Announcing the 2025 Unity for Humanity Grant winners
We are thrilled to introduce the 2025 Unity for Humanity Grant winners! This year, we recognize 10 winners and three honorable mentions, with recipients spanning nine countries. The projects address complex global challenges aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
We received a record number of applications, demonstrating the growing global demand for support in using real-time 3D to drive positive change. To meet this increased demand, Unity’s Social Impact Team added an additional $100,000 to the prize pool from the Unity Charitable Fund, bringing the total to $600,000 USD. Funding can be allocated towards the development of the project, building a working prototype, or marketing and distribution.
Creators are changemakers and Unity is the platform for bringing their vision for a better world to life. Projects were judged based on vision, impact, inclusion, and viability. Winners will receive the funding, along with technical and marketing support from Unity to help bring their projects to life.
This year, we introduced the first ever Student Award category, recognizing two exceptional student-led projects. Additionally, Small Talk ASL by Jubilee Studios received the most votes in our final round and earned the Judges’ Choice Award.
Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and honorees! We are excited to follow their journeys and share more about their groundbreaking projects. Sign up here to join our upcoming Unity for Humanity livestream on Wednesday, April 30th from 10 AM - 11 AM Pacific Time to hear directly from the winners and learn more about their work.
Small Talk ASL App (Jubilee Studios LLC) – An ASL (American Sign Language) education application with high quality animation and interactive gameplay, opening a door for children and adults, both hearing and Deaf, to communicate in ASL.
What we liked about this project: Visually captivating project with a clear social impact mission, and what’s best is the developers intend to keep the app free forever. Jubilee Studios won our new “Judges’ Choice Award” for receiving the highest marks from this year’s judges.
Country: USA
Dil ba Dil (Boland Parwaz) – A storytelling experience where users navigate the threats of child and forced marriage through the perspective of a ‘virtual’ friend, making decisions that impact their entire lives.
“We are using Unity’s Ink narrative scripting language to trigger both audio and animation content when users make their story choices, which loads the appropriate language audio files using Unity's localisation system. Unity will also be used for the build of the micro games, tasks and SOS system.” - Helena Hassani, Executive Director, Boland Parwaz
What we liked about this project: Dil ba Dil touches on a long standing multi-national issue on forced marriage that tugged at the heartstrings of many of our judges. Boland Parwaz was a runner-up to our “Judges’ Choice Award”.
Country: Australia
Sands of Time VR (Dopay Films Ltd) – A VR experience exposing the devastating effects of sand mining on local communities and ecosystems through a dystopian narrative.
What we liked about this project: The project directly addresses sand mining, a critically underrepresented environmental issue, and connects it to a global audience.
Country: Nigeria
World Ocean Explorer: A Virtual Immersion (World Ocean Observatory) – A free, web-based 3D platform increasing ocean literacy through immersive marine exploration, real-world scientific data, and interactive curriculum, endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science.
“Unity’s rendering engine enables the integration of real-world imagery, streamable field videos, and interactive 3D models, enhancing the visual and educational experience. Unity’s WebGL deployment ensures accessibility across browsers without requiring downloads, making the game widely available to educators, students, and the public.” - Bjorn Grigholm PhD, Platform and Educational Developer, World Ocean Observatory
What we liked about this project: Endorsed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science and awarded by Serious Play, WOE already has traction and credibility. As a WebGL browser-based platform, WOE is widely accessible, especially for low connectivity schools.
Country: USA
Tekoha: A Tale Among the Stars (Split Studio) – A narrative-driven light RPG following two Indigenous Brazilian sisters on an emotional journey to reunite after a tragic event reshapes their homeland. Featuring turn-based combat and a visually striking world inspired by the rich cultural heritage of the Guarani-Kaiowá people, the game offers an immersive and heartfelt experience. It explores themes of resilience and the unwavering fight to preserve Indigenous culture alongside the breathtaking environment of the Brazilian Pantanal.
What we liked about this project: This project sheds light on a community that is not highly represented. It also spans multiple topics in a powerful way, by addressing inequality, environmental sustainability, and social justice. Based on real Indigenous struggles in Brazil, in particular the Guarani-Kaiowáa people, the game highlights the devastation of criminal wildfires and the relentless exploitation of their territories.
