The Doing Good, Growing Strong Project team at the German Jordanian University (GJU)—led by Project Manager Dr. Abdelrahman Zuraik and Project Coordinator Arch. Dana Al-Lafi—in collaboration with Dr. Eva Haddad, academic, researcher at GJU and certified cultural leadership coach, conducted a specialized workshop titled “The Innovator’s Launchpad” for participants of the GJU Innovate for Impact Hackathon.
The workshop aimed to equip participants with the essential skills and tools needed to successfully enter the mentorship phase of the hackathon and prepare for upcoming development milestones. Its refined model, rooted in Design Thinking, was restructured to maximize efficiency and produce actionable results. The workshop emphasized rapid problem-solving, enabling participants to focus on transforming real challenges into testable solutions rather than theory.
Participants collaborated in groups aligned with the six main hackathon challenge themes:
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Campus Life Reimagined – Making student life at GJU more fun, connected, and engaging.
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Smarter Commute – Making commuting to GJU easier, more affordable, and more social.
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Study Smart, Not Hard – Helping students study better, collaborate more, and manage stress.
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Waste to Wow! – Transforming campus waste into something useful or innovative.
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Wellbeing Warriors – Integrating mental health and wellbeing into everyday campus life.
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GJU Connect – Strengthening connections between students, alumni, and professors.
Each team was guided to:
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Identify a core GJU challenge
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Build a rough prototype of their proposed solution
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Test the prototype and gather real feedback
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Develop a clear Mentorship Readiness Plan outlining next steps
Following the workshop, participants—individually or in teams—will enter the mentorship phase to refine their concepts ahead of the final pitch event in January 2026. During the finale, the top 5–6 teams will present their solutions, with the top three teams receiving cash prizes totaling 2,200 JOD and continued mentorship to support implementation within GJU.