📌About the Event

The BAWG Data Science Hackathon 2026 is a two-day, in-person hackathon that brings together students interested in astronomy, data science, machine learning and scientific computing. Participants will work in multidisciplinary teams to solve real research problems involving variable stars and solar observations from missions such as Aditya-L1. The event is being conducted alongside the BRICS Astronomy Working Group Meeting at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune.

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ℹ️ Event Details

• Format: In-person hackathon
• Duration: Two days
• Venue: Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India
• Hackathon dates: 29–30 October 2026
• Main focus: Applying data science, machine learning and deep learning methods to astronomy and solar-physics research problems.
• Participants will work in teams on one of two scientific challenge problems.
• All selected participants will receive access to the IUCAA cloud computing system for developing and testing their solutions.
• Participants from different regions will contribute to a wider international hackathon initiative under the BRICS Astronomy community.

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📅 Important Dates

• Application deadline: 31 July 2026
• Selection or application outcome: 31 August 2026
• Preparation material release: Approximately two weeks before the hackathon
• Hackathon dates: 29–30 October 2026

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🎯 Eligibility & Rules

• Who can participate:
  • Honours programme
  • Master’s programme
  • PhD programme
  • Exceptional final-year undergraduate students may also be considered.
  • Applicants must possess strong Python programming skills.
  • Participants should be comfortable working through the command line.
  • Applicants should be interested in:
  • Data science
  • Machine learning
  • Astronomy or solar physics
  • Scientific computing
  • Collaborative research and problem-solving
  • Applicants must be willing to study the preparatory notebooks and learning material independently before the event.

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🏆 Benefits for the Participants

• Selected participants will receive access to IUCAA’s cloud computing infrastructure.
• Participants will gain hands-on experience solving real astronomy and solar-physics research problems.
• The event offers opportunities to:
  • Strengthen practical data science and machine learning skills
  • Work with scientific datasets from astronomy and solar-observation missions
  • Collaborate with students and researchers from the BRICS Astronomy community
  • Build experience in scientific problem-solving and technical presentations
  • Join a growing international community focused on data science for astronomy
  • Community members may later be invited to contribute to future hackathons, workshops, training programmes and related activities.