With growing humanitarian needs and limited funding, innovative solutions are vital to assist the most vulnerable groups in new and efficient ways.
Our annual Professor Ron Johnston Humanitarian Innovation Awards is a means of doing just that, by encouraging and rewarding university students to create cutting-edge solutions that could save lives and make a positive impact on people around the world!
Our Humanitarian Innovation Pitch is a national submissions contest designed for university students to develop innovative technological or engineering solutions that support human welfare through benevolent treatment or assistance to people for substantially altruistic reasons.
Students are encouraged to select a real-world humanitarian problem and develop technology-driven solutions.
Submissions are comprised of a short video encapsulating the essence of a student's idea, accompanied by a written brief showing evidence of how each solution could be achieved.
Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner (Prize: Medal, $2,500, Cardno internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
"Team Orinum"
Runner Up (Prize: GHD internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
"The Double A Team"
Latest rules will be communicated soon.
Open Wednesday 3 March and close Sunday 18 April 2021
Evaluation criteria will include but not be limited to the degree to which the humanitarian engineering innovation:
In 2020, winners were awarded:
Our Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon is a weekend-long virtual event designed for university students to work collaboratively in cross-discipline teams to create technology-driven solutions for the most pressing humanitarian challenges.
Participants are asked to identify practical solutions for real and current problems from a current international humanitarian response context.
In 2020, the event saw over 200 students virtually come together to address topics including climate change-induced population displacement, educating for the future, aiding island communities and the provision of clean water.
First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)
"H2ArchipelagO"
Pacific Telecommunications Council / Beyond Essential Humanitarian Internship Appointent
"Winter is not Coming"
Pacific Telecommunications Council First Prize for Best Humanitarian Digital Innovation
"Greys Humanity"
Pacific Telecommunications Council Second Prize for Best Humanitarian Digital Innovation
"Fortitude"