Upcoming hackathons and STEM challenges in Australia
3D-printed accessibility devices for Australians in need
About
Bryce Cronin is an international award winning engineer and designer who has been recognised as an emerging leader in the Australian technology sector. He is a 2023 Young Australian of the Year (ACT) nominee.
He’s passionate about harnessing technology in innovative ways for social good. He’s created robots for STEM education, developed experiemental apps for covid safety, and has helped develop Australian government websites.
In 2021, Bryce founded Hackathons.com.au in order to promote tech events happening around Australia to young people. He was subsequently named as a finalist at the Young Canberra Citizen of the Year Awards.
In 2022, Bryce created the Access3D.org community initiative to bring together 3D-printing experts to help design and deliver 3D-printed accessibility devices to Australians in need.
7News Australia awarded Bryce the Online Achievement Award at the Young Achiever Awards for his contributions and dedication to STEM education and accessibility causes in the online space.
Initiatives
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STEM Events Promoted
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Cups of Coffee
Last updated June 2022
Awards
2023
Awarded for my committment to harnessing technology for social good.
2022
Awarded for my committment to STEM education and the engineering profession through initiatives such as Hackathons.com.au, the UC Engineering Society, and Access3D.org.
Awarded for my committment to STEM education through initiatives such as Hackathons.com.au, the UC Engineering Society, and volunteering engagements.
Finalist for the UC Chancellor’s Rising Star Award for work on Hackathons.com.au and Access3D.org.
2021
The APEC App Challenge is a global annual software development challenge arranged as a joint initiative of the APEC Secretariat, The Asia Foundation, and Google. The 2021 challenge theme was ‘supporting the tourism sector post-COVID-19’.
I acheived first place for the development of the ‘OneQR Check-In’ project, which was an experimental app designed to assist travellers with easily managing the varying COVID-19 QR code check-in processes and check-in apps across multiple regions. More info: https://devpost.com/software/universal-qr-check-in
Awarded the 2021 Community Service Highly Commendable Award at the Young Canberra Citizen of the Year Awards. These awards recognise individuals and groups of young people aged between 12 and 25 years who have made a significant contribution through their personal endeavours, or are actively involved in the ACT community in areas such as community work, sport, education, science, culture, the arts or the environment.
Awarded for project ‘Niceify’, an experimental service that attempted to remove hate speech from live online voice-chat. More info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjybXaSPSb0
2021 GovHack International Winner ( + 2 more)2021 GovHack International Winner ( + 2 more)
Issued by GovHack International · Oct 2021Issued by GovHack International · Oct 2021
Awarded for project ‘Circles’, an app designed to assist environmental scientists with monitoring changes in the environment over time to assist with bushfire recovery planning.
- International: Winner ‘Hack for a Circular Economy’ Award (Sponsored by Infosys).
- ACT: Winner ‘Wellbeing in the ACT ‘ Award (Sponsored by ACT Gov).
- NSW: Runner Up ‘BETTER Public Spaces’ Award (Sponsored by NSW Gov).
Awarded for achieving outstanding academic results and for making a valuable contribution to the University of Canberra and the wider community. The Herbert Burton Medal is presented to one student each academic year and is named in honour of Emeritus Professor Herbert Burton who chaired the committee that recommended the establishment of the University’s precursor institution, the Canberra College of Advanced Education.
Awarded for project ‘Big-Con’, an accessible 3D-printed game controller adapter that allows for people with fine motor control difficulties to use a controller. More info: https://devpost.com/software/big-con
2020
The ACS #FlattenTheCurve Hackathon was a 48 hours virtual hackathon to design unique and innovative solutions for challenges associated with COVID-19. My team won the ‘Protecting Vulnerable Populations’ challenge for designing a range of experimental 3D-printed face shields that were engineered to be inclusive and ready for mass production in developing countries. More info about my entry can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynXmRxycUvI.
Selected as one of six emerging leaders from across Australia to attend the evokeAG agri-technology event in Melbourne by the Centre for Entrepreneurial Agri-Technology, an initiative of CSIRO and the Australian National University.
