A weekend sprint for scientists, engineers, designers and founders exploring biomaterials, manufacturing and scalable production.
Eco Hack
A UK Hackathon for engineering ecosystems
Engineering ecosystems for a brighter future
Delivered by Nucleate UK and powered by ARIA, EcoHack is a London-based hackathon taking place from the 20th to the 22nd of November 2026. We are bringing together scientists, engineers, designers and founders to explore biodiversity, conservation genomics and ecosystem resilience. Applications close on the 6th of November
The Problem Space
EcoHack brings together an interdisciplinary community focused on building resilience into the living systems and climate we all depend on.
Powered by ARIA’s Engineering Ecosystem Resilience work, this hackathon invites participants to rethink how we understand, protect, and restore the natural world through biology and AI; potentially unlocking earlier, more precise, and more responsible approaches to how we monitor, forecast, and adapt to environmental change. Whether you're driven by bold ideas or data-driven discovery, you can choose where to focus:
AI
The AI Track explores how AI can help us predict where and how to intervene in wild species and ecosystems. Participants will use AI tools and open datasets to investigate novel ways of monitoring and modelling ecosystems and assessing the impacts of potential interventions.
This track focuses on the integration of genetic, population, and ecosystem-level data for prioritising interventions and verifying that they work.
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Predicting how a species and its surrounding ecosystem might respond to an intervention before it happens, from breeding to molecular toolses here
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Investigating the relationship between vulnerable ecosystems and public health risks, using biodiversity data to forecast tipping points in public health and identifying gaps in therapeutics
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Using AI to help collect, extract and standardise the data needed to help us monitor adaptation and forecast tipping points
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Quantifying the efficiency of an ecosystem intervention at scale, identifying accurate indicators of adaptation.
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Predicting which species or traits might speed up an ecosystem’s recovery after a catastrophic event.
Blue Sky
The Blue-Sky Track focuses on accelerated adaptation, especially in the context of wild species under threat. Natural evolution works over generations. But diseases, droughts and heatwaves are arriving faster than species can adapt.
This track focuses on the design of radical biological interventions that can help ecosystems keep pace with change and secure our planets future.
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Expand conservation toolkits by using molecular tools to explore whether the adaptation of wild species can be measurably and responsibly accelerated.
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Explore molecular tools to repair the relationship between vulnerable ecosystems and the anthroposphere.
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Accelerate the recovery and adaptation of an ecosystem after a natural disaster.
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Identifying ways to preserve key species of Earth’s ecosystems, primarily considering molecular toolkits.
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Design frameworks and changes to social structure to facilitate data collection that complements conservation efforts, promotes stewardship, and helps us monitor changes in vulnerability.
EcoHack is powered by ARIA
That means our hackathons are directly linked to active ARIA opportunity spaces.
EcoHack specifically caters to Engineering Ecosystem Resilience within the Resilient Climate and Ecosystems opportunity space.
Multiple ARIA spaces are currently offering funding; see the ARIA site for more information.
Figures are from Aria website
Responsible by design
Whichever track you choose, your project will be judged on innovation, technical feasibility, and how well it addresses ethics, risks and unintended consequences. Ecosystems and the solutions we design for them don't exist in a vacuum.
Before the Hackathon, have a look at EER's responsible research principles and the IUCN policy on synthetic biology in relation to nature conservation (Motion 087).
Collaborators
We are proud to be partnering with ARIA and EchoLabs to bring you this event
Alongside ARIA and EchoLabs, we are still looking for organisations and individuals to help bring EcoHack to life this November.
Track Partners help shape the challenges our participants tackle, co-designing the problem scope for each track.
Sponsors make the event possible and connect with some of the UK's most promising early-career researchers.
Mentors guide teams on the day
judges help us identify the ideas with the greatest potential for impact.
If you'd like to help accelerate the adaptation of wild species, get in touch to find out how you can be involved.
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