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Humanitarian Innovation Awards

Engineering solutions for the most vulnerable

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:

Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon

Our Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon is an annual weekend-long event designed for university students to work 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.

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.

  • Cardno
  • GHD
  • Laing O'Rourke
  • RedR

Watch the highlights of the 2023 Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon

Past winners

First prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Medal and $5,000)

"Team 1A Heatbloc"

  • Adam Slimming (University of Adelaide)
  • Alex Hofman (Monash University)
  • Gemma Biezen (Monash University)
  • Sam Hillcoat (Monash University)

Hackathon Innovation Runner Up Prize (Medal and $3,000)

"Team 9A Nucleus"

  • Elvera Abdel-Messih (University of Technology Sydney)
  • Ji Han Qin (The University of Sydney)

Hackathon Innovation 3rd Prize ($1,000)

"Team 14C The IT Crowd"

  • Angus Henderson (The University of Sydney)
  • Wesley Henderson (University of Technology Sydney)
  • Franco Yemma (The University of Sydney)

Solarobotix Digital Innovation Prize ($1,000)

"Team 13B Pacific Green Machine"

  • Arushanan Prapakaran (University of New South Wales)
  • Connor Sinclair (The University of Sydney)
  • Zhiyu Cheng (The University of Sydney)
  • Ritvik Sharma (The University of Sydney)

First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)

"Team Ashaway"

  • Henry Howard (University of Sydney)
  • Vicky-Rae Reed (Western Sydney University)
  • Hogun Lim (University of Queensland)
  • Nadia Akbar (Monash University)

Vonwiller Humanitarian Innovation Runner Up Prize

"Team Alma Aqua"

  • Alex Hofman (Monash University)
  • Alex Qin (Australian National University)
  • Nyamjargal Namsraijav (University of Adelaide)
  • Shute Zhang (University of Sydney)

Laing O'Rourke for Best Presentation (Prize: $1,000)

"Team Alma Aqua"

First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)

"Team Aegis"

  • Edith Lume (University of Wollongong)
  • Mansour Adie (University of Sydney)
  • Thomas Sau (MacquarieUniversity)
  • Ivy He (University of Sydney)

Vonwiller Humanitarian Innovation Runner Up Prize

"Solomon Says"

  • Emily Sacks (University of Sydney)
  • Gayathri Aranhiyullathil Pradeep (University of New South Wales)
  • Rebecca Kung (University of Sydney)
  • Akrita Singh (Macquarie University)
  • Aishwarya Kathikeuan (Macquarie University)

Engineers Australia People's Choice Award

"Solomon Says"

  • Emily Sacks (University of Sydney)
  • Gayathri Aranhiyullathil Pradeep (University of New South Wales)
  • Rebecca Kung (University of Sydney)
  • Akrita Singh (Macquarie University)
  • Aishwarya Kathikeuan (Macquarie University)

First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)

"H2ArchipelagO"

  • Alex Hofmann (Monash University)
  • Allan Soo (University of Technology Sydney)
  • Ben Hofmann (Australian National University)
  • Emily Unewisse (University of Adelaide)
  • James Hurst (Australian National University)

Pacific Telecommunications Council / Beyond Essential Humanitarian Internship Appointent

"Winter is not Coming"

  • Katia Moors (University of Sydney)
  • Thomas Sau (Macquarie University

Pacific Telecommunications Council First Prize for Best Humanitarian Digital Innovation

"Greys Humanity"

  • Alida Fois from (University of Melbourne)
  • Celina Dhobbie (Monash University)
  • Charvi Mamidi (University of Sydney)
  • Portia Sihvola (Queensland University of Technology)

Pacific Telecommunications Council Second Prize for Best Humanitarian Digital Innovation

"Fortitude"

  • Avanish Shrestha (University of Sydney)
  • Isabella Notarpietro (University of New South Wales)
  • Rafe Skidmore (University of Sydney)
  • Meg Phillips (University of Tasmania)
  • Syed Emaad Rizwan (Macquarie University)

