School of Computing and Communication students competed in the “Hackathon for the Common Good” at the Data4Good Festival. The team were delighted to win joint first prize for Social Impact as part of the event.

Students Shahar Dagan, Andre Mariucci, Polina Markova and Henry Oldroyd called themselves The Quantum Quack Team and took part in the event at the Hertie Data Science Lab in Berlin, Germany in January. The hackathon is focused on addressing real-world challenges with data-driven solutions.

Each team taking part was given access to data and could come up with their own use case and solution to support a good endeavour. The Lancaster University team chose a challenging and emotive task.

The team were provided limited time access by the Arolsen Archives and Accenture to text extracted from the transport cards of victims of the Holocaust. Their goal was to create a tool for archivists to help identify anomalies in the data and suggest possible corrections.

The Lancaster team created their AI tool with the goal of making analysing patterns in this historical data easier for future researchers. They also hoped this would assist in processing the 20,000 requests for information the archive receives each year from people whose family members were victims of the Holocaust.

The undergraduate students, all studying either Computer Science or Data Science, appreciated the opportunity to work on such an important project and they are proud of the outcome the team created. They are hopeful for the possibility of developing this idea further in the future.

Henry Oldroyd, School of Computing and Communications student and team member said: “We were very lucky to have had the opportunity to attend both of the Hertie School’s Data4Good hackathons so far. We have found them to be an opportunity to push ourselves and a great learning experience. We are a group of friends who are constantly looking for fun challenges including other hackathon events. However, we had never before been trusted to work with such sensitive data or had the opportunity to complete a project that had the potential of making a real difference.”

Dang Ngoc Huy, Data Science Lab Manager at Hertie School said: "The Data4Good Festival is an annual event that unites bachelor's students from across Europe to tackle data challenges aimed at the common good. Participants engage in a weekend of fun, learning, and innovation in Berlin, working collaboratively to develop data-driven solutions to pressing societal issues. The festival features a hackathon, specialised data science workshops led by experts, and numerous opportunities for socialising and networking. It's an excellent opportunity for students to enhance their technical skills, gain insights into the latest trends and technologies, and connect with like-minded peers and industry professionals.”