Secondary school students have been thinking about how they could transform healthcare as part of programs run by the Monash Tech School. They have taken on the role of scientists, and combined scientific disciplines to design and prototype cutting-edge solutions that tackle challenges experienced by workers and patients in Victoria’s healthcare system.

How can we, as a collective of 7.97 billion humans, ensure healthy people and healthy ecosystems on a healthy planet? The scale and complexity of the task can seem insurmountable; where do we focus our efforts? The SDGs helfpully provide 17 priority goals for improving human lives while protecting the environment, building on decades of work by the UN.

When it comes to your heartbeat, you want it the way Goldilocks does: just right. The improper beating of the heart – whether too slow or too fast or irregular – is known as arrhythmia. Biomedical engineer Professor Natalia Trayanova is revolutionising the way we track and treat our hearts with incredible new digital technologies to assist clinicians.

Change is difficult when investment and leadership in the mental healthcare system is poor. Victoria’s monetary investment is low compared with the rest of Australia, and grossly disproportionate compared with funding for physical health. Without a federal level discussion of what is needed and who is responsible in terms of leadership and funding, it will be difficult to implement change.

Despite the changes that occurred after European settlement, Melbourne’s urban waterways still contain remnant ecosystems, which faintly echo the diversity they once displayed. In addition to their contribution to the city’s environmental values, urban waterways also provide important social, economic, and aesthetic benefits.