Two current students, and a recent graduate of the Design, Innovation and Creative Engineering (DICE) course were recently invited to Dubai to take part in Hackmasters’ Hackathon: Future of Regenerative Cities.

Hosted by the Global Dev Slam and taking place at Dubai’s World Trade Centre, Future of Regenerative Cities looked at how cities can be designed to "tackle, absorb, recover and learn from their problems and both natural and man-made disasters… beyond sustainability and into new models for the economy, ecology and empathy of their societies."

It attracted mentors from around the world - experts from financial technology, futurist strategy, architecture, software engineering, start-up leaders and more.

Participants from all experience levels in the world of data science, user design, web development and coding were given a series of challenges to find creative solutions using data.

Challenges included implementing a blockchain-based grid for trading renewable energy, using AI to rewild and self-heal, and guiding consumption through data.

DICE students Sarah Bailey and Zayna Ahmed won the Ecology Challenge, using AI to rewild, and were awarded a $5000 masterclass with Trend Atelier on 'Forecasting like a Futurist'.

The students were invited by Nicole Wan, an alumnus of DICE who is now Director of Product at Hackmasters.

Hackmasters are a consultancy and design company who “work with clients and ecosystems to design futures we all want to live in”. They run events like this Hackathon around the world throughout the year. For more information visit their website.