case study
MidCoast Koala Hackathon
Engaging young people in environmental change, designed to meet local priorities and build community-led solutions.
Empowering young people to take the lead in conservation
A district wide collaboration saw Disruptors Co engaged to deliver a one-day innovation program for senior students focused on koala conservation.
Students moved from insight to action, tackling real challenges set by local and state governments, community and first nations groups, and pitching responses that reflected local priorities and cultural knowledge.
This “open innovation” showed that meaningful engagement doesn’t need a long lead time or big budget. Just the right problem, format and people at the table.
the challenge
Solving the youth engagement gap
Koala populations across the MidCoast region are under mounting pressure from habitat loss, urban expansion and community disengagement. To protect them long-term, there’s a pressing need to rethink how conservation is understood, owned and activated at the local level.
A collection of community groups recognised that long-term koala protection couldn’t rely on environmental policy and infrastructure alone. While habitat restoration efforts were underway, there has been limited engagement from young people who will ultimately inherit responsibility for sustaining those efforts.
Disruptors Co was enlisted to help:
- Give regional students the tools to tackle local conservation priorities
- Connect the experience to curriculum outcomes
- Work with First Nations communities and local groups to galvanise engagement
- Shift conservation from a government-led effort to a shared responsibility, owned by those who live in the region.
our approach
A structured, fast-paced model for local innovation
Disruptors Co designed the Koala Hackathon as a one-day innovation sprint where students tackled local koala conservation challenges across the MidCoast, supported by mentors, council officers and community leaders.
Challenge areas were set ahead of the event by MidCoast Council, Uncle Will Paulson, koala experts and other community members. Each challenge statement focused on current issues, from habitat loss and road safety to reporting systems and community relationships.
On the day, students formed teams and worked through a structured design process. Each team developed and pitched a solution shaped by local knowledge, cultural insight and the advice from their mentors.
This approach combined:
- Design thinking tools adapted for a youth audience
- Cultural leadership, led by local Elder, Uncle Will Paulson
- Curriculum alignment, mapped to critical and creative thinking capabilities
- Real-world urgency, grounded in local environmental data and lived experience
By creating the conditions for collaboration, urgency and ownership, the hackathon delivered rapid engagement and practical, community-informed solutions.
the impact
Youth-led solutions, shaped by place and purpose
The Koala Hackathon delivered value across the board. For students, it offered them a chance to lead, designing solutions with real-world constraints and community stakes. In one day, they built confidence, learned how to pitch under pressure, and proved their ideas could shape local conversations.
For MidCoast Council, the event activated partnerships across education, community and conservation. It surfaced sharp, local ideas, and gave Council a replicable model to engage youth meaningfully, without relying on traditional consultation. The momentum was immediate. A landowner offered 30 hectares for habitat restoration. Students shared their work at school assemblies, sparking new conversations among peers and educators.
For local Aboriginal leaders, it positioned cultural knowledge as foundational, not supplementary. Their presence and leadership set the tone and shaped the outcomes.
For schools, government and future partners, the hackathon showed how youth engagement can be done differently. It delivered sharp ideas, built new connections between stakeholders, and gave decision-makers a clear view of what young people can contribute when they’re asked to take the lead on issues that affect their future.
Students
Teams
Mentors
Challenges
next steps
Scaling the hackathon: partners and process
As a result of the hackathon, the community was approached by a local landowner who was willing to reserve parts of their land as part of a koala sanctuary.
Perhaps, most importantly, the district wide support has transformed into an ongoing collaboration – with another endangered species now on the radar – the Manning River Turtle. Stay tuned for more innovations, business ideas and social impact emerging from the MidCoast region.
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