Sophia Young

TOP 30 UNDER 30 HONOUREE | 2026

About

PROFILE SNAPSHOT

AGE: 21

PRONOUNS: She/Her

HOMETOWN: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ORGANIZATIONS:

Small Change Fund
Get on the Bus
Civil Connect
Homebase

GLOBAL IMPACT FOCUS (SDGs)

I am most passionate about:

What specific issue(s) are you working to address, and what motivates you to do so?

I’m an environmental engineering student using policy, research, and design to build more sustainable and equitable systems.

I began this work at age 14, when I helped shape the City of Regina’s Energy & Sustainability Framework, coordinated a 200-person lobbying campaign, and contributed to free transit passes for 36,000 children. Since then, I’ve worked nationally through Get on the Bus, supported by Small Change Fund, to help increase public transit access for 200,000 youth across Canada.

At the University of Alberta, I study the transport and fate of microplastics in aquatic systems, supported by an NSERC Undergraduate Research Award and two Dean’s Research Awards, contributing to working manuscripts and national conference presentations.

Alongside research and advocacy, I build programs that scale, creating national youth advocacy training initiatives and co-founding Civil Connect, a student-led design team advancing community infrastructure projects across Alberta. Whether through policy, research, or community design, my goal is the same: to create systems that expand opportunity for the people they impact most.

What are the ways in which you curate connection?

I curate connections by bringing people together across roles, generations, and disciplines to co-create solutions.

Through Get on the Bus, I connect youth with educators, municipal leaders, and nonprofit partners to co-design transit solutions rooted in lived experience. I prioritize collaboration, peer learning, and capacity-building over a top-down approach.

I also use creative, place-based approaches to build connections. As part of a transit study I conducted in Edmonton, I coordinated an art advocacy project that brought 45 newcomer students together to explore belonging and mobility through public mural-making.

These spaces remind me that connection often starts with listening, not leading.

What role will connection play in your future work?

In the future, I want to keep building partnerships that allow youth, communities, and decision-makers to work alongside one another be it through conferences, displays or new technology. I aim to continue developing models that integrate research, policy, and design to build systems that are inclusive, resilient, and responsive over time.

Sophia Young presents her environmental engineering research at the Dean’s Research Award Festival, translating scientific findings into real-world applications.

At age 17, Sophia Young leads a youth transit advocacy event in Regina, an effort that contributed to the implementation of free transit passes for 36,000 children across the city. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

Sophia Young speaks at the M.E. LaZerte Mural press conference regarding an art advocacy project she coordinated, which brought together 45 newcomer students to explore community connection through public transit.

Sophia Young speaks on the TEDx stage, challenging conventional perspectives on mobility, access, and youth leadership while turning lived experience into a call for inclusive systems