Mentors
Mentor at
HackAthlone
Mentors help teams with their questions and problems, in the fields they know best, from 13 to 15 November 2026. You don’t need to be there all weekend: pick the periods that suit you, at TUS Athlone or online.
The form takes about 5 minutes. Google asks you to sign in first.
The role
What mentors
do
Teams have 48 hours to build something with NASA’s data. You help them get unstuck and get ready to pitch.
Answer questions
Help teams and participants with their questions and problems, especially in the fields you know well.
Review practice pitches
Watch teams’ mock presentations and share your thoughts before the final pitches.
Guide, don’t build
Give teams advice rather than building their projects for them. The ideas and the work stay theirs.
In 2025, teams booked 10-minute sessions with mentors at the support desk, and teams that sent in drafts practised their pitch with an assigned mentor on Sunday morning.
When
Pick your
periods
You don’t need to be available all weekend. Tick the periods that suit you on the form, and we’ll schedule your mentoring around them.
The more periods you can cover, the more teams you can help. Mentor in person at TUS Athlone, online by video call, or both, and tell us any times when we shouldn’t disturb you.
Fri13 Nov
Sat14 Nov
Sun15 Nov
- Period 1: 22:00 to 01:00
- Period 2: 09:00 to 13:00
- Period 3: 14:00 to 18:00
- Period 4: 20:00 to 23:00
- Period 5: 08:00 to 12:00
Your expertise
Where you
can help
Tick as many areas as you like on the form. We use them to match you with teams that need help in those fields.
- Data science and AI
- Web and app development
- Game development
- XR (AR and VR)
- Hardware and electronics
- Remote sensing and Earth observation
- Space science and astronomy
- Natural sciences
- Maths
- Business and pitching
- Design and storytelling
- General mentoring
- Something else
The 2026 challenges
The challenge summaries are live now, and NASA publishes the full challenge statements on 28 October. On the form, you can pick the ones you’d most like to mentor.
Browse the challengesLast year
Mentors
in 2025
Lecturers, researchers, engineers, founders and artists. Two of them came back after reaching our podium as participants.
- mentors in 2025up from 15+ in 2023
- 20
- past winners among themfrom the 2023 podium
- 2
- teams to helpin 2025
- 50
- global nominationsin 2025, our best year yet
- 4
Mentor numbers: our 2023 and 2025 websites. Teams and nominations: official NASA Space Apps records.
Rohith Addula
Senior software engineer
Daniela Butan
Mechanical design engineer
Shane Byrnes
Composer and sound artist
Peadar Casey
Sustainable business models in agriculture
Mark Daly
Senior Lecturer, TUS
Patrick Dunne
Research master’s student, audio visual composition
Bryan Dunphy
XR researcher
Cian Gallagher
Owner, Applied Aerial Technology
Micheál Gill
Engineering student, on the 2023 winning team
Guilherme Daniel Gomes
Electronics, 3D printing and prototyping
Khawaish Gulati
Software developer, AMD
Amit Hirway
Assistant Lecturer, TUS
Eoghan Hynes
Past participant and local 3rd place winner
Sandeep Dattatraya Joshi
Business transformation advisor
Mark Kelly
Sustainable Development Research Institute, TUS
Albert Luganga
PhD researcher, TUS
Bhagyabati Moharana
PhD in collaborative VR
Adrielle Nazar Moraes
Researcher and lecturer, TUS
Mary Pidgeon
Lecturer in cybersecurity and software engineering
Yuhang Ye
Lecturer, TUS
What teams said
Initially, we struggled with hard coding from scratch, but a mentor’s advice to focus on product design improved our teamwork.
Everything was amazing! The vibes were great, the event was very well organized, and there were plenty of resources with incredibly helpful mentors. We are truly thankful for all the support.
We thank the sponsors and organisers of this event for providing this opportunity, the mentors for invaluable advice and insights, the judges for their time, attention and expertise, and the fellow participants for the competitive but uniting atmosphere of the local event.
What you get
What’s in it
for you
Your profile on our website
With your OK, we introduce you on this page and on our Instagram and LinkedIn before the event, so teams know who to ask.
Time on your terms
Pick your periods, in person or online, and tell us when not to disturb you.
A T-shirt and meals
If you join us at TUS Athlone, with your dietary needs looked after.
Ideas from 200+ participants
Students and young professionals from across Ireland, working on NASA’s challenges for 48 hours.
Industry and academia in one room
Meet the other mentors, the judges and our partners.
How it works
Three steps
to mentoring
Tell us what you know
Fill in the mentor form (opens in a new tab): your areas, the challenges you like and the periods you can do. It takes about 5 minutes.
We plan the weekend
We match you with teams that need help in your fields, around your periods.
You mentor
In person at TUS Athlone, online by video call, or both.
What we ask of you
- Guide teams rather than do the work for them: don’t write their code or build their project, and give every team fair access to your time.
- Tell the organisers if you have a personal or professional connection to a team, such as a colleague, student, friend or relative.
- Teams own their ideas and work. Don’t use or share them without the team’s permission.
- Follow the NASA Space Apps Code of Conduct and treat everyone at the event with respect.