How might your project help enhance our diagnosis, treatment or understanding of disease, or the management of physical or mental illness? Projects can focus on biology, technology, or even social supports that make a difference in people’s health.

This challenge isn’t about curing a disease yourself!  Your project could be about making life easier for people living with illness or helping us better understand some aspect of a disease.

Check out this list of questions to get you thinking about your project, inspire some research, and help you decide what question or problem you might want to investigate.

Brainstorming project ideas:

Understanding Disease

• What diseases or illnesses affect people in your community, family or friend group?
  • How does this disease work inside the body? How could you test or model part of it?
  • What factors (like lifestyle, environment, or genetics) seem to influence the disease?
• How can we prevent the spread of infectious diseases (like colds, flu, or COVID)?
• How do vaccines, hygiene, or community practices protect people?

Diagnosis & Detection

• How can diseases be detected earlier or more easily?
• How could you design a low-cost tool, test, or app that helps people recognize symptoms?
• How can technology (e.g. sensors, wearables, or phone cameras) help spot illness signs?
• What is an illness that would be easier to treat if it was caught earlier? How could you help make that happen?

Treatment & Management

• What are current treatments for a specific disease? How could they be improved (e.g. made cheaper, faster, more accessible)? How do treatments vary around the world?
• How might nutrition, exercise, or lifestyle changes help people manage illness?
• How could you design a device or system to remind or support people with their treatments?
• How does a traditional cure or medicine work? Is it better than current products, or could it be used in combination with other products?
• Imagine you’re designing a simple device to help people with a chronic illness—what problem would you solve?

Mental Health

• How can stress, anxiety, or depression be better recognized and managed?
• How could you create a tool or app to help young people practice healthy coping skills?
• What role do certain activities or habits play in mental health (e.g., sleep, screen time, caffeine, exercise, time spent outdoors, playing with pets, playing music or doing art, etc.)?

Remember

Start by picking a topic or idea that sparks your curiosity. Then think about whether you could discover (test an idea through an experiment, research or survey) or innovate (design a new solution) around that problem. Learn more about the difference between Discovery and Innovation projects here.