During the month of October, universities around the globe were invited to host a hackathon and submit a short video to encourage interdisciplinary interest in climate change and circularity principles in support of COP26. Students were required to consider, “How might we transform the way we communicate issues of climate change to diverse audiences in order to create positive action towards the regeneration of systems on individual, local and global scales?” Solutions proposed had to incorporate circular economy principles and identify a specific target audience.

Communicating ideas effectively has become an essential skill in encouraging climate action, ‘Scientists have long been sounding the alarm bells about the potential catastrophic impacts of climate change — without any meaningful action being taken — but I am optimistic that the pendulum is swinging towards a united, global will to act.  We can still make a difference – but the time to act is now.’ Stated Professor Matthew England, Academic Lead for the International Universities Climate Alliance.

All three judges were impressed by the innovative ideas and enthusiasm students expressed in their videos. Two winning teams were identified, Team Grick, submitted by the Engineering and Sciences School from Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Sonora Norte and Team Ouroboros by the Founders Program from UNSW Sydney. María Rubi Forte, Director of the Engineering and Sciences School at Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Sonora Norte found hosting the hackathon to be a positive experience for the school and students alike, “Climate change is a big issue for humanity and the opportunity given by the #ClimateTalks Global Hackathon to participate proposing ideas and solutions to this problem was awesome. Our students worked together, got more conscious about climate change, and designed sustainable actions that could be applied in the near future.”