2025 Sustainability Solutions Challenge
Beyond Green: Solutions for a Better Campus
The 2025 Sustainability Solutions Challenge (SSC) invites student-led innovations in sustainability at the University of Richmond. This year’s theme, Beyond Green: Solutions for a Better Campus, emphasizes the need for solutions that address all three pillars of sustainability—environmental, economic, and social.
Participants are tasked with creating comprehensive ideas that demonstrate a broad impact across these interconnected areas, ensuring meaningful and lasting change. Participants compete in the SSC, gaining valuable experience in entrepreneurship, social enterprise, leadership, and teamwork. Students are encouraged to collaborate across disciplines to develop solutions that influence sustainability culture at the university. Sustainability must be visible, shared, and embraced collectively to create lasting change.
The winning proposal will receive funding, allowing team members to oversee its implementation and leave a lasting legacy of sustainability on campus.
Who Can Participate?
Students from any major and academic level are welcome to participate in the 2025 SSC. Students can join individually or as a team of up to four members. While there are no restrictions on the participants' academic year, seniors (or teams made up entirely of seniors) must submit a plan outlining how the idea will be executed after graduation or who will manage its implementation.
Deadlines and Dates
Registration: January 31 – February 16, 2025
Design Thinking Challenge Workshop: February 17, 2025, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. (lunch provided); all individual participants are required to attend; at least one member from each team is required to attend.
Initial written proposals due: March 3, 2025
Decision notification: March 17, 2025
First-round presentations: Week of March 24 – 28, 2025
Final presentations: Week of April 7-11, 2025
Important Steps to Follow
- Review the information below to understand the SSC guidelines, submission and evaluation criteria, judges, and examples of past winning solutions.
- Register here to participate by 11:50 p.m. on February 16. Provide your name, major, academic year, and indicate if you’re participating individually or as a team. For teams, include the names, majors, and academic years of all members.
- Attend the Design Thinking Challenge Workshop on February 17. All individual participants are required to attend; for teams, only one team member is required to attend. You will receive the link to register later.
- Submit your initial written proposa by 11:59 p.m. on March 3, following the requirements outlined below.
- If your proposal is accepted (notifications sent on March 17), you will present it to a panel of judges in the first round during the week of March 24-28.
- If your presentation is selected, you will advance to the final-round presentations during the week of April 7-11, after which the winning solution will be announced.
IMPORTANT: Before your presentation, we will assist you in connecting with the appropriate campus facility, department, or office related to your proposed solution. Engaging with these stakeholders will allow you to gather valuable feedback and, where necessary, secure their approval for your ideas. By incorporating their insights, you will be able to refine your solution, making it more realistic, actionable, and impactful.
Problem Statement
To help participants generate ideas and understand campus needs, interviews were held with key university offices, including the Office of Sustainability, Dining Services, the Well-Being Center, and the Office for Institutional Equity and Inclusion. These discussions highlighted important sustainability challenges and priorities, shaping the following prompts designed to guide impactful and innovative solutions. The key campus sustainability challenges are summarized here.
Participants are also welcome to suggest original ideas beyond these areas.
Initial Written Proposals Guidelines
Initial written proposal for the 2025 SSC will be due by 11:59 pm on March 3. Submissions after the deadline will not be considered for entry. Proposals will be evaluated by a team of judges using the following 2025 SSC assessment criteria. Best proposals will be carried forward to compete in the first-round presentations.
Initial Written Proposals Submission Requirements
Project submissions should be in the form of a five-page (maximum) double-spaced 12 pt Times New Roman written summary plus appendices (not included in the page limit) and must address the following:
- Individual/team name, point of contact and group members’ names and emails.
- What is the sustainability innovation(s) proposed? How does it address sustainability in a novel way or in a way that has not been attempted on campus in the past?
- Which resource area does your innovation address, or what problem does it attempt to solve? (recycling, energy, water, food transportation, sustainability education, well-being, social justice, sustainability culture, etc.). Also, describe how your solution will contribute to sustainability across all three pillars: environmental, economic, and social.
- What are the expected/intended benefits of the innovation? Which stakeholder groups will benefit from your innovation? Does it contribute to a broader vision of creating a sustainable, better campus community?
- What resources will be required for your innovation to be implemented and operate? What is the estimated cost of the innovation?
Which campus operations or offices (e.g., Recycling, Dining Services, Engineering Services, Health and Well-Being, etc.) will be involved in implementing your solution? While it is not required at this stage, reaching out to these offices for preliminary feedback on your idea can strengthen your proposal.
Judges Panel for First-Round Presentations
To be determined.
Judges Panel for Final Presentations
To be determined.