University of Newcastle's Net Zero Grand Challenge 2024 Rules & Guidelines

Proposals due by Wed 09 Oct 2024 5pm

I. Overview

The University of Newcastle's (the University) Net Zero Grand Challenge (GC) supports teams developing early stage projects, including untested ideas and innovations addressing the following challenge:

How might we assist organisations to better reduce and record scope 3 carbon emissions across their value chain to ensure transparency, foster collaboration among suppliers, partners and consumers and to achieve net zero goals?

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Preliminary discovery

• Clarity of Problem Vision / Solution

• Testability

• Outcomes

• Action plan

• Team

The proposed innovative solution must provide:

• Measurable reduction in scope 3 carbon emissions

• Mechanisms to enhance transparency and collaboration among stakeholders

• Potential for large-scale implementation

• Consideration of economic and social impacts

II. Eligibility

• All team members must be registered via the Net Zero Grand Challenge Devpost site by Wed 9 Oct 2024, 5pm.

• Teams must consist of a minimum of two to maximum of five members where at least one team member is a University of Newcastle student, staff or alumni member.

• This Grand Challenge is open to all University of Newcastle Students, Staff, Alumni and Community members.

• All team members must be based in Australia

III. Participation

• Participants agree to take part in the Net Zero Grand Challenge in an open and respectful manner and agree to comply with the University's Code of Conduct.

• A team can submit only one application.

IV. Project Applications

Schedule

• Mon 29 Jul at 9am: Grand Challenge Application Open

• Wed 9 Oct at 5pm: Grand Challenge Applications Close

• Thu 10 Oct at 1pm: People’s Choice Awards Opens

• Fri 18 Oct at 9am: People’s Choice Awards Closes

• Fri 29 Nov at 5pm: Draft project activity plans and budgets submitted

• Mon 30 June 2025: Final Reports Due

Project Submission

All teams must be registered with Devpost and submit their proposal to the Net Zero Grand Challenge Devpost page by Wed 9 Oct 2024 at 5pm. The Devpost team page must include the following:

• Team name

• Team member's full names and email addresses

• Team Lead's name

• Name of Project with a one sentence description

• A longer description of what your Project is about, including these headings (no more than 1,000 words in total):
  1. Project Title
  2. Description of multidisciplinary team members (biographies)
  3. Describe and illustrate the proposed solution including:
  - Graphical depictions of the emissions reduction solution
  - Outline of how the proposed solution works
  - Outline of how the proposed solution improves on what is currently available
  - Outline of what is novel and creative about the solution design
  4. Describe the top three critical hypotheses you want to explore, including:
  - How you will test them;
  - Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed; and
  - If your experiment/sin the testing phase are successful what are the nextsteps?
  5. Describe how you would use funding to progress your hypotheses, including:
  - How will the work described be performed within the budget (up to AU$10,000) and period (6 months) allocated for the testing phase (resources, capability etc)?
  - What essential outcomes will you generate during your testing phase?
  - Include a brief breakdown of allowable costs.

• Create a link from YouTube to a video of no more than 2-minutes duration that outlines your project and its proposed outcomes.

V. Judging

All Net Zero Grand Challenge entries will be judged by the Grand Challenge Judging Panel against the following assessment criteria:

• Clarity of Problem: Ability to describe well the part of the problem the team is looking to solve.

• Vision / Solution: Exciting, innovative and unique aspects of the proposal and a clear understanding of the value to the end user / customer.

• Action Plan: Shows a clear, logical, and thoughtful description of the next steps and how the funding would be used to test the solution including what value or learnings are to be achieved.

• Team: Demonstrates the uniqueness of the team to tackle the challenge and their commitment to their proposal.

• The Net Zero Grand Challenge Judging Panel will determine all recipients and will consist of a mix of University representatives and industry supporters.

• All submission elements detailed in 'Project Submission' section of this document must be completed by the required time. No requests for extensions will be considered.

• Final arbiter is the Net Zero Grand Challenge Judging Panel whose decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. This is a competition ofskill. Chance plays no part in this competition.

• All teams selected to receive funding will require the Team Lead to liaise with and provide their details to the Organisers following funding announcements. They will be responsible for ensuring that all spending of funds is reported as required.

VI. Use of Funds

• The Funds provided may only be used for the purpose of delivering on the Project outlined in the Application. Grant funds cannot be used to reimburse any expenses incurred prior to the awarding of the Grant.

• Funds can be used for the purchase of equipment so long as the assets are used exclusively for the Project during the term of the grant and the cost of any single item does not exceed $5,000 ex GST.

• Funds may not be used to pay for indirect costs. Indirect costs are defined as (1) overhead expenses incurred as a result of the Project, but that are not easily identifiable with the Project and (2) administrative expenses that are related to overall general operations and are shared among projects and/or functions. Examples of indirect costs include:
  o Salaries / wages and related benefits o General office supplies (pens, paper etc)
  o Phone plans

• Grant funds cannot be used for the following activities:
  o Salaries/wages and related benefits ofteam members working directly or indirectly on the Project
  o Trainee / participant costs, such as stipends, tuition & fees, travel
  o Travel costs (airfares, meals, lodging, conference fees)

VII. Intellectual Property

• The University of Newcastle makes no claim over the intellectual property (IP) generated by you as part of the University of Newcastle's Net Zero Grand Challenge (subject to the University's IP Policy and Procedure) provided your use of the IP acknowledges that the IP was developed as part of the University of Newcastle Net Zero Grand Challenge (unless it is unreasonable to do so).

• If you are employee or student of the University of Newcastle, you agree and acknowledge that ownership of the IP will be in accordance with the University IP Policy and Procedure, as amended from time to time. IP Policy found here, IP Procedure found here.

