This is a different kind of challenge, designed to show that it is possible to change things in the world right outside our door. Based on one of the SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals – chosen annually and anchored in the Educação para a Cidadania [Citizenship Education] requirements, teams of high school students identify a problem and develop an action plan while registering their work on video. The groups with the most interesting projects are selected for the final forum where, in addition to interacting with a jury and earning awards, a collective summary on pathways to sustainability will be created and later presented to the Environment and Energy Committee of the Portuguese Parliament.
THE THEME IN 2025/2026
In this first edition of the Forum the theme comes from SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Specifically, it focuses on target 12.3: By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. To contribute to this goal participating groups will naturally focus locally and test the limits of their ability to reflect, plan, and intervene in the real world.
BACKGROUND
The Citizenship Education curriculum aims to prepare young people for “active civic participation and to face the challenges of today’s societies,” and the Science and Society Forum seeks to contribute directly to this aspiration, particularly by creating the “experiential dimension” emphasized in the Core Learning Outcomes. The SDGs are explicitly mentioned in the Sustainable Development dimension, which, for high schoolers, involves addressing ecological challenges and envisioning a form of citizenship that secures our shared future through actions that redirect us toward the environmental balance without which today’s society is unsustainable. This Forum does not have the ambition of changing the world, but it was designed to help students discover that it is possible to live somewhat differently—and better (and perhaps even be personally transformed in the process).
RULES AND DEADLINES
This activity is open to students in all academic tracks at high schools in Portugal (including Portuguese-language schools around the world). Teams consist of one supervising teacher (who may enlist other colleagues) and 2 to 5 students, who do not need to belong to the same class, grade level, or even academic track.
The challenge is divided into three parts:
1. Identify and describe a specific problem related to food waste that affects a specific community: a school, a company, a neighborhood…
2. Design a plan to help that community overcome the problem. The proposed solution must include a technological component (digital or physical) and a human component (Which people should be involved? How will they react? How can they be rallyed?). It must be structured after interacting with relevant people and institutions.
3. Begin implementing the plan. Fully solving the problem in just a few months is unlikely, but it is certainly possible to begin, explore how far the effort can go, and establish momentum. In the best-case scenario, the plan may be continued (by others) even after the group’s participation ends.
These are the key moments:
• By January 8, 2026: the supervising teacher registers the group(s) using the registration form (including a short paragraph describing the group’s project).
• By April 8, 2026: all materials are submitted via the selection form.
• A jury of experts from Católica evaluates the submissions and selects the most compelling projects (selection announced on April 15).
• Selected groups confirm their attendance by April 30, 2026.
• The forum takes place on May 8, 2026 at the Católica Faculty of Biotechnology in Porto, with distinguished guests (who will award the prizes) and includes debates, presentations and opportunities for social interaction.
Two files must be produced by April 8:
• a written document of 3 to 10 pages (excluding cover and appendices)
• a video no longer than 10 minutes
The written document should address at least the following points:
• the specific problem and how it was identified
• the main characteristics of this problem, including technical and social aspects
• the efforts made to gather input and consider potential solutions (people interviewed, resources used, experiences collected…)
• the action plan (including human and scientific/technological components), with considerations about its sustainability, feasibility, and resilience
• implementation efforts (if started)
The video may be recorded on a mobile phone and should include footage from the various stages of the project. It must be uploaded to YouTube (it must be public, though it may be unlisted). All group members must be visible and audible at different moments in the story.
Groups selected for the final forum day may bring additional information, including materials generated after the submission deadline.
The two juries will consider criteria such as clarity and sufficiency of information, creativity in the approach and plan, attention to the two required dimensions (technical and human), the practicality of the proposed solution and its potential benefit.
For any questions, please contact biotechnology@ucp.pt — we will reply promptly.