Two second-year students from the Department of Occupational Therapy, namely, Kim Rachel Yao and Jose Maria Miguel Burgos participated in the third edition of the July 23-25, 2021 Harvard Innovation Challenge South East Asia (HICSEA III), which gathered high school and college delegates from Southeast Asia. The team of Miguel Burgos landed 3rd place with a proposal that takes Snoezelen Multisensory Room and condenses it into a portable, accessible, and affordable alternative: Snoezelen-in-a-box.
The tracks featured for this year were “Well-being and Equity” and “Urbanization and Industrialization,” each with speakers from fields of expertise who provided insightful discussions. Delegates also had a chance to hone their skills through research, public speaking, and business model canvas workshops. The highlight of the convention was on the last day, at which point the delegates needed to apply the learnings from the previous sessions into research-based solutions proposals. In groups of four or five, they had to come up with innovative proposals to pitch to the judges who are experts in their respective fields (e.g. Architecture, Medicine, and the like).
Event Takeaways 
Delegates 
Poster Announcing Burgos’s team as Third-Place Winner
This program gave participants a greater sense of awareness regarding the many challenges that face countries in South East Asia, including the Philippines. It also provided the opportunity to connect with international students from Singapore to Lebanon through social lunch rooms and interactive track sessions.
