For students of the MSc Design Thinking for Sustainability, the Host Company Project represents the pinnacle of challenge-based learning—a pedagogical approach where real-world problems become the curriculum, and authentic collaboration drives both learning and impact.
Over an intensive 8-week module, student teams don’t just study sustainability challenges—they tackle them alongside leading organisations from corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors. This is challenge-based learning at its core: students gain agency over complex, open-ended problems while organisations benefit from fresh perspectives, rigorous research, and innovative solutions they might not have developed internally.
The Dual Value of Challenge-Based Learning
For Students: The learning transcends traditional academic boundaries. Working with actual stakeholders, students develop critical competencies that can’t be taught in lectures: navigating ambiguity, managing real client relationships, synthesising diverse stakeholder needs, and presenting solutions that must withstand genuine scrutiny. They apply human-centered research, design thinking methodologies, and rapid prototyping not as classroom exercises, but as professional practice. The stakes are real, the feedback is immediate, and the learning is transformative.
For Host Organisations: Partners gain more than deliverables—they access dedicated research capacity, diverse perspectives unencumbered by organisational constraints, and solutions grounded in cutting-edge sustainability and design thinking practices. Many projects yield prototypes that move directly toward implementation, delivering measurable value that far exceeds the investment in collaboration.
Challenge-Based Learning in Practice
DigiFoot (Deloitte) – Challenged to address digital emissions, students developed a carbon footprint tracking tool that achieved remarkable behavior change: 38% increase in employee awareness and 67% of participants modified their online habits. The organisation gained both a working prototype and validated insights into employee engagement.
Roots in the Workplace (Community Roots) – Students transformed a sustainability challenge into a viable business model, designing corporate packages featuring monthly workshops, onsite gardens, and community pairings. The solution creates sustainable revenue while strengthening community ties—outcomes that emerged from students’ freedom to think beyond conventional approaches.
Pawfect Clean (Dogs Trust) – Facing the practical challenge of cleaning 200+ kennels, students delivered a smart, sustainable system that dramatically reduces staff time, improves hygiene, and lessens environmental impact. The charity gained operational efficiency that allows more focus on their core mission: animal care.
WattNext? (SEAI) – Students created a dashboard application that helps the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland bridge the gap between energy audits and action, streamlining support for SMEs. The solution addresses a real systemic barrier identified through deep stakeholder engagement.
These projects exemplify the reciprocal value of challenge-based learning: students develop professional capabilities through authentic practice, while organisations receive innovative solutions born from rigorous inquiry and unconstrained creativity. Both parties grow through the partnership—precisely as challenge-based learning intends.
You may view the complete list of projects and student solutions below. Alternatively, you may also view it directly on our Issuu: Host Company Projects.