Students tackle real-world problems with industry leaders at first hackathon event
16 Jun 2025
The University hosted its first hackathon, Hackabury 2025, bringing together students, alumni, academic staff, and industry leaders for a 24-hour challenge to spark innovation and collaboration.
The event welcomed 88 students from across the Faculty of Science, Engineering, and Social Sciences, and Creative Arts and Industries, and teams developed 25 unique solutions to real-world business challenges posed by industry sponsors.
Student teams tackled problems under time pressure and solutions included applications for financial literacy, AI-driven onboarding tools, gamified cyber security training, and customer engagement platforms.
Industry partners included Romax, Holiday Extras, Wave Community Bank, Barclays LifeSkills, Southeastern, Google, Hootsuite, Unitemps, and the Students’ Union.
Jordan Pettman, Senior Data Analysis Manager, commented: “I was blown away by the creativity, it was amazing to watch ideas come to life. I've been reflecting a lot on how powerful group sessions free from traditional restraints can be in truly driving ideas and creativity.”
Stefanie Kennett, People Executive at Holiday Extras, said: “It was great to see so much passion, collaboration and innovation packed into a short space of time.”
The winning concepts were judged by a panel of industry professionals and alumni.
FixFury, a team of MSc Data Intelligence students, were awarded first place overall for their intelligent tool developed in response to the Holiday Extras brief- aimed at helping customers personalise their travel experiences based on preferences and needs.
Nazish Riaz, MSc Data Intelligence student at Canterbury Christ Church University, was part of the team awarded first place for their task with Holiday Extras.
“We completed this task within 24 hours, utilising programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and embraced the hackathon spirit of collaboration and innovation using Devpost.
“We also provided some development solutions for this add-on using machine learning. The Hackabury Program was an incredible experience where we learned about website integrations and many other valuable skills.”
Hackabury provided a range of student and professional development opportunities and involved one-to-one career advice from industry professionals, industry-led workshops, freelance and employment opportunities and exclusive industry visits.
Alumni Judge Oliver Bryant, Cyber Threat Intelligence Consultant, commented on the event: “I was impressed with the amazing applications and technology students developed in 24 hours,” he said.
“Students developed UMLs, Diagrams, storyboards, applications, demos and presentations all in a short space of time. Those who participated have made a fantastic impression on the professional industry.”
Two teams have been invited to Holiday Extras HQ for further workshops and two teams will be collaborating with Barclays Eagle Labs, expanding their professional networks and developing their projects further as well as graduate and potential career paths.
Platinum Sponsor, Romax will be offering a 3-month paid internship to a standout student completing or entering the final year of a Computer Science or Software Development-related degree in 2025.
Rune Painter, first-year Software Engineering Student, spoke about the ‘incredible experience, commending the talent and passion from all the participants which was special and rewarding’.
Prizes awarded included:
Special thanks to iGaming who provided funding for the event.
Based in Varna and with offices across several European countries, iGaming is a fast-growing digital media and lead generation company specializing in affiliate marketing.
The team creates and operates informative, user-friendly websites to connect users with trusted online platforms and services. By focusing on innovation, performance and responsible practices through their iGamingCare program, they are helping to shape a more sustainable future for the gaming industry.
Find out more about Hackabury 2025.
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