An Ethical Hackathon is a one-day workshop, pioneered at Oxford University’s Human Centred Computing department, that is based around the hackathon concept familiar to computer scientists. An ethical hackathon combines scientists with specialists from other fields who form teams that then tackle a problem that requires them to consider social and ethical issues of design alongside technical ones. Depending on the task, teams might produce a design document, mockup or prototype. Entries are judged by external moderators in terms of ‘responsibility’, alongside traditional hackathon parameters such as efficiency and safety. Ethical Hackathons are intended to have two effects: firstly to sensitise groups to each other’s methods and concerns, facilitating future collaboration, and secondly to produce better, more responsible work.

ORBIT acts as a facilitator and organiser of an Ethical Hackathon, which is held onsite at the institution.