What is a Hackathon?

A Hackathon combines the words “hacker” and “marathon.” It is an innovative format where participants come together to brainstorm ideas and create solutions within a short period of time.

Also referred to as an “Innovathon” or “Ideathon,” a hackathon brings people together to use collective creativity to imagine, develop, and build new ideas. This collaborative and intense format is designed to inspire innovation and deliver concrete results quickly.

What is our format about?

Hackathons have become increasingly popular over the past five years. They provide students with an opportunity to showcase their skills, explore new ideas, and collaborate with others from different backgrounds.

For Institutions, hackathons are valuable because they can help students to generate innovative solutions together to address real challenges. It is also an effective way to strengthen the interaction and connections between universities and practice partners such as policy-makers.

In our case, the hackathon format takes place during a week-long seminar dedicated to the theme of public policy design. This seminar option is open to Master’s 2 students from all disciplines at the University, and we expect 15 to 30 students per session.

In just a week, students can develop unique, practical ideas through intensive teamwork. Hackathons also highlight the value of multidisciplinary collaboration and structure the creative process around specific goals,  especially in our case, where students from all disciplines at the university meet to work in groups of 4-5 students and combine different approaches to answer complex questions.

How does the format work?

We organise a 5 days hackathon which takes place over a non-working week, dedicated to introductory courses (resulting in ECTS credits) where students from all disciplines can explore topics they have not yet encountered in their studies.  Our format is in-person, and involves numerous on-site meetings organized so that students can meet with key players in each year’s thematic area of activity.

The key steps involve:

Step 1: Define the challenge:

It is important to start by selecting a sponsor and working with them to define the theme or the topic and a related challenge. The challenge should be realistic and achievable within the timeframe. Effective communication is also important to attract motivated participants.

Step 2: Event launch

Kick off the hackathon with an opening session. The teacher explains the schedule and objectives for the week. The sponsor presents the challenge, including constraints and key considerations. Additional contributors, like associations or beneficiaries, may provide input to guide the students.

Step 3: Idea generation

Throughout the week, students take part in seminars and workshops led by instructors and experts. These sessions guide them as they brainstorm and refine their ideas.

Step 4: Prototyping

Once the groups have a clear idea, they move to the prototyping phase. This includes expert-led workshops and autonomous teamwork to create a concrete solution.

Step 5: Presentations and feedback

At the end of the week, the groups present their projects to the sponsor. These presentations may be followed by discussions and/or feedback to refine the ideas further.

Step 6: Post-event follow-up

It is important to stay in touch with both the sponsors and the students/participants after the event. This allows for addressing questions and making adjustments along the practical implementation of the developed ideas. This follow-up stage also helps maintain good relationships with the sponsor and sets the stage for future collaboration.

For universities, grading a hackathon can be challenging. Instead, consider evaluating participation and engagement or collecting feedback through a satisfaction survey.

Tasks and resources

A hackathon is a short timed, collaborative experience designed to inspire innovation and work in the field. Resources need to include an adequate assignment for the format and an external sponsor who is available for a few days.

Examples

https://www.univ-lyon2.fr/sciences-et-societe/les-poles-de-specialites/motif-design-des-politiques-publiques

Sources and further reading

https://www.bibliotheque-initiatives.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/files/2023-11/HACKATHON-LE-GUIDE-PRATIQUE.pdf

Format – Role-playing game Researchers / Policymakers / Medias

Introduction: What is the format about?

– A role-playing game that puts participants in the situation of making decisions in a political context

– The idea: to put Researchers, Policymakers, and sometimes the representatives of civil society or Media in the situation to see how science can (or cannot) influence Policy choices

How does the format work?         

An idea for a role-playing game where researchers and policymakers swap roles for a day was conceived to better understand the real dynamics between research and policymaking.

Faced with challenges such as a health crisis, an environmental disaster, or a sensitive energy issue, participants can learn to navigate between the need to use scientific data and economic, social, and political pressures.

The aim is to experience the complexity of the dialogue between science and policy, and to better understand the challenges of decision-making in a fictional situation.

Participants are assigned different roles that are not their own in real life:

Either as researchers whose role is to analyze data and advise policymakers by providing them with clear and usable recommendations.

Policymakers, whose role is to make choices based on scientific advice, but also on economic, social, and media pressures.

Media and civil society actors (depending on the version of the game) add a level of complexity by influencing public opinion and exerting pressure on decision-makers.

