Community events

If you’re interested in learning more about AI coding tools in the public sector, there are many ways to get involved.

Types of events

Knowledge Hub

Join the community to share experiences, ask questions and learn from engineers in other departments using AI coding tools.

The Knowledge Hub provides:

• peer-to-peer support from engineers facing similar challenges
• sharing of successes, failures and lessons learned
• access to expertise across government departments
• connection to champions and experienced users
• recordings of past events and sessions
• a calendar of upcoming events across the programme

Join the cross-government AI coding tools community.

Upcoming hackathon (16 April 2026)

Register here (registration closes on 1 April 2026) to join our in-person hackathon on 16 April 2026 in London. You'll spend the day:

• working with your AI coding tool on a real problem
• collaborating with engineers from other organisations
• getting support from technical leads and champions
• connecting with the AI Engineering Lab community

The hackathon will take place from 9am to 5pm at:

CodeNode
10 South Place
London
EC2M 7EB

Show and tells

Participating teams share their adoption journeys, challenges and successes at cross-government show and tell sessions.

You'll see:

• how other teams are using AI coding tools in practice
• real examples of problems solved and lessons learned
• demonstrations of effective techniques and approaches
• opportunities to ask questions and discuss challenges

Sessions are open to all participating organisations. Recordings and materials are available if you cannot attend live.

Training workshops

Join facilitated workshops where you'll work on real problems with support from experienced engineers.

Lunch and learns are structured sessions covering:

• basic and advanced AI tool techniques
• best practices
• security and safe usage
• role-specific guidance for different types of work

Tech drop-ins are informal sessions where you can bring your questions and get direct support from AI-trained engineers.

Champion network

Champions help drive adoption in their departments and connect with champions across government through the cross-government community.

Find out more about what champions do.

Register your interest in becoming a champion and help shape the adoption of AI coding tools across government.

Register your interest

To register your interest, email gdsengineeringexcellence@dsit.gov.uk.

You should provide information about:

• your reason for wanted to work with us, such as implementing tooling within your team
• what AI Engineering Lab can support you with, such as knowledge-sharing, adoption support, and AI licenses
• the size of your engineering team and a brief description of the work they're doing
• your team's capacity to work with AI Engineering Lab over the next month