Royal Hackaway is Royal Holloway's annual hackathon, open to university students from across the UK and around the world.

Organised and promoted by our Computer Science students’ societies based at Royal Holloway, the hackathon is now in its seventh year, bringing together student participants who spend 24 hours as a team, attending workshops, talks and mini-events, and working together to create the coolest project.

From 27-28 January, Royal Hackaway 2024 saw over 170 attendees complete 35 projects for the free weekend event hosted at the Windsor Building. The jam-packed programme culminated with presentations, a projects fair and the winners ceremony where £800 in sponsored prizes were awarded for the top three projects overall, and also prizes for a variety of other categories ranging from best use of MATLAB to Hackiest Hack.

Judging is against a set of criteria that includes, how difficult was the technical problem the team tackled, did it use a particularly clever technique or many different components, and did the technology involved make you go "Wow"?

Head of Department, Professor Carlos Matos commented,

“Congratulations to our students involved in making Royal Hackaway such a success. Taking part in hackathons in teams is a great way to put into practice the knowledge and skills learned from their degree courses and have fun in the process. Projects vary each year and students always amaze us with their talents, teamwork and technological accomplishments every time!”

Team working skills are fundamental in Computer Science, recognising that in their future careers working as industry professionals, students will always have to fit into a diverse team of colleagues. Employers value these skills which are vital for productivity.