Opportunities

SHIFT: Public Sector Case Competition is an annual case competition sponsored and hosted by KPMG and Consulting Careers Initiative (CCI). 

The 7th annual SHIFT Case Competition kicked off with an expert panel discussing the case and a networking event. A collaborative approach for provincial governments and hospitals in Canada, the focus was AI in Ontario’s healthcare system. With a population of over 16 million, Ontario faces serious challenges: overcrowded hospitals, long wait times, staff shortages, and growing financial pressures. AI has the potential to transform patient care, but scaling these technologies across a decentralized healthcare system presents significant hurdles. 

Panelists included Damian Jankowicz, EVP Chief Information & AI Officer at Unity Health Toronto, and Ryan MacDonald, Director of Health AI Implementation at the Vector Institute and KPMG Senior Manager, moderated by Salman Faruqi, KPMG Senior Consultant. Ryan and Salman are both MPP alumni, with Ryan founding the SHIFT competition.  

Number of participants: 45 students + 12 KPMG consultant coaches + 6 professional judges.  

Participants included students from Rotman's MBA, Institute for Health Policy, Management, Evaluation's Master of Health Informatics (MHI), Munk MPP and MGA, and Mechanical and Industrial Engineering's Master of Engineering (MEng). 

Winning Team: Solyana Mehari (MHI1), Katherine Murphy (MGA1) and Yvonne Gong (MBA1) 

To learn more about the competition, visit the Consulting Careers Initiative website. 

The National Annual Public Administration Case Competition is a joint project of the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration (CAPPA) and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). The 2025 competition will be held on February 22nd, 2025. 

At least a dozen Canadian universities are expected to compete, highlighting the excellence of public administration programs and students, and providing a valuable learning experience.

You can learn more about the National Case Competition by visiting the CAPPA website here.

UofT has a strong record in the competition, including a gold in 2021 and a bronze in 2024. We invite you to consider this great opportunity to develop and demonstrate your policy skills by applying to join the UofT team. First and second year students from both the MPP and MGA programs are invited to apply.

The team will be assisted by professors Drew Fagan and Brian Lewis as coaches, by a student lead, by other faculty members and fellows, some of whom act as coaches for the fall case competition, and by Munk School graduates who participated on past CAPPA teams. The team will be selected through an application process in December and will work through two practice cases early in the winter term to help them prepare for the competition.

Applications close on November 29th, 2024 at 11:59pm. The application form can be found here.

Imagine being a senior official in a major government department, tasked with bringing thousands of employees back to the office after years of remote work. The employees are used to working from home—and they like it. Now, factor in a workplace culture shaped by social media, where frustrations about the change could quickly spread, potentially harming the department’s reputation.

And then, picture having just 20 minutes to present your plan—followed by 10 minutes of tough, unsmiling questions from senior leadership.

This was the challenge at the heart of the 2025 National Public Administration Case Competition, where the Munk School team earned an impressive second-place finish. Competing against 14 graduate schools of public administration from across the country, the team of MPP students Noah Lee, Georgia Maxwell, and Fadeel Sheikh, along with MGA students Milad Naeimi and Jean-Pierre Peladeau, was coached by Drew Fagan and Brian Lewis. The competition took place online last Saturday, with Concordia University securing first place.

Since the competition’s inception in 2012, the Munk School has won twice, most recently in 2021, and has now placed second four times. With a total of eight podium finishes—including a third-place win in 2024—the Munk School holds the record for the most medals earned by any school.

For this year’s challenge, teams had 10 days to develop their response to a scenario centered on Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). While fictional, the case reflected real-world complexities: Return-to-Office policies remain a pressing issue, and questions around appropriate social media use continue to shape public service ethics.

The judges, composed of current and former public service leaders, praised the Munk School team for their well-balanced approach, combining strategic insight with practical implementation. The team’s detailed execution plan stood out, with the judges commending them for delivering a plan that was both effective and fair.

Public policy often comes down to two essential questions: Should something be done? And if so, how should it be done? In this case, the fictional ESDC had already received its directive—the challenge was execution. 

The Urban Policy Lab Case Competition is the only Munk case competition entirely focused on city issues, in which teams of MPP and MGA students compete to develop solutions to a variety of urban policy challenges, and present these ideas to a panel of expert judges. Past topics include: 

• 2019: “first and last mile” mobility
• 2020: transit-oriented development
• 2021: local economic recovery post-COVID
• 2022: local economic integration of newcomers
• 2023: urban food insecurity

Participating judges have been drawn from a diverse group of public, private, and not-for-profit organizations, including: the City of Toronto, City of Hamilton, City of Mississauga, York Region, Government of Ontario, Metrolinx, Brookfield Institute, Black Urbanism TO, the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, Urban Strategies Inc., WoodGreen Community Services, and Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank, among others.

Date: January 2025.  

To learn more and register, visit urbanpolicylab.ca/casecomp. 