Awarded for project ‘EnviroAssist’, an app designed to assist environmental scientists with monitoring changes in the environment over time to assist with bushfire recovery planning.
- International: Runner Up ‘Science Tasker’ Award (Sponsored by AWS).
- National: Runner Up ‘Data-driven Decisions’ Award (Sponsored by CSIRO).
- ACT: Runner Up ‘Canberra Bouncing Back ‘ Award (Sponsored by ACT Gov).
- VIC: Runner Up ‘Learning from the Past’ Award (Sponsored by VIC Gov).
Finalist at the University of Canberra IT & Systems Capstone Project Awards, alongside my project partner Christopher Lane, for our work on the Robotic Hexapod Platform project which utilised my “Anansi” hexapod robot design.
This robot was also used for Human-Robot Collaboration research and won 2nd place at the Engineers Australia Undergraduate Project Presentation awards.
2019
Awarded the UC President of the Year for my efforts leading the UC Engineering Society throughout 2018-2019. During this time the society succeeded in running multiple events each week, major robotics projects, as well as STEM outreach activities in Canberra. The society was also awarded the 2019 Academic Club of the Year and Best Physical Product awards.
Awarded for project ‘UrTrash’, a smartphone app that displays the users estimated lifetime amount of generated plastics waste in Augmented Reality and suggests ways to cut down on waste.
- International: Runner Up ‘Increased participation in Plastic Free July’ Award (Sponsored by Encycle).
Awarded for project ‘Future Jobs Finder’, a web app that intelligently suggests potential careers for young people based on their interests and predicted market growth.
- National: Winner Australia’s Future Employment Award (Sponsored by Employment.gov.au).
- ACT: Runner Up ‘Canberra 2029: Inclusive; Progressive; Connected’ Award (Sponsored by ACT Gov).
2018
Awarded for project ‘MyCity’, an app designed to increase participation in community-run events by gamifying attendance using Augmented Reality minigames.
- National: Honourable Mention ‘Integrating AIHW’ Award (Sponsored by AIHW).
- ACT: Winner ‘Healthy Canberra’ Award (Sponsored by ACT Gov).
2017
Awarded for group project ‘Point-to-Point+’, a navigation tool designed to make traveling easier and safer for cyclists and pedestrians around Canberra using geographic data provided by the ACT Government.
- ACT Award: Winner ‘First Hackers’ Award (Sponsored by ACT Gov)
- ACT Award: Winner ‘Best Tertiary Hacker Team’ Award (Sponsored by University of Canberra)
My university group project which explored the concept of introducing lightweight telecommunications infrastructure to remote villages in Vanuatu was selected as a finalist in the 2017 Engineers Without Borders challenge.
2016
Achieved 2nd place at the world finals 4×4 in Schools Challenge event in England, an engineering competition where high-school students design and manufacture remote-controlled 4×4 vehicles.
Media
Accessibility
- [2022] Australian of the Year Awards: Bryce Cronin Profile
- [2022] Engineers Australia: Meet Bryce Cronin, Young Engineers Australia Canberra Committee member
- [2020] University of Canberra: UC students win hackathon challenge, enable wider support for frontliners
- [2020] Australian Computer Society: Five entries win Flatten The Curve Hackathon
- [2020] Engineers Australia: Students help engineer solutions to COVID-19 challenges
- [2020] About Regional: Uni students face up to mask shortage
Hackathons
- [2022] Junction: Replacing hateful language with a nice-ified alternative - Interview with Bryce Cronin
- [2021] APEC: An App to Ease Safety QR Check-Ins Wins the 2021 APEC App Challenge
- [2020] GovHack: From GovHack to Way Beyond: Story of A Winner
- [2021] The Asia Foundation: 2021 APEC App Challenge Advances Safety and Trust to Revive Region’s Tourism Industry
- [2021] Scoop: The 2021 APEC App Challenge
- [2021] APEC: The 2021 APEC App Challenge ft. Bryce Cronin
