There are many reasons why your organization should participate in the MUCP:
- Introduce innovative concepts and improvements to your organization;
- Obtain solutions to key issues;
- Address problems requiring infusion of talented resources from multiple disciplines;
- Leverage technical and theoretical multidiscipline knowledge;
- Identify potential employees for your organization;
- Gain access to the expertise of UofT faculty and students members and;
- Build long-term relationships with departments at UofT.
The unique nature of the program is that it employs a multidisciplinary and mixed methods problem-solving approach and utilizes students' training and problem-solving skills from their field of study.
For the MUCP 2023-24 year we will give preference to projects related to our current themes, Climate and Justice in Cities, and Belonging, Migration and Thriving, but we will consider all projects.
Resources for Projects
Student Resources
Each project will consist of a team of 3-5 students, each working approximately 10 hours per week for about 26 weeks.
Community Partner Resources
The Community Partner is expected to spend about 1-2 hours per week to support the project from September to March. This support includes timely access to any data essential for completing the project. The specific details and scope of the project are discussed in an initial meeting in September with the student team, faculty supervisor, and appropriate subject matter experts.
How to Participate
- Submit a Statement of Need (SON) via the online submission form ;
- The SON defines the general nature of the problem to be solved;
- Briefly explain the main idea or problem in one or two paragraphs;
- Include a problem/question that is specific enough so that a solution/answer will be recognizable, and requires a multidisciplinary approach. The problem/question should require a degree of sophistication to solve;
- An organization may submit multiple SONs;
- Organizations can request a Non-Disclosure Agreement be signed by the students and supervisor.
Completed SONs should be submitted by March 31, 2023. For applicants that wish to apply past the deadline, please contact capstone.sofc@utoronto.ca
Accepting SON
Acceptance notifications will be sent out approximately two weeks after the submission deadline.
Selection Criteria For Projects
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High value of the Project to the Partner Organization
The project should have the potential for real, positive impact on the organization or its clients. Multidisciplinary projects will address an urban-related issue or challenge that the organization needs resolved, but may not have the resources or knowledge to complete on their own.
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Appropriate Level of Risk to the Community Partner Organization
The project should not unduly expose the organization or its community partner to downside risk should there be any delays or failure to deliver on the part of the students.
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High Relevance of Project to Students
In order to provide each student with the opportunity to apply their disciplinary skills and knowledge, MUCP seeks projects that span at least three disciplines.
Contact us: For questions and inquiries please email: capstone.sofc@utoronto.ca
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the Start and End time of the Course?
The course will run from September 2023 to April 2024 and will be equivalent to one full-year course of 10 hours per week for 26 weeks.
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What can I have the students do?
The MUCP is not an internship or a co-op program. It is an independent research/capstone course. As such, student capacity will be limited to the time frame, in addition to their other course load. Community partners should not expect students to go above the 10 hour per week commitment or have the same expectations of deliverables as an internship or co-op program.
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What kind of support do the teams need?
The community partner is expected to spend about 1-2 hours per week to support the project from September to March. This includes answering questions posed by the team, and reviewing and critiquing the project on an ongoing basis. This support includes timely access to any data essential for completing the project. The specific details and scope of the project are discussed in an initial meeting in September with the student team, faculty supervisor, and appropriate subject matter experts. The students will present their research projct to the leaders and community partners at a symposium in early April.
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Can I ask the students to continue working on the problem after the course has finalized?
Of course. You are welcome to do so but please discuss the matter with the student team. While the team is not required to continue work after the course ends, they may wish to continue on a volunteer basis.
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What is a Statement of Need?
The Statement of Need (SON) provides students and faculty with an overview of your organization’s need and describes a problem that the team is to solve. The problem should be solvable using a multidisciplinary approach. This should be clearly articulated in the Project Description component of the SON. The SON should not be so prescriptive as to define a solution for the students.
The Scope of the Problem should also be clearly identified. For example: Is there a geographic area? Are there specific components the students should consider? Which data set to use? What Subject Matter Experts are there to interview?Sample SON format: The problem of climate change. This sections should expand, define, and articulate the constraints of providing affordable housing, and the broader specifications of need.
Most importantly, we hope the SON can provide the students with a rich, educational challenge, and will be of value to both the students and your organization.
- Your organization’s need: Provide context for Organization X.
- Project description: Organization X has resources A and B, but needs C to provide for climate change. However, Organization X does not have resources to achieve C.
- Project requirements: Can you create a solution/answer to Organization X’s problem? The solution may be: How can you achieve C? Can we circumvent C? Is there an alternative to C?
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What are the course deliverables?
The course assignments are designed to build towards achieving the course deliverables. The final deliverable will be a report that summarizes the research and investigation resulting from the multidisciplinary and mixed methods problem-solving approach. The following are the student deliverables:
- Project Requirements: defines the background of the problem, frames the problem, and outlines the scope. The Project Requirement should clearly state what the students expect from the Community Parter, and the Community Partner's expectations for the students.
- Review and Critique: The team will present and defend their problem-solving proposal. This is an opportunity to receive feedback and critique from the community partners and supervisor(s), as well as additional direction.
- Showcase: Students will clearly present the problem and a robust solution to the community partners, supervisors and other students followed by a question and answer period.
- Final Report and Deliverable: The Final Report contains the complete problem-solving process from the definition of the problem to the implementation of the solution and the results of testing. It contains a discussion of the required future work in enough detail that the community partner can implement the solution.