The game takes place in several stages, with new information being introduced gradually, requiring participants to adjust their strategies. It highlights the challenges of communication between Researchers and Policymakers, managing uncertainty, and the necessary compromises in decision-making.

Challenges and how to address them

Of course, there are many challenges to this complex role-playing game.

Our approach involves a service provider who creates role-playing scenarios from a sociological perspective to help participants understand each other’s roles and responsibilities. However, preparing the game is still a significant amount of work, particularly preparing a consistent scenario and situations that are appropriate for the setting without being too realistic, so as to create arguments.

Managing balance: the different theatrical acts must be stimulating. And the scenes played by the actors must maintain the interest of the different participants who do not know each other.

At the same time, a lesson must be learned from this role-playing game, rather than exacerbating areas of conflict, for example, by the way a politician plays the researcher and vice versa.

Tasks and resources

This role-playing game is run by an external partner, which handles the learning side of role-playing. However, setting up a role-playing game on this scale is a significant organizational task for the knowledge officers.

Furthermore, to ensure the game runs smoothly, it is important not to reveal too much about the day and the learning expectations so that it has the desired effect. It is therefore challenging getting researchers and policymakers to free up their day.

Required resources at a glance

Examples

Scientific-Political Cooperation Workshops Day (ACooSP) September 12, 2023, in Dijon, organized by the University of Burgundy Franche-Comté in partnership with INGSA.

Sources and further reading

The International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) regularly offers this type of workshop to help researchers and decision-makers work better together.

Introduction: What is the format about?

–    A capsule format is a moment of discussion in small group between researchers and policymakers in closed session (private). It takes about two researchers and two policy makers, but it can be a little less or a little more if necessary. A small audience may be present alongside this discussion.

–    It is a free format that allows participants to exchange freely without worrying about an audience listening in, after which the main points that emerged from the discussion are presented to the audience

–      Topics must be open to discussion and the theme defined in  because afterwards, there is a public presentation of the discussion, open to questions from the audience.

How does the format work?         

Part 1: The private meeting

The capsule format is based on a confidential and informal setting, designed to encourage open and constructive discussions.

Generally, a small group of policymakers (two or three) meets with a small group of researchers (also two or three), ideally from different disciplines. The workshop is organized by knowledge exchange officers the university, in our case when we have identified a common theme. The capsule was organized as part of a two-day conference, which gave us the opportunity to bring together researchers and policymakers interested by the topic and provide them with an important opportunity for private discussion on the subject.  The meeting takes place in a space closed to the public and the media. Participants are invited to freely share their knowledge, challenges, and questions without concerns about public communication or political posture.

This format aims to create a climate of trust and can lead to mutually beneficial relationships in the future.

Policy makers can ask questions without fear of judgment, and researchers who are not accustomed to speaking in public can present complex or even sensitive findings.

The capsule format also makes it possible to move beyond short-term thinking by opening up new areas for action.

These dialogues can be one-off events or part of a cyclical process.

Part 2: The public presentation

At the end of the private session, a public debriefing can be organized to share the main ideas discussed while respecting the confidentiality of individual comments. This moment allows for broader reflection and highlights the value of the discussion. In our case, the private session took place during the lunch break, when the audience retired for their meals. When they returned, the public session was included in the conference schedule for the day, which enabled us to have a significant, interested, and dynamic audience.

Challenges and how to address them

The main challenge of this format for support staff (knowledge exchange managers and research managers) is to maintain a common thread throughout the discussion to ensure the coherence and progression of the exchanges. To this end, the choice of moderator is crucial: he or she must have properly prepared the topics in advance, know how to rephrase comments, and make connections between the concerns of the participants, especially during the second phase of the public presentation.

Tasks and ressources

Content: The content is very open, but the moderator must have thoroughly prepared the discussion topic and the limits of the researchers’ field of expertise and the limits of the policy makers’ field of action in order for the discussion to be productive.

Although the format is fairly open, it requires a certain amount of preparation time for all participants. In fact, a meeting prior to the discussion is very useful for everyone to clarify their area of expertise and also to define the topics and limits of the discussion.

Required resources at a glance

Examples

https://www.univ-lyon2.fr/sciences-et-societe/nos-projets/review-of-the-capsule-meeting-between-policy-makers-and-reseachers-on-the-key-topic-the-management-of-urban-wastelands