ACAMIS Student Leadership Conference — Shanghai
Social Innovation
What Have You Set in Motion?
Shanghai
Saturday, February 27, 2027
Other Locations: Shenzhen (Jan 16), Beijing (Mar 6)
About the Conference
The ACAMIS Student Leadership Conference on Social Innovation brings together student teams who are using service, creativity, and community insight to make a difference in their schools and local communities.
This one-day, in-person conference is designed for school teams of up to 5 students and 1 to 2 faculty advisers. Students will not only attend sessions. They will help shape the learning before the event, share their own work during the conference, and present what they learned afterwards.
At a time when schools are helping students move beyond participation toward purposeful action, this conference asks a simple question:
What have you set in motion?
From Service to Social Innovation
Students will explore how meaningful service begins with listening, develops through action, and improves through reflection and revision.
The conference will culminate with the Innovative Service Video Contest, where students create 60-second videos that tell the story of a service project they have launched or improved.
Strong videos will show how students have:
Identified a real need by speaking with those affected
Designed a project that responds to that need
Improved the project based on what worked and what did not
Shown how the benefits can continue beyond the first action
The conference will also help students understand what does not usually count as social innovation: solutions imposed from outside a community, projects that repeat existing ideas without improvement, service that offers only a short-term fix, or videos that do not show how students learned and adapted.
Intended Outcomes
By the end of the conference, participating teams will:
Identify genuine community needs by listening to the people most affected
Design or refine a service project that responds meaningfully to an identified need
Use reflection and evidence to improve a project and strengthen its long-term impact
Distinguish social innovation from short-term service or solutions imposed on a community
Communicate the story, learning and future direction of a student-led service project
Conference Journey
Before the Conference
Join two online sessions to explore the theme, share school experiences and help shape the conference content.
During the Conference
Take part in joint and separate student and faculty sessions, student presentations, team discussions and practical planning.
After the Conference
Submit a 60-90s video and join an online showcase to share what the team learned and how it will be applied in school.