From Curiosity to Confidence: How Jiaqian, Ming, and Lizhi built startup Settle and won the Curiosity Chin Family Trust Prize

Jiaqian, Ming, and Lizhi began Curiosity without a defined idea  - only a shared drive to try something new. That journey of exploration led them to build Settle and take home the Curiosity Chin Family Trust Prize.

Friends since high school, Jiaqian Peng (Sunny), Lizhi Liang and Ming Yu Ke are now pursuing different degrees at UQ, but their shared curisoity brought them back together through this program. Their startup idea, Settle, supports international students in Australia as they navigate life and study away from home.

Starting without the answer

Like many students entering Curiosity for the first time, the trio didn’t arrive with “the” idea. As Sunny and Ming recalled, they had plenty of initial thoughts, but it was only after talking with other students, mentors, and the Ventures team that their vision began to take shape.

A problem close to home and validation

The spark for Settle, the startup the group developed and pitched during the Curiosity Program in Semester 1 2025, began with a real conversation.

Lizhi, an international student in his final year, shared how challenging it was to find work in Australia — not because he lacked skills, but because many roles require permanent residency or citizenship.

That moment led the team to a bigger question: how many other international students are facing the same barriers?

Through research and surveys conducted during the Curiosity Program, the team uncovered some striking insights:

• More than 1.1 million international students study in Australia.
• Around 70% want to stay after graduating.
• Yet only 30% feel confident even trying to find a job.

It wasn’t a lack of ambition or love for Australia holding them back. As the team learned from conversations with students across campus and other communities, the challenge lay in a system that often isn’t built with international students in mind.

Building Settle

Settle was designed to be more than a job board. Sunny, Lizhi and Ming imagined a platform that would:

• Help international students navigate job opportunities more intuitively.
• Offer long-term mentorship, not just listings.
• Build confidence in job-hunting and interview skills.
• Support students beyond graduation and into real careers.

It was an ambitious idea, especially for students with no prior entrepreneurship experience.

Feeling uncomfortable (and learning anyway)

Curiosity was the first program of its kind for Sunny, Lizhi, and Ming. “At the beginning, we definitely felt behind,” they said. “Other students already had experience. We had ideas but didn’t know how to structure them.”

With support from mentors, facilitators, and peers, they learned how to:

• Turn raw/shower ideas into clearer problem statements.
• Receive feedback and act on it.
• Pivot when needed.
• Keep showing up, even when things felt uncertain.

After Curiosity, they continued working on the same project through the Validate program. After joining a few programs and activities with UQ Ventures, Sunny and Lizhi even received scholarships and joined the UQ Ventures Startup AdVenture overseas experiences, building confidence and momentum along the way.

Winning the Curiosity Chin Family Trust Prize

Months later, an unexpected email landed in their inboxes. They had been selected as winners of the Curiosity Chin Family Trust Prize.

“We didn’t expect it at all,” they shared.

“Even without the prize, we already felt like we had learned so much.”

For Sunny and Ming, the award was more than recognition: it was validation. Validation that they belonged in the innovation and startup space. That their ideas mattered and that entrepreneurship isn’t just for business students or people with prior experience.

Ming described it as the first award he had ever received outside of academics.  “It was moment I changed how I see university and what was possible for their future”, the UQ Bachelor of Advanced Finance and Economics student said.

Why their story matters

The Chin Family Trust Prize in Entrepreneurship and Innovation was established to encourage Chinese students at UQ who take part in the Curiosity program to be bold, explore new ideas, and develop entrepreneurial skills regardless of their field of study.

Over the past 8 years the prize has recognised students working on ideas across food waste, health, housing, ageing, travel, and more. Settle now joins that growing legacy.

Sunny, Lizhi and Ming’s journey is a reminder that:

• You don’t need a perfect idea to start.
• You don’t need prior experience.
• You just need curiosity and the courage to show up.

And sometimes, that’s where everything begins.

If you are interested in building stories and experiences just like Jiaqian, Ming and Lizhi did, join the UQ Ventures program.

Applications for semester 1 are still open.

Learn more