Sustainable Development in Action through the Engage Asia Challenge: Alicia Sutandar, Roy Zhao, James Li and Abhinav Govindan

Dalyell Scholars, Alicia Sutandar, Roy Zhao, James Li and Abhinav Govindan participated in the 2023 Engage Asia Challenge to come up with innovative solutions for Asia, ultimately placing second. The team share their experience below. 

Team Phyto: 

Alicia Sutandar, Roy Zhao, James Li and Abhinav Govindan.

Describe your team's problem and solution.

We were interested in contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goal: Life on Land. While exploring issues around land degradation, we discovered the impact of mining activities on farmers in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Heavy metal contamination and soil pollution due to mining activities have reduced crop yields by as much as 50%. An established method of land rehabilitation is phytoremediation, a process in which certain crops are used to extract heavy metal from soil. However, many farmers are uncertain about which plants are most appropriate for their land.

With this in mind, we sought to design a solution which is simple, feasible, and holistic. We decided to design an app, called Phyto, which uses geospatial analytics to analyze soil conditions and design a tailored phytoremediation plan for farmers.

What challenges did your team encounter and how did you resolve them?

We kept trying to create a perfect solution! We tried to incorporate every feedback we received, tweaking our solution and adding more and more features to it. But this resulted in an overly complicated, messy solution. As a team, we had to make a conscious decision to step back, start with a blank piece of paper (literally), and redesign our solution in the simplest way possible.  

It was important for us to remember that if a perfect solution existed, this problem would probably have been solved a long time ago. We had to accept the imperfections in our solution and stick with a simple, elegant solution. After all, a step in the right direction is better than not moving at all. 

What did you gain from participating in the Engage Asia Challenge?

In concurrence with the Dalyell unit we took, BUDL3901, our team have found this challenge to be incredibly eye-opening. It showed us how to think critically about the world’s biggest challenges, and motivated us to unpick these challenges and come up with creative solutions. Engage Asia was an amazing opportunity to connect with like-minded peers and challenge ourselves to tackle something much, much bigger than ourselves. 

What was the highlight of your team’s experience of the Engage Asia Challenge? 

The opportunity to visit the IBM office and receive direct feedback from the IBM staff was incredibly eye-opening. It really highlighted the importance of simple, clear, elegant solutions. Personally, I (Alicia) really enjoyed working with my teammates. It felt incredible to be working with people who were engaged and invested. This is some of the most intellectually stimulating work I’ve done in a long time, and it felt good to have teammates to bounce ideas off of. 

What advice would you give to future students considering participating in the Engage Asia Challenge? 

Think out of the box, ask questions, and know when to take a step back. Some of the wickedest challenges require innovative solutions. Don’t be afraid to brainstorm and come up with wild ideas. We can assure you that there’s at least one good solution in that pile of ideas. Ask questions, and a lot of them. You are surrounded by people who are invested in helping you and your team succeed, so make the most of it! Most importantly, know when to pause and take a breather. It’s all too easy to become overly invested and attached to the problem. Sometimes, it helps to take a breather and some time off. 

Any last words? 

We would also like to acknowledge the immense role our Dalyell class, BUDL3901: Unravelling Complex Problems, had on our problem-framing and solution-design. The class was incredibly helpful in helping us understand complex issues, and designing solutions which were relevant, feasible, and innovative. A huge shout-out to Praveena Chandra and Jane Strachan who went above and beyond in creating an engaging environment and assisting us in tackling the most wicked of problems. Also a huge thanks to Sandra Alday for mentoring us throughout the Engage Asia process, and providing us with feedback every step of the way. All of you are the real winners here!