OneAquaHealth IEEE Global Hackathon

Overview

The IEEE OneAquaHealth Global Hackathon 2026 aims to enhance the sustainability and health of urban freshwater ecosystems through the integration of technology, citizen science, and the One Health approach. Urban aquatic environments, vital for biodiversity and human well-being, face escalating challenges from urbanization, climate change, and insufficient monitoring. This hackathon seeks to address these issues by fostering innovative solutions. Participants are challenged to develop tools that empower citizens and communities to engage actively in environmental monitoring. Solutions should transform citizen-generated and environmental data into actionable insights for researchers, policymakers, and local communities, enabling informed decision-making. The hackathon encourages the responsible use of AI, data platforms, and digital health standards to improve data accuracy, reliability, and interoperability, all while maintaining a human-centered approach. The initiative also emphasizes increasing awareness, fostering community engagement, and promoting long-term stewardship of urban water ecosystems. This can be achieved through creative approaches like storytelling, gamification, and participatory design. By integrating diverse data sources, teams will contribute to the development of early-warning systems, resilience tools, and decision-support platforms to strengthen ecosystem sustainability. Ultimately, the hackathon supports the OneAquaHealth mission, which connects ecosystem health, biodiversity, and human well-being. This European Union-funded project utilizes innovative tools for early detection of environmental risks, combining biodiversity indicators, digital monitoring, and community participation to understand how urban aquatic ecosystems respond to stressors, thereby fostering healthier and more resilient cities.

What to build

Participants must build solutions that improve urban freshwater ecosystem monitoring and support the One Health vision. Projects should align with one of the following tracks: * Track 1: Citizen Science UX: Improve the citizen science app experience for stream assessments by creating guided workflows, simplifying ecological terms, improving data accuracy, and adding repeat engagement features to address complex tools and low participation. * Track 2: Data-to-Insight: Transform citizen-collected data into actionable stream health and One Health insights through dashboards, maps, trend analysis, and One Health insight summaries, addressing the difficulty in interpreting raw stream data. * Track 3: AI-Supported Assessment: Responsibly use AI to support stream assessment without replacing human judgment, by developing AI prompts, validation checks, explainable AI, and human-in-the-loop workflows to address inconsistent and error-prone citizen observations. * Track 4: Awareness & Storytelling: Make the One Health concept understandable and engaging through educational modules, storytelling, and personalized insights to combat low awareness and lack of engaging formats. * Track 5: Community & Gamification: Drive sustained participation in environmental monitoring efforts by implementing gamification elements, dashboards, challenges, and social features to address low repeat engagement. * Track 6: Resilience Informatics: Enable early warning and resilience planning for urban aquatic ecosystems by creating predictive dashboards, alerts, and resilience tools to address the lack of predictive environmental tools. * Track 7: Digital Health Standards: Enable interoperability across systems by developing FHIR models, AI agents, and integration frameworks to overcome fragmented data and lack of standards.

Prizes

Key dates

• Session 1: Introducing the OneAquaHealth ProjectJune 12, 2026 07:00 AM – 09:00 AM PDT (04:00 PM – 06:00 PM CEST)
• Session 2: Nature as Blueprint – Planetary Intelligence and Human InnovationJune 30, 2026 08:00 AM – 09:30 AM PDT (05:00 PM – 06:30 PM CEST)
• Session 3: One Digital Health and FAIR PrinciplesJuly 15, 2026 17:00 -18:30 CET
• Submissions OpenSeptember 14, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
• Submissions CloseOctober 01, 2026 12:00 AM EDT
• Judging BeginsOctober 01, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
• Judging EndsOctober 15, 2026 8:00 PM EDT
• Winners AnnouncedOctober 24, 2026 12:00 PM EDT

Eligibility

Participants must be above the legal age of majority in their country of residence and must be students only. Companies and professional organizations are excluded from participation. Team participation is required. Residents of all countries/territories are eligible, excluding standard exceptions.

How to enter

1. Register on Devpost before the deadline.
2. Form a team or participate individually (note: team required per eligibility).
3. Choose a track aligned with your interests.
4. Understand the problem and define your impact.
5. Build a prototype using AI, data, or citizen science approaches.
6. Follow OneAquaHealth project on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook for announcements and community engagement.
7. Join the OneAquaHealth Community to connect with researchers, innovators, and citizen scientists.
8. Download and use the OneAquaHealth Citizen Science App to explore real environmental data.
9. Join sessions and mentorship for guidance.
10. Submit your project with a demo, code, and description before the official deadline.

Submission requirements

• **Track Alignment:** Clearly state the track you’ve chosen and how your project addresses the challenge.
• **Project Description:** Explain the problem, your solution, target users, and expected impact on ecosystem and human health.
• **Demo Video (3–5 mins):** Showcase your project in action, highlighting key features and functionality.
• **Code Repository:** Provide a public GitHub (or equivalent) link with source code and documentation.
• **Prototype / Demo:** Share a working prototype, mockup, or proof-of-concept.
• **Submission Deadline:** Ensure your project is submitted before the official deadline.

Judging criteria

• Impact & Alignment with OneAquaHealth project Mission: How well the solution improves monitoring, protection, awareness, or sustainability of water ecosystems and their connection to human, animal, and environmental health.
• Innovation & Creativity: Originality of the idea and creative use of technology to address ecosystem and citizen science challenges.
• Architecture: Quality of prototype, architecture, functionality, and effective use of tools, APIs, or data sources.
• UX: Ease of use, clarity of interface, and accessibility for intended users.
• Scale: Potential for real-world implementation, scalability, and integration with existing systems.

Sponsors & partners

Resources

• Full Rules
• Registration for Session 3
• OneAquaHealth Project Website
• OneAquaHealth LinkedIn
• OneAquaHealth X (formerly Twitter)
• OneAquaHealth Facebook
• OneAquaHealth Community
• OneAquaHealth Citizen Science App
• Email Hackathon Manager
• Registration for Session 2
• OneAquaHealth Slack Workspace
• OneAquaHealth Open Information Hub