Empowering Change: UNC Gillings School Map the System student team attends Banff Summit

August 5, 2024

Unlike traditional pitch competitions, Map the System (MTS) uses deep research and mapping of existing problems to foster meaningful, systemic change. UNC-Chapel Hill’s Innovate Carolina has partnered with this organization to provide students with unique experiences and networking opportunities on an international stage.

“Innovate Carolina has been a partner organization with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford — the hosting organization for Map the System — for the past five years,” said Anise Robinson, the student engagement and events program manager at Innovate Carolina. “Our continued relationship provides UNC students with access to systems thinking course materials, opportunities to work with systems thinking faculty and the opportunity to showcase their research on a global scale. Innovate Carolina is passionate about continuing to support this social innovation student competition.”

Students complete a team building exercise at the Banff Centre in Canada.

The student teams in the 2024 Map the System UNC Finals included a group of Gillings School of Global Public Health students. May 2023 Master of Public Health program graduates Lily Goldberg, Sarah Sutter and Sanjana Murthy of the team “Breaking the Silence: The Untold Story of Women with PCOS and Endometriosis” won the UNC Finals and went on to attend the Global Finals and Banff Summit in Calgary, Canada.

During this event, each team member had the chance to learn directly from industry experts and collaborate with their peers.

“Map the System-Canada was a fantastic chance to meet with other global experts in systems thinking. It was incredibly memorable to share our project with so many peers who are invested in bettering the health of communities globally,” said Goldberg. “I was especially excited about the setting. Many of the sessions we participated in were outside and gave us a unique opportunity to connect systems thinking with the land we were on. I am so grateful to have had this experience and will always remember this trip with such great team members!”

The Banff Systems Summit, held in late May, was a three-day event that focused on systems thinking to address global challenges. It included speeches, panel sessions, workshops, walkabouts and networking activities against a beautiful nature backdrop.

“Map the System-Canada was an especially unique and memorable opportunity to learn about systems thinking,” Murthy shared. “Banff provided a fantastic setting for us to discuss relational dynamics amongst people and our environment, especially since we had the opportunity to always look out of floor-to-ceiling windows and take in the breathtaking views around us.”

The summit gave the UNC MTS team a unique opportunity to learn from system thinking experts in their respective fields and explore a wide range of topics — including health care systems, food security and sustainability — through interactive and immersive experiences.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to learn from experts in systems thinking as well as contribute to something larger than ourselves — the emerging field of systems thinking,” said Sutter. “Banff allowed us to deeply explore how systems thinking operates in diverse environments and how we show up in spaces to engage with others.”

The UNC team’s participation in the Global Finals and the Banff Summit underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the practical application of systems thinking in addressing global challenges.

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.