Trinity students aim to ‘hack homelessness’ this weekend

Over one hundred students of Trinity College Dublin will participate in a three-day hackathon this weekend, aimed at developing high-impact solutions to tackle homelessness.

The hackathon is part of the inaugural Provost’s Innovation Challenge at Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace.

Participating students range from undergraduates to PhD candidates, and come from diverse academic backgrounds. They will be joined over the weekend by representatives from homelessness and housing organisations, as well as social innovation coaches and mentors.

During the hackathon, students will work in multi-disciplinary teams, competing to develop the best ideas for addressing homelessness. The winning team will receive €10,000 to develop their idea over the summer as part of LaunchBox, Tangent’s Student Accelerator.

Commenting today, Dr Patrick Prendergast, Provost and President of Trinity College Dublin, said: “Universities have a duty to support and empower our students to have a positive impact on society and the world. This social innovation challenge does that. It brings people together from different disciplines, backgrounds, and perspectives, and allows them to work collaboratively on solutions to homelessness, one of the most pressing social issues we face in Ireland today.

“Homelessness is a complex issue, which is why we welcome the complex, creative, and innovative future solutions that activities like this can bring.”

The hackathon takes place at Tangent’s Innovation Academy, 3 Foster Place, Dublin 2 from 5.30pm today, Friday, 22nd March, until approximately 4 pm on Sunday, 24th March. The winning teams will be announced on Sunday afternoon.