Country: Brazil
Benvision: Melody Meets Mobility (Benvision Inc.) – Empowering the blind to navigate independently through the universal language of music. Benvision is developing a system that helps blind individuals move independently using spatial audio cues.
“Unity’s flexibility allows us to develop a scalable, location-independent navigation system while also supporting VPS-based (Visual Positioning System) solutions for pre-mapped spaces.” - Patrick Burton, CEO, Benivision
What we liked about this project: Benvision was a 2024 UFH Finalist and Honorable Mention. Although they did not win an award last year, by improving their project demo, pitch deck, and significantly elaborating on their impact, the creator’s persistence and effort stood out to the judges this year.
Country: USA
Prosthetics Beyond Borders (Cure Bionics) – An XR platform using gamification, VR, and AI-driven simulations to help individuals with disabilities adapt to assistive technologies like prosthetic hands and legs.
“We are using Unity to develop both the MyoLink solution and our VR training platform. Unity is integral to our project as it enables us to create interactive, immersive environments for prosthetic training and real-time muscle feedback. For MyoLink, Unity helps visualize muscle signals and provide real-time biofeedback, enhancing the training experience. For the VR solution, Unity is used to design realistic simulations that help users practice adapting to prosthetic devices in diverse environments, improving mobility, confidence, and independence.” - Mohamed Dhaouafi, CEO, Cure Bionics
What we liked about this project: This project is a truly impressive medical innovation that helps individuals use their prosthetic limbs. The solution provides customizable training, interactive games, and real-world scenarios to enhance motor skills, confidence, and mental well-being. The project also is inclusive and accessible, serving individuals with disabilities in rural and war-affected areas where rehabilitation is scarce.
Country: Tunisia
ImmErgenSim (XR Ireland) – An XR humanitarian training platform that connects responders across borders in a virtual space to train, plan, and collaborate for emergency response preparedness.
“We use Unity to design, develop, and optimise realistic virtual worlds for emergency response simulations. Its robust rendering pipeline, physics engine, and best support for XR technologies enables multi-user highly immersive visuals and interactive experiences. Key uses include: World Building & Scene Management: Developing detailed training environments replicating real-world emergency scenarios on fictional simulation countries.” - Guillaume Auvray, Head of XR Technologies, XR Ireland
What we liked about this project: Disaster preparedness is an increasingly critical theme, by driving technological innovation in crisis management. The team has an incredible network of communities and experience to build from, and demos of previous work related to the project. The project also has a highly clear purpose based on real-life experience and a need to train first responders, especially in low-to-middle-income countries.
Country: Ireland
Rephobia (Student Award) (Rephobia Limited) – A virtual reality therapy platform empowering people to overcome phobias through therapist-led sessions in lifelike environments for gradual exposure, making phobia treatment accessible and stigma-free.
What we liked about this project: We love this applicant’s personal connection to the issue that he is solving through Rephobia. Helping others who struggle with phobias find affordable mental health treatment.
Country: Northern Ireland, UK
RCareWorld (Student Award) (EmPRISE Lab, Cornell University) – A human-centric simulation world for physical and social robot caregiving with realistic human modeling designed with stakeholders in the loop.
What we liked about this project: RCareWorld addresses a pressing and often overlooked area—robotic caregiving—which has huge implications for aging populations and people with disabilities.
Country: USA
Life Below (Megapop) – In a twist on the city-building genre, resurrect entire ecosystems by strategically crafting and managing vibrant coral reefs to restore life to the deep.
What we liked about this project: This reef builder game stood out for its fun gameplay and stunning visuals. The game offers a great balance of entertainment and education on environmental and ocean sustainability.
Country: Norway
ReelConnect (Birmingham City University) – This project creates a fun, multiplayer rehab game for stroke patients to do upper limb exercises at home. It aims to make therapy more engaging, accessible, and effective.
What we liked about this project: ReelConnect offered an innovative application of VR for stroke patients recovering movement. The applicant did a stellar job articulating both the issue and solution of their project.
Country: United Kingdom
Sami (MR. IO STUDIOS S.A.C.) – A platformer fantasy adventure about Sunu, a character navigating surreal worlds to uncover the values of existence in a deeply spiritual and nature-connected narrative to improve mental health for players through gameplay.
What we liked about this project: The artwork highly stands out to the judges, it offers a balance of both fun gameplay and a strong focus on social impact through improving mental health.
Country: Peru
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