Some of the key activities / further thoughts that would support the launch of this initiative would be
a)Confirmation that this is complementary to Map the Systems (which will be running in LUMS) rather than competitive (e.g. will students be able to submit the same work to both competitions?). This is quite nuanced as the distinct value add for the STS project established in terms of the mentorship and the ‘action’ stage. However these distinctions need alignment to any MTS requirements but (e.g. number of students would be 4 plus the mentor and/or would there need to be a unique mentor for each group).
Yes. I am in touch with MtS. StS is more likely to be challenge than a competition. We envisage awards (maybe like Duke of Edinburgh scheme). What would be of value to students? This is a good opportunity to find out.
b) 1 page summary to gain support for the initiative.
Yes. See See the Systems Partners or pp19-20 here 
What's in it for Uni's, students, communities?
c) Clarity on ‘appropriate’ techniques for the competition and other parameters (e.g. size of the team and if non OR people can be part of this).
The trial will be to help test a toolkit. Teams can propose additions. This trial will be with the OR Society. All participants must be student members of the ORS. This is free.
d) Promotion flyer for the launch.
Agreed.
e) Liaison with the module convenor for MSCI354 (Dr Casey Cross), Programme Director for MSc BA (Adam Hindle) and Programme Director for BSc BA (Dr. Elena Luchinskaya).
Can we set up a call for the 5 of us?
f) Clarity on what will be provided by the See the Systems core team.
The trial will help us to asses this.
g) Clarity on what will be provided by the See the Systems ‘industry’ partners.
In the trial the partner will be the ORS. Senior ORS practitioners will be the mentors.
h) Clarity on timescales inc. interim points (Lent term ends on the 25th March).
I envisage the trial will run through 2021 so 3 months. The challenge for real will be annual. Teams will be encouraged to focus on long term systems change through the award structure.
There will be 2 phases. Phase 1 learning by doing by the students. Phase 2: learning by mentoring others as the students mentor local school teams.
i) Clarity on the internal (?) processes to select the finalists.
Not relevant to the trial.
j) Clarity on the relative importance of the stages and the stage gates that may be needed.
See h) Needs more work.
k) Alignment to the research ethics processes in the institutions (should be easy for LUMS not sure about York; but I have worked somewhere where it was a significant hurdle).
Good news about Lancaster. I'm now wondering about substituting Southampton for York and a N/S challenge. Ian has worked at both places and both have about the same numbers of student members.
l) Development of support materials for the students / core team / partners.
In process
m) Launch during welcome week (4th Oct – 8th Oct) or soon after.
Noted.
n) Identification and communication of the value for the students (e.g. MTS has a cash prize).
Will we need incentives for the trial? A big incentive could be having a head start on others when the challenge opens up. See b)