Project management team of students take regional title

A team from Teesside University were crowned regional winners of the Association for Project Management (APM) Project Management Challenge 2025.

The APM Project Management Challenge is an annual competition which has been running for over a decade and is aimed at those who are new to project management.

It is hosted by a number of AMP Regional Networks across the UK and provides potential and emerging project professionals with an opportunity to increase their project management experience, working as a team to deliver a real project from concept to completion.

The North East regional winners were the Teesside University team, called the Next Gen Navigators, who were involved in a community-led urban regeneration project. The group comprised students completing MSc IT Project Management and MSc Project Management.

Through stakeholder engagement, risk management, and sustainability planning, the Next Gen Navigators team collaborated with Middlesbrough Council and Boro Doughnut to deliver a scalable model which aimed to regenerate a fly-tipping hotspot in the Linthorpe area of Middlesbrough.

Their initiative integrated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and employed community-driven strategies to promote long-term behavioural change.

The judges felt it demonstrated effective application of planning, resource coordination, highlighting how early-career professionals can deliver impactful, locally embedded solutions through project management best practices.

The competition runs from November to April each year, culminating in a final awards evening, where the highest scoring teams present on their project and winners announced.

Other winners were announced at regional networks covering London, the North West, Scotland, South Wales and West England, Thames Valley, Wessex, and Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

---