Workshops and facilitation
Project Restore hackathon
A Design Thinking Hackathon was designed to generate creative solutions for the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) initiatives.
Bringing together researchers, subject matter experts, artists, and facilitators, the event fostered cross-disciplinary collaboration and ideation. Through curated personas, interactive activities, and expert insights, participants explored real-world challenges and developed actionable ideas to support SIMS ongoing projects.
Our objective and approach
The hackathon aimed to empower the SIMS community to address pressing marine science challenges through design thinking. By aligning the workshop’s framing, problem statements, and persona profiles with current research and organisational needs, the event provided a platform for innovative thinking and practical problem-solving.
The agenda was structured to guide participants through empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping, and evaluation, ensuring a holistic approach to solution development.
We designed a hands-on, inclusive experience that blended professional facilitation with creative input from artists and marine science experts. The workshop began with an introduction to design thinking, followed by activities that encouraged participants to empathise with curated personas, define key problems, and brainstorm solutions. Prototyping kits and collaborative exercises enabled teams to visualise their ideas, while expert feedback and group pitches ensured that concepts were both innovative and grounded in real-world needs.
My team and role
I collaborated with a team of 8 designers to build the session over 8 weeks, working closely with the client to develop the workshop intention, flow, and visual design.
We led the creation of interactive activities, curated persona profiles based on SIMS research, and ensured that each phase of the journey was aligned with organisational objectives.
During the event, I facilitated content, created and led an innovative themed energiser activity, "What the Sea?", which had raving reviews, guided participants through activities, supported group discussions, and helped synthesise insights for post-workshop follow-up.
Preparation
Mural
We created a Mural to guide the in-person session. The content centred around the design thinking process to assist participants to frame their brainstorming and ideation through a human-centred lens. The participants worked through the Research, Define, Ideate, and Prototype stages before pitching their final ideas for SIMS to take away.
Personas
In order to anchor the teams for such a rapid ideation session, we created five distinct personas in collaboration with the client for participants to design for.
