2,893 Inspirational Passion Project Ideas
Turn inspirations into your passion project.
This collection of project ideas, shared by Polygence mentors, is meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.
- AI/ML
- Animation
- Arts
- Biology
- Biotech
- Business
- Cancer
- Chemistry
- Cognitive
- Computer Science
- Creative Writing
- Dance
- Dentistry
- Economics
- Engineering
- Entomology
- Environmental Science
- Ethics
- Fashion
- Finance
- Game Design
- Healthcare
- History
- Illustration
- Languages
- Linguistics
- Literature
- Math
- Medicine
- Music
- Neuroscience
- Nutrition
- Organizational Leadership
- Philanthropy
- Philosophy
- Photography
- Physics
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Quantitative
- Social
- Social Science
- Sports Analytics
- Statistics
- Surgery
Air Pollution and Neurological Impacts
With climate change effects impacting more and more communities, one possible research question could focus on how air pollution affects neurological pathways and influences neurodegenerative diseases. I have conducted a study that analyzed the impacts of air pollution exposure on Alzheimer's disease at acute and chronic exposure levels. Other projects could examine air pollution impacts on other diseases, such as Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, or on symptoms such as headaches and blurred vision. The final product could take on several different forms such as a formal report, a poster presentation, and even a policy memo.
Biology, Languages, Chemistry, Public Health
Female Leadership in the Middle East
This project would explore how female networks of power, as knowledge workers, social leaders, and political figures, have functioned in different social contexts in the Middle East and North Africa.
Philosophy, Languages
Responding to ancient tragedy in modern times
From Medea to Antigone, tragic women have been reworked countless times into different cultural, temporal, and geographic contexts. What happens when we move Sophocles' Antigone--a play that examines the struggle between divine and earthly authority, family and state loyalty--from ancient Greece to the US-Mexico border? (Antigone at the Border, Marc Pinate) What about if we adapt the story to a modern Pakistani family in Britain? (Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie) Analysis of the modern reception of ancient classics can take many forms--from traditional research papers that present close readings of themes from the ancient and modern texts, to creative presentations that include student-created adaptations or artistic responses to a particular work. The important thing is to carefully consider why artists and writers return so frequently to certain ancient characters, and what their work can tell us about our modern world.
Music, Literature, Languages
Religious Pluralism Blog
Curious about how religions are formed, how the grow, and how they influence cultures, start wars, change history? Dive into the background and theory behind a variety of religions and create a multimedia blog to help educate others.
Arts, History, Languages, Social Science
How do psychedelics affect brain oscillations?
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is gaining a lot of popularity recently. Based on the existing electrophysiology literature, are there any common features between the states induced by different psychedelic compounds? What are medicinal uses for them potentially? This project could be an op-ed piece, a literature review paper, or blog post.
Biology, Neuroscience, Psychology, Arts, Languages
Becoming a data detective
Choose a factual from a news article, website, or report and investigate it. The fact should not be based on original information (i.e. it should be reused or cited). Trace the fact back to its original source. Demonstrate how it was estimated/measured/created and evaluate the appropriateness of the fact for its present use. Show the steps taken to reconfigure the fact for its current use and comment on the appropriateness of these changes. Conclude with an evaluation of any discrepancies between the final factual claim and the original fact. In this process you will develop the skills to investigate statements that are often assumed as fact. This project will arm you with valuable critical thinking and researching skills.
Arts, Languages, Business
Creating a short film
In this project, you will capture content on the topic of your choice, then use software such as iMovie or other editing platforms, to edit your clips together into a short film. This project gives you an opportunity to explore filmmaking by learning techniques to combine clips and add audio and visual effects.
Biology, Languages, Chemistry, Public Health
Self-Compassion Intervention Literature Review
My most recent area of focus pertains to evaluating the effectiveness of self-compassion interventions for health behavior change. I would love to help students conduct a literature review project on the topic of self-compassion interventions by assisting them with literature searching, critically consuming literature on the topic, and writing a literature review paper.
Psychology, Arts, Languages
The History of Race and Food in America
This project would examine the racial dynamics of food throughout American history. This research will delve into history to help answer our modern question: who owns land in this country and why, where is food unaffordable, and who is producing our food?
History, Languages, Environmental Science, Social Science, Nutrition
Cockadoodle doo! How do kids learn animal words?
Why do children seem to learn animal sounds ("meow") before they learn animals names ("cat"). We'll study how parents talk to children about animals and when children learn words for different animals.
