Paul Heidebrecht and Gabriel Jabile
Map the System is a global competition that challenges students to apply the principles of systems thinking to deeply explore a complex social or environmental issue. Organised by the Skoll Centre at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, more than 50 colleges and universities from 17 countries participated in the competition in 2025. The University of Waterloo has participated in Map the System since 2019, and more than 1,000 students from a wide range of academic programs and years of study—from first-year undergraduates to doctoral candidates—have competed either as individuals or as part of an interdisciplinary team. Paul Heidebrecht will begin this session by providing more context on how students engage Map the System at Waterloo as both a curricular and co-curricular learning opportunity.
The heart of this session will be Gabriel Jabile’s presentation of his Map the System project on livestock disease outbreaks, done in collaboration with Ugandan farmers. Gabriel was the winner of this year’s Map the System campus finals at Waterloo and went on to compete at the Canadian finals at the Banff Systems Summit as well as the global finals at Oxford, where he was recognised with an award for excellence for the inclusion of underrepresented voices in his research. Gabriel’s presentation will provide a clearer sense of the ingredients and deliverables common to all strong Map the System projects, and will also provide the opportunity for feedback and questions on his particular challenge area.
Before concluding with a more general discussion about how educators and community partners can get involved in Map the System, Paul will reflect on the impact Map the System has had on students at Waterloo. This includes equipping them to embark on graduate studies, secure an internship, influence government policy, launch a social enterprise, design a public engagement initiative, and even become a systems mapping consultant.
This RSD14 talk features a presentation of Gabriel Jabile’s project, Understanding Livestock Disease Outbreaks in Uganda.
Profiles
Paul Heidebrecht
University of Waterloo
Paul Heidebrecht is the inaugural director of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement and a professor who teaches courses in Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College. His research focuses on promoting just, peaceful, and inclusive societies (Sustainable Development Goal #16). He has leveraged academic preparation and professional experience in both engineering and the humanities to help spark the emerging field of PeaceTech—generating critical insights on the social impact of technology, while using technology to augment the efforts of civil society organisations, social-purpose businesses, and governments to advance peace and justice.
Gabriel Jabile
University of Waterloo
Gabriel Jabile is a Biomedical Engineering student at the University of Waterloo and the founder of Enyana Health, an ag-tech startup developing Amatuungo Aid—a mobile triaging system that delivers agricultural guidance in local Ugandan languages, empowering livestock farmers with accessible veterinary advice. Backed by a Social Impact Fund award from GreenHouse’s 33rd Social Impact Showcase, Gabriel is actively deploying this tool in Ugandan communities, with plans to expand to support poultry, pigs, and rabbits by December. His work stems from immersive field experience during an Engineers Without Borders internship, where he committed to listening to farmers’ lived realities and translating insights into human-centred tech solutions.
