Sciences Po students win the GPPN Conference as Best Project

Looking back, a few words spring to mind: challenging, meaningful, and unexpected as a journey in our final semesters at Sciences Po. We started off stuck in four corners of the world, and through the magic of Zoom, found our common cause and a vision to work towards. We embarked on this journey together and five months later, found ourselves in Tokyo – in a virtual space of learning, growth and camaraderie with one another. We also gained valuable insights from the Deans and Speakers who spoke on topics in relation to the theme: The Crisis of Globalization as We Know It. 

Our hearts are filled with gratitude and fulfilment in reflecting on our journey. It has been a memorable part of our experiences in our respective MPP programs (Social Policy and Social Innovation and Economics and Public Policy). Now, we look forward to applying what we have learned throughout the process and hopefully, being given the opportunity to implement our project in real life.

We actually met in a Sciences Po course, Measuring Education Progress, and that prompted the idea to create a policy solution around it. Within this, we were particularly interested in Global Citizenship Education, and its role in bridging cultural gaps and combating xenophobic and populist tendencies. Making Worlds Meet was thus in many regards a natural product of our shared interests, and our belief in the transformative power of education.

Time was a key issue. Most of us had to juggle the responsibilities of ongoing theses and/or internships. This leads onto a second point: the importance of adaptability. We had to continuously adapt and evolve our project before and during the competition to reflect the growth in our perspectives, our ongoing research and the critical feedback we received along the way. We had to keep in close and regular contact in order to do so. This was not always easy given our other commitments and the need to work across three different time zones. 

In terms of our lessons as EAP students, we would say that the importance of building innovative solutions anchored on evidence and thoroughly reasoned ideas and grounded in the realities of field implementation was key to our success.

We became more aware of the range and specificities of the issues surrounding globalization and also the COVID-19 crisis; and gained valuable insights from all the other projects as well as the discussions held throughout the conference. 

It is important to work on a topic that you all share a passion or interest in, have conviction in your collective vision for the project, and be each other’s support system and critical lens throughout the complex journey to winning the GPPN Conference. You should also value the advice and guidance given to your team in the process for your improvement.