DemVR Hackathon

Join us for a weekend of designing and hacking as we build a new future of immersive technologies for people with dementia and their carers. Be part of a community-driven process to work alongside designers, researchers, enthusiasts, and makers for two days of virtual reality hacking.

The Event

This event, organised by Open Lab at Newcastle University and based at the Urban Science Building, will provide an environment for innovative and creative ideas to emerge surrounding how we might create enriching shared experiences for people living with dementia. Before the event, participants will be aided in team formation via Whatsapp (or other online groups). During the event itself, participants will take part in organised activities that will see them design and make VR environments and assets for those living with the condition. At the beginning of this two-day hackathon, teams will be provided with creative material and qualitative data from people living with dementia, as well as research from experts in the area of technology and dementia, in order to inspire them to create assets and environments that can enrich the experiences of those affected by the condition. After a solid 24 hours+ of hacking and making, teams will have the opportunity to demonstrate, and present their reasoning behind their design choices to a team of expert judges in dementia care and research, who will award a monetary prize to the winning team.

Who should attend?

With this being a designer and developer oriented hackathon, we encourage those who have background as game/graphic designers, artists, developers with a background in game engines such as Unity & Unreal. For those with a background in VR but not necessarily the skill sets above, still come along to share your knowledge and  help to create innovative shared experiences throughout the weekend!

With this hackathon being team based, feel free to start organising teams already! We reccomend a team of 4-5 will be the ideal size for this event. We will be sending out a google form nearer to the time to organise the teams.

Those without a team, we'll help organise into other teams based on your skillset! So don't be afaird to join if you don't have a team yet!

Further detais

Breakfast and lunch will be provided throughout the course of the weekend. As well as coffee and snacks to keep you going!

If you have any questions about the event or would like to discuss any specific requirements please email j.hodge1@ncl.ac.uk