Our Professor Ron Johnston Humanitarian Innovation Awards encourage and rewards students by challenging them to engineer cutting-edge solutions that positively impact people around the world.
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!
The Humanitarian Innovation Awards consist of two parts:
When: Friday, 22 July–Sunday, 24 July 2022
Our Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon is a weekend-long event designed for university students to work in cross-discipline teams to create technology-driven solutions for the most pressing humanitarian challenges, and is presented by our Hackathon partner, RedR.
Participants are asked to identify practical solutions for real and current problems from a current international humanitarian response context.
The Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon is open to all undergraduate students across Australia, and allows students to build their team working skills and network with likeminded students and mentors from across the country.
Participating in the Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon also counts towards Professional Engagement Program (PEP) hours for engineering students from the University of Sydney. It may also count towards similar programs at other universities; students are encouraged to check with their instituations.
Last year's 2021 Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon took place virtually and saw participants create solutions to help address challenges ranging from natural distaster recovery to managing plastic waste.
Registration for the 2022 Hackathon is now open and closes on Monday, 11 July.
Watch the highlights of the 2021 Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon
First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)
Vonwiller Humanitarian Innovation Runner Up Prize
"Solomon Says"
Engineers Australia People's Choice Award
"Solomon Says"
First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)
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"
First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)
“Fran’s boys”
Second: “whereto”
Third: “Illuninate”
Laing O’Rourke best presentation: “Rafts & Rails”
Our Humanitarian Innovation Pitch is an annual national submissions contest where university students present innovative technological or engineering solutions that support human welfare through benevolent treatment or assistance to people for substantially altruistic reasons.
In groups of 2-4, 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 poster showing evidence of how each solution could be achieved.
Participating in the Humanitarian Innovation Pitch helps students gain presentation skills, problem solving skills, and network.
Entries for the 2022 Pitch are now closed.
Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner (Prize: Medal, $2,500, Cardno internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
Runner Up (Prize: GHD internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
"Team Collectous"
Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner (Prize: Medal, $2,500, Cardno internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
Runner Up (Prize: GHD internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
"The Double A Team"
Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner (Prize: Medal, $2,500, Cardno internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
Runner Up (Prize: GHD internship and automatic entry into hackathon)
"Monica’s Peers"
"Bio-Engineering for River Banks"
"Team Sloth"
Participants of the Humanitarian Innovation Pitch must follow the below rules and guidelines:
See the full list of terms and conditions in the awards portal.
To enter in the Humanitarian Innovation Pitch, register through the awards portal and submit your pitch by midnight AEST on Sunday 1 May 2022.
Participants must submit:
Judging will take place once submissions close. Full submission details and requirements are available through the awards portal.
Participants should look to select a focus area which:
Entries for the 2022 Pitch are open from 9.00am AEDT Friday 4 March and close midnight AEST on Sunday 1 May 2022.
First place (the Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation winner) will receive:
GHD has the desire to provide a meaningful opportunity, and propose each intern can select from the following placements:
Each team member of the runner up team will receive:
All participations of the Pitch will receive automatic entry into the 2022 Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon.
Submissions will be evaluated on the degree to which the humanitarian innovation addresses the below criteria.
The pitch:
The innovation:
The benefits of the innovation:
An actual demonstration or other proof of practicality of the solution will be highly considered.
Professor Ron Johnston, Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Innovation (ACIIC) has worked for more than 30 years in pioneering better understanding of the ways that science and technology contribute to economic and social development, the characteristics of the global knowledge economy and the processes and culture of innovation.
His special skill is based on the breadth of his knowledge across technologies and his ability to integrate them into a socioeconomic and environmental context.
These annual awards are named in honor of Professor Ron Johnston, to recognise his outstanding contributions as Director of ACIIC for some 20+ years.