Students of the graduate IT study programme at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, Klara Krnjić, Lorena Ober, Stjepan Šokčević and Roman Šimunović, participated in the SheepAI hackathon held at the Infobip Campus in Zagreb on 29 November 2025, where they developed an AI tool for smart monitoring of cybersecurity news as part of a nine-hour competition. The team was encouraged to participate by Associate Professor Tomislav Jakopec, who shared the organisers’ call in the IT@FFOS Facebook group and encouraged the students to apply. After receiving the application link, they formed the IT@FFOS team and registered for the competition. Their participation was co-financed by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, with the support of Professor Jakopec, who wished them good luck on the day of the competition and encouraged and supported them throughout the day.
The road to the hackathon began weeks earlier with preparations that included coordinating team roles, reviewing previous solutions, practising work with AI APIs and deciding how to divide tasks within the short competition timeframe. The day before arriving at the Infobip Campus, the team travelled to Zagreb, stayed at Hostel Bureau and spent the evening intensively preparing, refining their idea, conducting technical tests and planning their approach.
The SheepAI hackathon, organised by Fonoa and its partners, brought together teams from across Croatia with the goal of developing solutions that would automatically collect, filter, summarise and display news from The Hacker News. The task was to design a system that would allow users to quickly navigate the field of cybersecurity, with an emphasis on source reliability, content personalisation, protection against misinformation and avoiding hallucinations by large language models. Throughout the day, the competitors worked in short iterations, maintaining continuous communication with mentors and adapting their solutions according to the advice they received.
Within the allotted time, the IT@FFOS team developed the Tech Brief application, designed as a tool for quickly accessing technology and security news. The system enables automated content collection and summarisation, as well as the identification of potentially unreliable information, providing users with a concise and reliable overview of key developments in cybersecurity. Node.js, Express, React and Vite were used in development, together with integration with the OpenAI API, which enabled intelligent analysis and summarisation of news content. The complete GitHub repository containing Tech Brief is available at the following link: https://github.com/lorena-ober/sheepAI_IT-FFOS. The repository is public, and anyone who clones it can run the application locally and test it on their own computer.
Participation in the hackathon provided the students with valuable experience in intensive teamwork. Within a short period of time, they had to design a complete solution, organise a clear division of tasks and coordinate the frontend, backend and AI module. Klara Krnjić emphasised that, although they did not win a prize, participating gave them new knowledge and additional motivation for future projects, while particularly highlighting the importance of networking with people who share a passion for technology. Lorena Ober pointed out that nine hours of continuous development allowed her to deepen her existing knowledge and confirmed her desire to continue her professional career in software development. Stjepan Šokčević described the hackathon as an extremely positive and educational experience that encouraged him to apply for similar competitions in the future, while Roman Šimunović emphasised his pride in the team and the fact that, despite the pace and pressure, they remained focused until the very end, particularly appreciating the first-hand insights provided by mentors and industry experts.
The IT@FFOS team also highlighted the excellent working conditions provided by the organisers. The organisers ensured that chargers, extension cords and stable Wi-Fi were available, while participants also had constant access to drinks and refreshments, various types of pizza for lunch, and cheese and meat burek with yoghurt for dinner, which further contributed to a pleasant and stimulating atmosphere throughout the day.
The hackathon enabled the students to finally connect the theoretical knowledge acquired during their studies with concrete industry needs, while also establishing new contacts and opening up opportunities for their own professional development. In addition, the organisers added to the atmosphere with a prize draw: all participants who followed SheepAI on social media had the opportunity to win a PlayStation 5.
Ultimately, the participation of the FFOS team proved to be an excellent example of how cooperation between the Faculty, its teaching staff and industry partners can provide students with a clearer insight into real-world technological challenges. Such experiences not only strengthen practical skills but also encourage young people to continue participating in similar projects, where learning goes hand in hand with innovation and collaborative creation.
Text: Roman Šimunović