First Prize: RedR Ron Johnston Rapid Response Prize (Prize: Medal and $5,000)

“Fran’s boys” 

  • Cameron Choi (University of Sydney)
  • Fransiska Bekti (University of Sydney)
  • Kevin Miao (University of Sydney)
  • Mark Cavanna (University of Sydney)
  • Terrence Darma (University of Sydney)

Second: “whereto”

  • Aisha Warsame (Deakin University)
  • Brittany Gardner (University of Sydney)
  • Harshita Jyoti (Australian National University) 
  • Madeline Liddle (Australian National University) 
  • Seo Woo Bae (University of Sydney)

Third: “Illuninate”

  • Adele van der Winden (Queensland University of Technology)
  • Liam McAllister (Queensland University of Technology)
  • Riley de Jong (Queensland University of Technology)
  • Tasfia Quader (Macquarie University)
  • Thomas Larkin (Australian National University)

Laing O’Rourke best presentation: “Rafts & Rails”

  • Boran Wang (University of Sydney)
  • Jasper Rasmussen (University of Sydney)
  • Joseph Malicdem (Macquarie University)
  • Qiting Huang (University of Sydney)
  • Victor Zhuang (University of Sydney)

Humanitarian Innovation Pitch

Our Humanitarian Innovation Pitch is an annual national prize recognising higher degree by research (HDR) university students for conducting research that can be applied to address pressing issues facing underserved or marginalised communities.

The Pitch is designed to raise the profile of HDR student research that has made or has the potential to make contributions to addressing humanitarian or development challenges.

In particular, the Pitch seeks to encourage students to think about how governments, institutions, non-governmental organisations, and communities might apply their research.

Stay tuned for information about the 2024 post-graduate event. Be sure to sign up for the Expression of Interest to stay up to date.

Past winners

Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner 

"Team Lumos"

  • Jimmy Deng (The University of Sydney)
  • Layla Eddie (University of Technology Sydney)
  • Hassan Al Hassan (The University of Sydney)

Runner up

"Team Cloudburst"

  • Maya Weston (Monash University)
  • Kalutotage Sineka Bihiduni Sirinada (Monash University)
  • Alistair Wastlhuber (Monash University)

Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner 

"Team Flux"

  • Mansour Adie (University of Sydney)
  • Jimmy Deng (University of Sydney)
  • Ivy He (University of Sydney)
  • Sharon Davids (University of Sydney)

Runner Up 

"Team Collectous"

  • Katherine Feng (Australian National University)
  • Shaoheng Xu (Australian National University)
  • Hang Sheng (Australian National University)
  • Zirui Chen (Australian National University)

Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner 

"Team Orinum"

  • Vanathy Arudselvan (University of Sydney)
  • Yeeun Cho (University of Sydney)

Runner Up 

"The Double A Team"

  • Ally Moodie (Queensland University of Technology)
  • Adele van der Winden (Queensland University of Technology)

Professor Ron Johnston Prize in Humanitarian Innovation Winner 

"Team GB"

  • Georgia Odlin (University of Sydney)
  • Ella Lambert (University of Sydney)

Runner Up (Prize: GHD internship and automatic entry into hackathon)

"Monica’s Peers"

  • Mark Cavanna (University of Sydney)
  • Kevin Miao (University of Sydney)
  • Cameron Choi (University of Sydney)
  • Terrence Darma (University of Sydney)

"Bio-Engineering for River Banks"

  • Riley de Jong (Queensland University of Technology)
  • Liam McAllister (Queensland University of Technology)
  • Adele van der Winden (Queensland University of Technology)

"Team Sloth"

  • Ethan Hastings (Charles Sturt University)
  • Zac Stanford (Charles Sturt University)
  • Marcus Dege (Charles Sturt University)
  • James Griffiths (Charles Sturt University)

About Ron Johnston

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.