The AI x City Climate Action Hackathon had around 700 participants from 77 countries
Date: 25 September 2026
A team of London Metropolitan University students achieved a remarkable result in qualifying for the final of a major international competition.
The AI x City Climate Action Hackathon is a global contest which brings together AI developers, researchers, students, climate experts and urban innovators to develop AI-based solutions to real problems faced by cities.
This year, participants were asked to develop an evidence-based, AI-driven solution that could work at city-scale and help tackle climate change or improve a city’s ability to survive and adapt to man-made and natural disasters.
Out of a record-breaking 697 participants across 77 countries, the London Met student team was selected as one of the 10 finalists.
Their project, based on research developed within the GENESIS Research Lab at London Met, involved developing GridSense AI, a system to support smarter electric vehicle (EV) charging, using real electrical data.
The team looked at the local electrical condition, carbon intensity and different EV charging scenarios to see how it could be re-scheduled to reduce peak demand hours, improve grid conditions and lower carbon emissions.
Dr. Maitreyee Dey, a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Applied Computing, co-founded the GENESIS lab alongside Professor Preeti Patel, Co-Director of the AI and Data Science Research Group, and together they supervised the team.
Maitreyee said: “This is an important first demonstration of a research concept developed within our lab, and we are very pleased to have this platform to showcase the work of our students and our cutting-edge research to a wider audience.
“Reaching the top 10 was a significant achievement for our students and our research team. I hope it will also inspire more of our students to engage in research activities, interdisciplinary challenges, and opportunities of this kind.”
Organised by the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy through its Innovate4Cities initiative, the 2026 final was held at the University of Cambridge.
Swati, one of the finalists, said: “Being selected as a finalist was a fantastic opportunity for our team to showcase GridSense AI and demonstrate how our work can contribute to more grid-aware and lower-carbon EV charging.
“Presenting our research and prototype at the final at the University of Cambridge was a valuable experience, and we were proud to share our work alongside other innovative teams."
The project benefited from the support of Neuville Grid Data, which provided equipment, resources, and an environment that enabled them to develop and demonstrate this work.
Student team (left to right): Ahmed Amin Rouane, Swati Trivedi, Jose Carlos Couto Da Silva, Kashish Rani, Rafael Armelin, Sergiu Mita