To apply for the Grand Challenges Student Design Projects, the form will open in November 2025 and will close January 23^rd, 2026.

Join our upcoming Workshopping Drop-In to brainstorm with fellow students! 

• January 15th – 12pm-1pm in the Research Commons Room 2
• January 21st — 2:30pm-5pm in the Research Commons 2

Light refreshments will be provided!

Please submit your proposal here: https://forms.gle/BiNa9E5fwbT1Zfce7

Proposals must be submitted through the google form. We recommend applicants review questions found on the form below and look at proposal scoring before navigating the google form. Following which time—as a team—submit your proposal together!:

• Student Design Project Questions

• Student Design Project Rubric

You will know if your project has been selected in February 2026, at which point funding will begin to be distributed.

• Google Form Questions: review questions before navigating the google form
• Project Rubric: see proposal scoring
• Google Form to apply: submit your proposal!

Selected projects will receive feedback and may be asked to submit additional information.

Last year for our inaugural Grand Challenge Student Design Project, there were a wide variety of submitted and accepted proposals. Three examples of accepted project proposals can be found below:

• Members of the Social Work Asian and Pacific Islander (SWAPI) coalition proposed an initiative to engage with “Advancing Long and Productive Lives” and “Closing the Health Gap” through creating safe processing space for Asian-identifying students at UW. Their group provided workshops led by licensed staff, teaching mindfulness and emotional regulation techniques informed by body-based interventions and healing, building community among Asian students in the school over the course of several workshops. During their final deliverable, a potluck sharing out their work over the year, they further distributed a relevant and extensive resource list related to AANHPI community needs.
• Latinx-identifying students with La Colectiva provided an educational and artistic workshop to older Latinx adults in collaboration with a local community agency, “El Centro de la Raza”. Their work supported the wellbeing of their respective communities by increasing connections, fostering artistic engagement, and providing materials that can be used by community members for years to come. Their project proposal was aimed at addressing the Grand Challenges of “Closing the Health Gap” and “Eradicating Social Isolation”.
• Clinical and macro-level social work students collaborated to examine and document the alternative crisis response landscape emerging in the city of Seattle, addressing the Grand Challenge of “Smart Decarceration”. This group conducted interviews with those involved in Seattle area crisis response programs, sharing qualitative data and conducting analysis in partnership with research faculty, and created a website dashboard with digestible formatting for policymakers and the general public, aiming to provide a breakdown of planned and existing crisis response resources in the King County area.

Are you interested in starting a project but don’t have a team of three, or aren’t sure where to start? We welcome you to join some Workshopping Drop-In Spaces to brainstorm with fellow students! Feel free to join us in the Research Commons (don’t forget to bring your Husky ID to enter!)

• November 19th – 2pm-4:30pm in the Research Commons Room 2
• December 3rd – 10am-12pm in the Research Commons Room 1
• January 15th – 12pm-1pm in the Research Commons Room 2
• January 21st — 2:30pm-5pm in the Research Commons 2

Light refreshments will be provided!

Mentorship varies from project to project, and changes depending on group needs! We welcome student groups to do their own outreach to staff and faculty who may have expertise in their project subject matter. For groups that submit proposals and do not have mentors in place, project coordinators will do our best to match groups with advisors who can provide appropriate guidance and support.

In addition to a final deliverable (which can be in the shape of a community conversation, website, toolkit, volunteer event, etc.) all student groups will be required to share their final deliverable out to the SSW community in May 2026!  

For any questions related to the Grand Challenges for Social Work with the University of Washington SSW, we welcome you to reach out to us at gcsocialwork@uw.edu!