LPCUWC Students Triumph at SWIMS Marine Biodiversity Hackathon 2026
Congratulations to our students, Nathan, Tamara, Agastya, Joanna, Trym, Aurora, and Mihail for their outstanding achievements at the SWIMS Marine Biodiversity Restoration Hackathon 2026!
Organised by The Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) as part of the "Reviving Hong Kong's Blue Heritage" initiative on 19–20 September, our students jumped into the deep end at the competition and brought home multiple awards.
Combining technology, fieldwork, and ocean stewardship to help restore local marine ecosystems, the team spent their first day on a junk boat exploring Sharp Island—one of Hong Kong's vital marine biodiversity hotspots and a future Marine Protected Area—and their second day refining solutions alongside SWIMS marine scientists and conservation mentors at The University of Hong Kong campus.
With their incredible creativity and passion for marine conservation, our students took home both 1st and 2nd place!
1st Place: Led by Mihail, his team addressed citizen-science data collection by engineering a gamified app, called “Poki Dive”, powered by real-time underwater computer vision AI. Using camera identification alongside standard diving hand gestures, the system accurately detects local marine species underwater and gives divers immediate haptic vibration feedback when a species is correctly logged. To directly support marine biology research, observation data aggregates into an interactive ecosystem tracker paired with an educational encyclopaedia covering species size metrics, habitat zones, site-specific distribution, and local food web dynamics.
2nd Place: Led by Nathan, his team combined field ecology with structural engineering to rebuild degraded substrate habitats. Following scuba dives to assess ecological pressures at Sharp Island, the team used Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and custom software coding to develop modular, hexagonal artificial reef structures. The bio-inspired geometric design maximises structural surface area for larval settlement and stability against wave action, while linking directly to a digital citizen-science website to monitor ongoing biodiversity recovery.
Coral Restoration & Field Research: Joanna, Tamara, Aurora, Agastya, and Trym focused on key factors impacting local coral nursery survival! After conducting underwater surveys and water chemistry testing (analysing pH and salinity levels) around Sharp Island Marine Park, they engineered typhoon-resistant 3D coral nursery models. Their two-phase design directly addresses micro-habitat attachment challenges, giving vulnerable juvenile corals a stable environment to grow before outplanting.
From conducting hands-on water sampling and learning about coral life cycles to pitching solutions directly to SWIMS marine scientists, every single one of our participants demonstrated outstanding creativity, teamwork, and a global mindset.
Join us in congratulating the team—well done, everyone!
