Event Details: Leaving Cert Hackathon (09:00 - 18:00) Date: Saturday - 17th January 2026 Location: The PorterShed2, Galway.
Overview:
This is the third year of the Leaving Cert Hackathon Ireland, designed to provide a platform for 6th Year CS students to collaborate on their programming skills. We have partnered with PorterShed2 to ensure a seamless experience, including a well-organized schedule and dedicated mentors to guide the students throughout the day.
There is no cost to attend and lunch will be provided.
Objectives:
- Foster new student friendships.
- Promote collaboration and communication skills.
- Enhance programming abilities.
- Develop presentation skills.
- Encourage a passion for Computer Science.
Tentative Schedule:
Welcome and orientation for all students and teachers.
2. Talks by our guest speakers. Approximately 3 x 30 min (15min presentation + Q&A) dispersed throughout the day.
3. Brainstorming & voting up of project ideas.
4. Creation of teams and initial project planning.
5. Coding, prototyping, and testing.
6. Presentation by all teams of their project ideas.
7. Award ceremony.
Participation Details:
- Ideally, we're hoping to have 10 teams of 5 students each (mix of students from different schools).
- There will be a short workshop for teachers on the day also.
I am confident that your students would enjoy and benefit from this event, and their participation would contribute to the success of the Hackathon. If you are interested, I would love to discuss any additional details or answer any questions you may have.
Please share this link with your students, they can register and enter their details on the form provided.
We advise they use their school email to register and include a project idea that they would like to explore on the day.
The theme for this year is:
Forests are some of the most important ecosystems on our planet.
They give us clean air, store huge amounts of carbon, protect biodiversity, and help regulate water and temperature.
But forests are under threat from climate change, wildfires, and biodiversity loss.
As trees face droughts, higher temperatures, and diseases, their ability to support wildlife and store carbon is reduced.
Computer science provides tools to help us understand and respond to these challenges. By creating embedded systems, we can collect environmental data such as soil moisture, light, or temperature, and simulate real-world processes like canopy cover, drought cycles, or wildfire risk.
We can also build computer-based models that test “what-if” scenarios, compare different
outcomes, and make predictions about the future of forests, climate, biodiversity, and species
populations. These insights help us to understand risks, anticipate future impacts, and explore
possible solutions.
I'm also delighted to announce that we have Dr James Glynn of Energy Systems Modelling Analytics Ltd (www.esma.ie) as a speaker and Judge this year. James was a Senior Research Scholar (Research Professor) at Columbia University’s SIPA Center on global energy policy in New York City, where he built and led the Energy Systems Modelling Analytics Program.
📌Additional Locations:
Similar to last year Republic of Work (Cork) and RDI Hub (Killorglin) are both interested in coming on board for two additional delivery locations for the Leaving Cert Hackathon. If anyone here would be interested in taking part in those locations, we could get more students to take part. The talks & event would be live-streamed from Galway to those hubs and then we will get a panel of mentors & judges to facilitate those hubs also.
If anyone here is interested in attending at Republic of Work (Cork) or RDI Hub (Killorglin) or taking part as a link person, please contact me at [email protected] and I'll forward on more information.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to get a list of Post Primary Schools that teach CS in Cork & Kerry, if anyone here knows of a contact teacher that might be interested, I'd really appreciate it!
If interested you can contact me directly via email, and please feel free to share this information with your fellow teachers.
💡Please note: places are limited to ensure that students get the most from the experience.
Thank you all for considering this invitation, and I look forward to the possibility of welcoming your school to the Leaving Cert Hackathon 2026.
