Using Hackathons as a Participatory Approach to Generating Climate Solutions with Equity-Deserving Communities
Principal Investigators:
Dr. Jennifer Baumbusch
Funding:
UBC SPARC
Funding Year:
2025/2026
Hackathon Overview:
What is a Hackathon?
“A hackathon is an event where people come together to collaborate in order to solve a problem or identify new opportunities. The word hackathon is a combination of “hack” and “marathon,” i.e., a marathon for hackers. The goal of a hackathon is often to build a working prototype, or proof-of-concept, of a product or feature in a short amount of time, and to have fun, improve skill sets, and network while doing it.” (Source)
We are currently looking for participants:We are inviting self-identified older adults who live in BC’s Interior Region to be part of this study. You can participate if you consider yourself to be an ‘older adult/senior’ and you are comfortable speaking in English. The event will be online and you will need access to either a computer, tablet, or smartphone. In addition to these people with lived experience, we will invite policy/decision-makers and non-governmental organization (NGO) staff who support these groups during climate-related weather emergencies.
What will you need to do?: This Hackathon will take place online and will run for approximately 3 hours, including breaks. In the Hackathons we will be focusing on wildfire evacuations and poor air quality. Participants will receive an honorarium of $50
Approximately two weeks after the Hackathon participants will be invited for a 1 hour focus group to review the findings. Participants will receive a $25 honourarium to attend this focus group.
Summary
Climate change is a global phenomenon that has consequences for people everywhere. In every local community and geographic region, there are equity-deserving groups who, due to a variety of factors which often mirror those contributing to climate vulnerability, experience negative impacts of climate change disproportionately to the general population. Climate resiliency efforts, that is, the capacity to prepare, respond and recover from climate emergencies must focus on these groups through the creation of customized climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. While governments have responsibility to develop population-level responses to climate change, equity-deserving groups often rely on grassroots strategies to address local climate impacts.
The aim of this hackathon is to identify grassroots climate solutions used by equity-deserving groups located in British Columbia: older adults in the Interior Region
Older adults have multiple points of vulnerability, including age, gender, income, and housing adequacy. During the Vancouver heat dome in 2021, older women experienced the highest mortality rate. Recent fires over the summer of 2026 also demonstrated that older adults may face barriers to evacuation. In this project, we will centre older adult’s needs, which are often absent in research, including climate research.
There is an urgent need to develop local climate solutions for equity-deserving groups. These hackathons will create new knowledge about co-design of climate solutions with equity-deserving groups. We will use these events to develop new insights for enhanced research methods, specifically using hackathons as a participatory approach to knowledge mobilization. This project may enhance policy related to climate preparedness in BC and facilitate partnerships among people with lived experience, policy/decision-makers and NGO staff.