Register for the Experimental Lakes Area Hackathon in partnership with Laurier Sustainability Office

Sept. 28, 2023

Canada is home to more than 800,000 freshwater lakes, the largest cumulative area of freshwater in the world. These lakes offer tourism and recreation opportunities, provide consumable water, sustain wildlife biodiversity and are a key indicator of environmental change.  

Laurier’s Sustainability Office has partnered with the International Institute of Sustainable Development to host the ELA Hackathon 2023 focused on freshwater monitoring.  

The IISD Experimental Lakes Area consists of 58 freshwater lakes in northwestern Ontario, known as the “world’s freshwater laboratory,” where more than 50 years of research and environmental data has been collected. 

Students will work in teams of up to five to build public and open-source software that measures real environmental data, helping to protect Canada’s precious freshwater habitats. The winning teams will have their solutions shared online (with full attribution) as open-source code for public use. 

The two-week virtual hackathon runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6 and is co-hosted by Laurier and the University of Winnipeg, with a kickoff event in the Paul Martin Centre at Laurier on Oct. 23 from 3 to 8 p.m.  

The hackathon kick-off event will include:   

• An industry expert and mentorship panel. 
• Access to hackathon challenge videos to prepare for the hackathon effort. 
• A video call with attendees at a University of Winnipeg parallel kick-off event. 
• A networking dinner with in-person participants. 
• Insights from mentors and problem holders’ data during the hackathon effort. 

All Laurier students are welcome to participate, but teams should include those with coding experience and an interest in freshwater science, data science or software. There is no cost to join and special exceptions can be made for newly graduated alumni who have an interest in the water industry as a career path. Register by Oct. 8.