Climate Hackathon

What's a Climate Hack?

A hackathon is a form of challenge-based learning where teams work to solve problems through rapidly prototyping, refining and pitching solutions. Hackathons were first used in the tech world but are now being used across all discplines and sectors- you don't need any coding knowledge for this event!

In partnership with the British Standards Institution, this hackathon will focus on integrating sustainability into BSI's broad range of industry standards. You'll work in mini groups to present recommendations for aligning a particular standard with sustainability and equity considerations. Plus, your recommendations aren't just a thought exercise. They'll be taken forward by BSI as part of their youth consultation, so your voices really matter.

By booking a ticket via this page, you are expressing interest to this event. We will ask you to confirm your space closer to the time. If the event becomes oversubscribed, we will email all ticket holders asking them to confirm their space.

Skills you can expect to flex

• Rapidly digesting information: get ready to become an expert in sustainability standards in just 2 days!
• Teamwork: how good a team player are you really?
• Leadership: where are you in your leader journey?
• Communication: do you listen well or are you all talk?
• Sharing power: are you prepared to value knowledge from other sectors?
• Problem-solving: can you identify issues, make an analysis, and generate solutions?
• Reporting & presenting: how good are you at pulling together info to present in a short time? 

Location

Both days of the hackathon will be hosted at the IOE. For Day 1, please meet at room A5.01. For Day 2, please meet at room C3.14.

Please follow the hyperlinks for directions to the IOE and accessibility information.

Outline of the day

So why should I do this?

• Learn about sustainability standards: this can seem like a difficult topic, but it's essential to climate action. We're here to break it down and make you an expert in 2 days.
• Be part of BSI's youth consultation: your recommendations will actually be taken forward as part of BSI's youth engagement strategy.
• Meet experts from BSI: Over networking lunches and workshops, you'll learn from and collaborate with sector leaders.
• This Climate Hack will get your creative juices flowing, ahead of the Sustainability Leadership conference.
• Even if you are not going to the conference, your experience will be invaluable and will 100% be something you can reflect about and include in job applications and interviews!
• Afterwards, you'll know 49 other people interested in working like this. That's a whole professional network waiting to happen.

FAQs

What if I don't know what a standard is?

That's the whole point of the hackathon- we want to bring together young people who care about sustainability and equity so that we can make standards accessible to you. If you're an expert, you're welcome too, but we are expecting most people to be completely new to standards.

What if feel a bit shy?

We know it is easy to say 'don't worry about it'. We have given this a lot of thought though, to make sure students can rock up at one of our events and feel instantly like they belong. We started by making sure you  meet your Hacking team ahead of time, providing you with refreshments along the way - great conversations start over great coffee, right, making sure you design your own name badge, and finally, making sure each of our event check-ins is run by a one of our lovely Student Event Hosts. Thaina, our lead Event Host, will welcome you warmly to our space and help you work out how you want to get started. 

Other ExtendED Learning opportunities at your Students' Union

The SU is excited to be hosting a variety of ExtendED Learning opportunities during Term 3. Why not take a look at all we have to offer via our ExtendED Learning webpage, where you can find further information about each event and book your space.