Faculty lead: Gabriel Eidelman  | Student lead: Jacob Van Helder

On January 24th, twenty-eight Master of Public Policy and Master of Global Affairs students at the Munk School participated in the 2025 Urban Policy Lab Case Competition. This year’s competition focused on decarbonizing Toronto’s existing building stock. Students were asked to develop a strategy that the City of Toronto could implement as part of their existing building strategy in the 2025-2030 TransformTO Action Plan. All teams presented a unique and thoughtful set of policy proposals to this multifaceted problem.

Each team presented to a panel of expert judges, including: 

• Stewart Dutfield: Senior Project Manager in the Public Energy Initiatives – Existing Buildings unit within City of Toronto’s Environment, Climate and Forestry Division.
• Aidan Grove-white: Principal at StrategyCorp, who leads several teams in the Land and Infrastructure Development and Municipal Services office.
• Kate Manson-Smith, Munk School Fellow and former Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, in addition to numerous executive roles within the Ontario Public Service.
• Michelle German, Associate Principal at Springboard Policy.

This year teams were also paired with mentors and Munk School alumni from the City of Toronto, to hone their proposals and get critical feedback leading up to the competition. 

This year’s mentors included: 

• Ciara Hart: Senior Strategic Policy Consultant, Housing Secretariat
• Kimberly Nesbeth: Anti-Racism Policy Consultant, TTC
• Lamia Agnagic: Senior Strategic Policy Consultant, Housing Secretariat
• Max Greenwald: Project Director, Corporate Initiatives

Congratulations to the winning team, made up of first-year students:

• Ananya Yadav (MPP)
• Lukas Kortendieck (MGA)
• Yingxue Zhao (MPP)
• Yuvika Bhatia (MPP)

Their team identified financial, speed and equity challenges in the cities retrofit policy landscape and developed solutions to streamline processes and reduce costs for participants. They tackled these gaps from multiple angles, pitching tax breaks and reduced development charges for deep retrofitting, the creation of a centralized online portal to streamline permit applications and grant access, the establishment of a Public Green Fund to attract private capital, and the launch of neighborhood-based Retrofit Hubs to provide technical assistance and funding for high-priority areas.

The Ford+Munk Conference is an annual student-led policy conference among students at The Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (the Ford School), one of America’s premier public policy institutions. The event brings together students from both schools in a team-based learning environment where they are challenged to analyze, evaluate, and present key findings related to a current policy issue facing both sides of the border. The conference gives delegates a professional networking opportunity, facilitates cross-border dialogue and provides unique leadership training. Through the weekend conference, delegates are pushed to make tough choices, weigh trade-offs and make bold policy recommendations. Students are placed into case teams ahead of time, and each team will feature a mix of Ford School and Munk School Students. No preparation is necessary leading up to the conferences. At the conclusion of the weekend, a panel of faculty judges select the best proposal. To learn more about the conference and how to register, visit the Ford+Munk website.

March 28-30, 2025 

Topic: Strengthening Cross-Border Policy Solutions to Address Climate Change and Mitigation Targeting Wildfire Mitigation 

Number of participants: 33  

Winning Team Names:  

• Francisco Brady (Ford) 

• Ada Trybuchowska (Munk) 

• Ben Grossman (Ford) 

• Julia Brahy (Munk)  

• Jasdeep Kler (Ford) 

Global Public Policy Network (GPPN): The Global Public Policy Network (GPPN) Case Competition is an annual conference hosted at one of the eight most prestigious public policy schools in the world. Prior to the event, students are tasked with preparing a policy solution to an emerging issue area, which they will present in front of a community of other students and Deans from around the world. At the event, students will discuss their work, network with other students and Deans, and explore the host country.

Year 2024-25

In anticipation of the upcoming Global Public Policy Network (GPPN) Annual Conference, taking place from March 5 – 7, 2025, hosted by Columbia School of International and Public Affairs in New York, NY, the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy is actively preparing to make its mark on this prestigious international stage. To support the participation of our talented students, the Munk School is generously contributing towards their travel expenses, ensuring that they can engage with their global peers. Shared accommodation, thoughtfully provided by our gracious hosts, will facilitate networking and camaraderie among the participants. Stay tuned for further updates!

Year 2023-24

Our Munk School team placed first in the Global Public Policy Network case competition in February 2024 at Sciences Po in Paris. The challenge called for policy proposals to reduce the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations and territories.  The jury was comprised of Deans from the eight global GPPN member schools.  The Munk School team beat out 29 other teams to take first place (which was shared with a team from GRASPP, University of Tokyo).   Their proposal, ClimateEd - Floating Schools for Flood-Prone Areas, centred on retrofitting river boats to serve as floating schools in flood plain areas.  

Year 2022-23

A team of four Master of Global Affairs (MGA) and Master of Public Policy (MPP) students from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy recently presented their policy solution at the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN) Annual Conference in São Paulo, Brazil. Their presentation, titled "Boosting Local News to Combat Polarization," impressed the jury, ranking among the top four teams at the conference. This remarkable achievement is particularly noteworthy as it marks the Munk School's first year as a member of the network. The GPPN has even offered to provide a letter of support if the students decide to pursue their policy solution with the government. This experience provided an invaluable opportunity for these future leaders to exchange ideas and engage with global peers on pressing issues in public policy.