also, we have some student takeovers on our Instagram story highlights, which share some incredible projects and their outcomes!
Only undergraduates can participate in the Challenges, but postgraduate students can apply to be facilitators on the Challenges themselves. Applications for 2024 facilitators will open in early 2024, you can find more information on our Postgraduate Facilitator page. For any questions, please contact us at grandchallenges@exeter.ac.uk
In 2023, the programme ran in person on both Streatham and Penryn campus, so students were unable to participate in Grand Challenges remotely.
Each Challenge is a week-long experience so you can only sign up for one Challenge. You are welcome to take part in Grand Challenges multiple times across your undergraduate degree, as they run yearly, which is a great option if you are interested in multiple Challenges. However, the availability of different Challenges are subject to change each year, so this is worth bearing in mind!
As part of your project, you will produce one or more creative outputs to display your work. Examples of previous outputs are a poster, a video, a campaign, a website, a blog, a report, a ministerial submission, the prototype or design for an app, a game, an educational programme, and a proposal document. The projects page shows examples of what students produced in ptrvious years.
You don’t have to do any prior research at all, but you will be emailed with some optional readings ahead of time that you might want to check out.
If you are on the Future Food Challenge, then you should complete the Future Food MOOC on Future Learn. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/future-food
Expect to arrive on campus at 9am to receive an introductory talk which will provide you with all the key information you’ll need during the week.You’ll then get to meet the other students you’ll be working with and will be sorted into groups. Expect to spend the first day getting to know each other and brainstorming ideas for your project!
You might want to bring a tablet or laptop to help you get started on your project, but we provide you with all the stationary or resourcesyou’ll need for the first day.
Lunch is only provided on the Friday of Grand Challenges week. For every other day, you’ll need to bring your own lunch, or you can purchase food from a Campus outlet. However, snacks and refreshments are provided each morning!
Groups vary in size, and normally contain 4 to 8 people.
Timetables for Grand Challenges week will be released in May and will show up as normal on iExeter.
You’ll find this out on Monday morning of Grand Challenges Week.
Grand Challenges skills training sessions taking place in the two weeks before the programme starts. They are designed to equip you with skills that will help you to excel in your challenge. They will also help during your degree, and in your working life after graduation. All sessions are optional, and you can choose what you would like to attend, based on which skills you want to enhance. You should receive details about the skills sessions how to sign-up via email, but you can access this information here as well.