Each year more than 300 students from across 91ÑÇÉ« engage in an intensive experiential learning event calledÌý, which is focused on helping students understand the creative problem-solving process. This year, UNHack will take place Nov. 19 to 21 and will be offered as a virtual event.
Focused on the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNHack offers an interesting and empowering experiential learning activity. This year, UNHack is organized by the Bergeron Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology (BEST) in conjunction with the 91ÑÇÉ« Sustainability Office and its SDG Student Hub initiative. Joining UNHack as new partners are leaders from the School of Nursing’s Nursing Student Tutoring, Ambassadorship and Mentorship Programs.
UNHack organizers are calling on faculty across 91ÑÇÉ« to direct their students to this powerful virtual experiential education event. UNHack is different from most hackathons in two ways: the "UN" comes from the United Nations, and the "hack" from hackathon, which focuses attention on local problems that are linked to the the UN's 17 SDGs. Addressing global problems at the local level helps students recognize that they can have an impact and make a difference to critical problems that the world needs to address. UNHack is not a traditional hackathon focused on coding; this event promotes a full range of technical and creative solutions aligned around identifying the critical problem and then developing creative solutions to that problem (not the ability to develop code or software). Final prototypes of solutions are informed by the diverse minds and lenses applied to the issue, resulting in creative outputs that could encompass drawing, creating a model or other visuals, rather than technology.
Challenges inÌýUNHackÌýcan either be developed byÌýstudents orÌýselected from those offered by 91ÑÇÉ« or industry partners. In previous years, participants inÌýUNHackÌýhave developed a system to facilitate reusable food containers, a campus-based rideshare platform, apps to help improve mental health and innovative ways to reduce paper use in posters on campus. Many of these solutions are currently in the early stages of being deployed at 91ÑÇÉ«.ÌýÌý
To learn more, visit the or contactÌýMaedeh Sedaghat, BEST program officer, by email at maedeh.sedaghat@lassonde.yorku.ca .  Ìý