At a time when campuses worldwide are grappling with polarization, a group of UConn students recently forged new academic and social bonds with peers from throughout the Middle East and North Africa as participants in a virtual global “hackathon.”

This spring’s first-ever Abrahamic Hackathon, a collaboration and innovation competition, was a pilot initiative of the Joseph I. Lieberman Abrahamic Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program in UConn’s Office of Global Affairs.

The UConn students were among 42 participants who convened virtually for the competition in May that included peers from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

They spent 27 hours over two days working in mixed-nationality teams to brainstorm solutions to the problem of household water waste, with the first-place team comprising students from Morocco, Bahrain, and Israel who each won $1,000.

Along the way, the hackathon participants from UConn and other nations bonded over their commonalities and built bridges in ways that showed academic collaboration across national and cultural divides is not only still possible, but more vital than ever.

“It showed me how people from very different backgrounds can come together through shared values and collaboration,” says UConn participant Jessica Nirschel ’25 (CLAS).

Nirschel was paired on the first day with a student from the West Bank city of Bethlehem and, being a Jewish student from Connecticut, she said she was unsure whether they would have much in common. Those questions quickly faded they bonded over their shared beliefs in peace, respect, and the region’s cultural and religious sanctity.

“The hackathon not only connected me with incredible mentors, UConn alumni, and peers from the U.S. and MENA region, but also created lasting friendships,” Nirschel says. “I now have a network of people I can count on, with connections in the Middle East that will continue to grow and support me throughout my journey.”

The hackathon was organized by the UConn’s Abrahamic Programs under the Office of Global Affairs in partnership with Tel Aviv University’s Entrepreneurship Center.

“We are delighted with the positive results of this inaugural hackathon. The participants were deeply engaged with each other and demonstrated the beauty of pursuing a new politics of respect and cooperation in the region,” says UConn Vice President for Global Affairs Daniel Weiner.

UConn’s Abrahamic Programs initiative was established in 2016, four years before the Abraham Accords. It serves as an academic umbrella fostering cross-border research collaboration, intercultural communication, and community engagement to explore emerging trends and issues of critical importance in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).

Its Lieberman Program has its roots in a 2022 workshop and is named for the late Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who felt strongly about the need to help MENA countries build social and economic links between each other and the U.S.

“We need to develop programs that will create opportunities for collaboration among the countries in the MENA region to deepen the ties between the countries so that this remarkable breakthrough, the Abraham Accords, will essentially be permanent because it will be of such value to all the member countries. That’s my vision and my hope for this program that we effectively begin today,” Lieberman said at the 2022 workshop that kicked off the program bearing his name.

Lieberman represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1989 to 2013 and was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election, making him the first Jewish candidate on the presidential ticket of a major American political party. He died in March 2024.

The Lieberman Program works to build a community of leading entrepreneurial universities, creating fruitful dialogue and collaboration between academics, the business community, and policymakers while also contributing to peace-making in a region suffering from conflict. In doing so, universities can be empowered to increase capacity to produce innovative research that supports economic growth and more equitable development.

In addition to student hackathons, UConn Abrahamic Programs include collaborative curriculum development with its partners, including a shared online course; experiential study-abroad programs; and a Middle East and North African (MENA region) Abrahamic hub. It also includes support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and virtual and on-site workshops.

The idea for the hackathon began during a 2024 planning workshop in Stamford as part of the Lieberman program. It included representatives from UConn and Tel Aviv University, whose Entrepreneurship Center worked with UConn to lead the Hackathon.

“The hackathon was the first project we chose to pursue, to see how the students responded to the opportunity to work with students from the other countries,” says Yair Sakov, founder and managing director of TAU’s Entrepreneurship Center.

In addition to UConn and TAU as core institutional partners for the hackathon, the other participating institutions were Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; EcoPeace Middle East Palestine Office; INTERMID (Bahrain); International University of Rabat (Morocco); SP Jain School of Global Management (the UAE); and The Dealmakers, formerly known as the Abrahamic Business Circle (the UAE).

“It was an impactful opportunity to not only build a cool solution, but also a chance to further develop my cultural competency,” says UConn’s Garrett Breslin ’23 (BUS). “Thanks to the collaboration of business, technology – and positive energy – our team was able to produce a unique solution.”

In addition to the 42 students, 12 mentors and seven judges from the MENA region and the U.S. participated in the hackathon. Mentors and staff met individually with the teams in breakout rooms, and the event also offered group activity sessions for all participants.

“Amid growing violence and polarization on campuses worldwide – often undermining colleges’ missions to promote diversity of thought and civil dialogue – our pilot Abrahamic Hackathon brought together dozens of participants from Bahrain, Israel, Morocco, Palestine, the UAE, and the U.S.,” says Sercan Canbolat, director of UConn Abrahamic Programs.

“The event fostered a dynamic exchange of collaboration, inspiration, and Abrahamic epistemologies, all centered on innovation and entrepreneurship,” he adds. “The success of the Lieberman Abrahamic Hackathon served as a subtle yet powerful reminder that academic collaboration across boundaries remains not only possible but increasingly vital.”