Leeds Uni – Hackathon – Hack for Humanity

On Tuesday 20 January, 27 A1 Computer Science students attended a Hackathon event titled ‘Hack for Humanity’ at Leeds University. This event saw several colleges from the Yorkshire area attend and compete in a few categories, with teams of 5 students selecting one of several key focuses, based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). The 3 focal areas to select from were:

• 2 – Zero Hunger
• 3 – Good Health and well-being
• 13 – Climate Action

Each of the 3 areas was given a specific brief, which focused on the use of AI technologies in developing countries such as:

• 2 – Zero Hunger focused on AI-Powered Agricultural Extension
• Chatbot in Lesotho
• 3 – Good health and well-being focused on AI-Chatbot for Prevention and Control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in The Gambia
• 13 – Climate Action focused on an AI-powered Extreme Weather Advisor in Bangladesh.

Over the course of the day, the student teams were given a lecture on the use of AI and its impact on developing systems in these areas to tackle large-scale problems. Followed by 2 and a half hours to design and form ideas within their teams for one of the above areas. Teams used systems such as Figma, Canva, AI systems (ChatGPT, Gemini, GitHub Copilot and many more) to speedily prototype their ideas and to create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product or early stage prototype) and a presentation which included: app design mock-ups, information on the app and how it would utilise AI to tackle their chosen problem.

After the teams presented their projects to the team of PhD students and Computer Science ambassadors, they were given a score across 4 areas: Novelty, Presentation, Technical Creativity, and Impact.

When the final scores rolled in, Greenhead students took the crown in 2 out of 3 categories! With 2 teams placing 2nd and 3rd overall in the competition and at the top of their respective categories amongst all 22 teams.

Team ‘Wahid F.C’ took the crown in the ‘Good health and well-being’ category. The team comprised the following students: Anam Zanam, Daniel Hampson, Siddh Pallavajjala, and Punyashlok Purohit.

Team ‘Cookies’ took the crown in the ‘Climate Action’ category. The team comprised the following students: Hitaishi Bhandari, Soumil Gupta, Saniyah Sharma, Mohann Wendam.

A huge congratulations to all the above students for winning their respective categories, and to all the students who took part in the Hackathon, as we saw an amazing level of engagement and high levels of creativity and technical skill amongst the teams.

We are looking forward to offering out more opportunities like this in the future. between Westborough High School and Greenhead College, and how sustained support can help ambitious students progress from GCSEs to highly competitive degree programmes.