Languages, Cognitive
Writing a Long-Form Journalistic Piece or a Nonfiction Narrative
If you have ever wanted to do a deep dive into a current events issue you’re passionate about, I would love to help you get to the point where you can publish a long-form article (approximately 5,000-10,000 words). Alternatively, if you’re interested in writing a historical non-fiction narrative (5,000-15,000 words), I would be happy to guide you. I spent years as a writer and editor at the Harvard Political Review, so I know how to edit journalistic pieces and provide feedback as you go. A core function of my job as a paralegal was editing and copy editing legal documents, so I can go over your drafts with an eye to detail.
Languages, Economics, Social Science
Disaster Resilience and Your Area
A project focused on local community resilience in your home, this research will map out community vulnerability, assets, and help to build a disaster preparedness plan that can help make my community more prepared for climate change hazards.
History, Languages, Environmental Science, Social Science, Nutrition
Exploring Migration in Latin American Countries
In this project, you can explore publicly available datasets from IPUMS on individuals and families (households), with indicators measuring people’s education, income, migration and mobility. How many people move to cities every year? How does their life in cities compare to areas they came from? Do they children get more education in cities then those who stayed in rural areas?
Languages, Economics
Investigating the theatrical economy of Early Modern London
Background: Theater blossomed in Early Modern London, leading to many of the plays and production techniques that are most famous today. Networks of actors, writers, producers, patrons, and craftspeople collaborated to build a new industry around an established medium. What made this period and city so unique? How were these economic forces reflected in the plays themselves? Questions like these guide academics, who tend to use literature as a tool to understand broader cultural and historical themes. Process: After solidifying your background knowledge, it will be important to narrow your focus to a particular aspect of this period's drama, whether that is a specific play, a theater, or even a production company. Looking for sources in academic journals, literary texts, and primary sources like historical documents will lead you to unexpected connections and a growing clarity about your specific argument. Finally, understanding the broader critical context of how this period has been discussed will allow you to position your argument to make it more unique and effective. Knowledge and skills: Over the course of this project, you will become familiar with the most common skills for humanities research: finding and synthesizing sources, situating your argument in its critical context, digital archival work, close reading, outlining, and explaining the relevance of your results. Outcomes: Literary analysis tends to fit best in essay form, but there are lots of supplemental ways that you can display your findings. Trendy fields like the Digital Humanities and New Theater Studies have placed a great emphasis on websites and even creative writing as a way to enhance an academic argument. We'll review some examples of what's being done currently and look a tools you can use to share your work online in an interactive form.
Arts, History, Languages, Social Science
Sustainability strategy: business plan
Choose a company sector of your choice (fashion, food, entertainment,...others) and identify direct actions the company can take to increase its environmental sustainability. Comment on actions the company is currently taking (if they are taking any actions) and evaluate the effectiveness of their sustainability strategy. Provide new ideas to improve the company's sustinability, drawing on academic journal articles and high quality sources. This process will include a literature review and developing a research outline. Results can be presented as a paper or in the form of a presentation.
Arts, Languages, Business
Historical Overview on American Schools
Did you know that America’s education system is not an accident? It was purposefully structured to succeed specific groups of people. In this project you will research the origins of US schools leading to its current situation. Drawing upon politics including landmark court cases and foreign policy, you will investigate how education has changed throughout history and what inequalities persist. You will read academic articles and journals to assess how education today is set in place by structures and systems.
Psychology, History, Literature, Languages
How can technology reduce the wealth gap in developing countries
With many new innovations around the world and technology propelling more access to those in developing markets, how can business help drive more equality in society?
Languages, Finance
Digital Humanities: New Directions in Media
What does the future hold for the humanities? The student will explore current trends in the growing field of the “Digital Humanities,” research its history, and envision its next steps. How might reading, writing, and analysis change with the times, and what possibilities open?
Arts, History, Literature, Languages
Robotics and Society
The student will investigate a topic in robotics such as home-care robotics. Research on the current obstacle and investigate/design solutions for it. Open to more discussion with the student and based on their interest with the topic.
Psychology, Languages, Social Science
Examining the New Manager Bounce in Professional Soccer
How much does a sports team's manager impact the team's performance? When things aren't going well for a professional sports team, the owner often takes the drastic action of firing and replacing the manager, even during the middle of a season. In this paper, we examine why owners take this action and analyze data from the English Premier League to understand its impact. We also explore the relative impact of other potential actions underperforming teams can take and make general recommendations.
History, Languages, Sports Analytics, Economics, Business