• Teams may request the assistance of University to commercialise the IP noting that the University is entitled to recover the costs of any assistance.

VIII. Code and Data

• You will find the list of suggested data available for the Net Zero Grand Challenge on this website.

• The University of Newcastle Resources data is confidential and shared based on application. It is not open license and does not allow for reuse, commercial use, remixing or distribution. It is intended solely for research and data exploration to inform potential solutions in the Net Zero Grand Challenge.

• You are not required to use datasets.

• Some datasets listed on data portals may have additional resources available with further information on how to use the data or other supporting material. You are encouraged to download and use these resources.

• You agree to only include code, data, or other materials in a submission for the Grand Challenge that you have the right to use and release consistent with these rules. All code and data must be available under an appropriately open license that allows reuse, commercial use, remixing and distribution.

• As the owner of the code you can fork that code and commercialise if you want, but to be eligible for the competition, the codebase and demonstration submitted must be open-sourced.

• All other content submitted must be Creative Commons BY licensed. For instance, you may choose to submit an incredible dynamic or static data visualisation as your team contribution.

• Use of third-party tools and APIs under open use license is allowed. If you use such a tool or API in your entry you must note and take responsibility for adhering to the third party terms of service.

IX. Photography and Video

Participants acknowledge that the University will be recording the Grand Challenge events on video, photographs, audio recording and other media, and therefore agree that:

• The Organisers have the unrestricted right to use your likeness, image, voice, opinions, and appearance, and also any images of your projects, developments, materials and belongings made at or brought to the Challenge, captured through video, photographs or other media during the Challenge for the express purpose of creating promotional material (the "Images"), for the purposes of use in websites, promotional materials, publications and other media of any of the Organizers, whether in print or electronically (the "Materials"). The foregoing right includes permission to copyright, use, re-use, publish, and republish Images in which you may be included, intact or in part, composite or distorted in character or form, without restriction as to changes or transformations, in conjunction with your own or a fictitious name, reproduction in colour or otherwise, made through any and all media now or hereafter known;

• The Organisers shallsolely own the Materials in which you or your Images, in whole or in part, may appear, including copyright interests, and you have no ownership rights therein;

• You give all clearances, copyright and otherwise, for use of your Images, and waive any moral rights that you may have in the Materials in which you or your Images may appear. The rights granted to the Organisers herein are perpetual and worldwide. For greater certainty, my Images may continue to be used after the completion of the Grand Challenge;

• You relinquish any right that you may have to examine or approve the Materials in which you or your Images may appear or the use to which they may be applied; and

• You hereby release, discharge and agree to save harmless each and all of the Organisers from any liability by virtue of any blurring, distortion, alteration, optical illusion, or use in composite form of the Images whether intentional or otherwise, that may occur or be produced in the recording of the Images or in any subsequent processing thereof, as well as any publication thereof, including without limitation any claims for libel or invasion of privacy.

X. Privacy

• We advise that the information you provide is collected by the University and its contracted service providers and may be used to make you aware of future University events and opportunities.

• The University and its contracted service providers may use your personal information to invite you to participate in surveys or market research activities.

• The University abides by the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW), under which you have the right to access your personal information held by the University. The University's Web Privacy Statement will provide further detail.

XI. Attendee Code of Conduct

• All participants ofthe Net Zero Grand Challenge (Organisers, Partners, Judges, Mentors, Competitors) and their associated Guests (Family & Friends), and any Service Providers or Visitors (Supporter Representatives, Media, Emergency Services, Providers, IT support, Entertainers, etc) are expected to uphold the national & state laws of the event they are attending or registered to compete from, and this code of conduct, and any of the sub-codes of conduct listed below.

• The Grand Challenge is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, previous Grand Challenge attendance or computing experience (or lack of any of the aforementioned).

• We do not tolerate harassment of Grand Challenge participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate for any Grand Challenge venue, including hacks, talks, workshops, parties, social media and other online media. Grand Challenge participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the Grand Challenge at the discretion of the Organisers.

• Harassment includes offensive verbal commentsrelated to gender, genderidentity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion,sexual imagesin public spaces, deliberate intimidation,stalking, following, photography or audio/video recording against reasonable consent, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

• Photography is encouraged, but other participants must be given a reasonable chance to opt out of being photographed. If they object to the taking of their photograph, comply with their request. It is inappropriate to take photographsin contexts where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy (in bathrooms or where participants are sleeping).

• Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately. Organisers, Partners and Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, Sponsors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Sponsor representatives(including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/ uniforms/costumes or otherwise, create a sexualized environment.

• If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact theOrganisers immediately. Organisers will be happy to help participants contact any local security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the Organisers. We value your attendance.

• If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, the Organisers may take any action they deem appropriate. Thisincludes warning the offender, expulsion from the Grand Challenge with no refund (if applicable) or reporting their behaviour to local law enforcement.

This Grand Challenge has been designed to demonstrate the benefit of open access. Please participate in and engage with the Organisers in that spirit and good faith. You must not include submissions that are:

• of potentially libellous, false, defamatory, privacy-invasive or overtly political;

• material which is potentially confidential, commercially sensitive, or which would cause personal distress or loss;

• any commercial endorsement, or promotion of any product,service, organisation or publication;

• language which is offensive, obscene or otherwise inappropriate;

• of misleading, deceptive, violate a third party’s rights or are otherwise contrary to law.

Participants are expected to follow these rules during the Grand Challenge and venues and related events. The Grand Challenge should be an awesome experience for everyone. Be nice, play fair, or go home.