What is it?
Current students take part in a challenge-led event that aims to identify ideas and creative thoughts linked to the Aberdeen
The 2040 Strategic Plan has five interdisciplinary themes that focus on:
- Energy Transition
- Social Inclusion & Cultural Diversity
- Environment & Biodiversity
- Data & Artificial Intelligence
- Health, Nutrition & Wellbeing
Teams will be made up of a maximum of 6 students.
You can register as a team or as an individual, indicating your top two interdisciplinary themes (individuals will be grouped into teams and we will endeavour to group students based on their chosen themes).
Students from undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research are all eligible to apply.
Rules
- Student teams must create a 5-minute pitch that is pre-recorded and viewable online.
- Ideas must be original and directly link to the chosen theme.
Judging criteria
All 5-minute pitches submitted will be judged on the following three criteria on a scale of 1-10 (each criterion carries equal weighting).
- Uniqueness
- How innovative, novel and different is the idea being pitched?
- Impact
- How much potential does the idea have for the University and possibly other contexts outside of the institution?
- Relevance
- How well does the idea offer a solution to the commitment chosen?
Prizes
Prizes for this event have been kindly donated by the University Development Trust.
- 1st Prize – £100 per team member
- 2nd Prize – £50 per team member
- 3rd Prize – £25 per team member
When is it?
The Hack 2040 Challenge will take place during the 3rd week of the first term (Mon 3 – Fri 7 Oct) with the following structure:
- Monday (AM) – Design dash/ideation event
- Monday (PM) – Meet your Mentor / Idea sketching of your idea
- Tuesday and Wednesday – Decide and develop your idea
- Thursday – Finalise and submit your 5-minute pitch
- Friday (AM) – Judging
- Friday (PM) - Award ceremony to announce the winners
How to participate
Complete this registration form
Deadline for registrations is Monday 26th September at NOON.
Feedback from previous participants
“I think it’s a good initiative to get students involved in the future of the university”
“Student voices were being used to devise ideas for improving our university”
“The event as a whole was fantastic, and it was organised very well”