Hackathons as a means of accelerating scientific discoveries and knowledge transfer

Abstract

Scientific research plays a key role in the advancement of human knowledge and pursuit of solutions to important societal challenges. Typically, research occurs within specific institutions where data are generated and subsequently analyzed. Although collaborative science bringing together multiple institutions is now common, in such collaborations the analytical processing of the data is often performed by individual researchers within the team, with only limited internal oversight and critical analysis of the workflow prior to publication. Here, we show how hackathons can be a means of enhancing collaborative science by enabling peer review before results of analyses are published by cross-validating the design of studies or underlying data sets and by driving reproducibility of scientific analyses. Traditionally, in data analysis processes, data generators and bioinformaticians are divided and do not collaborate on analyzing the data. Hackathons are a good strategy to build bridges over the traditional divide and are potentially a great agile extension to the more structured collaborations between multiple investigators and institutions.

Ensemble machine learning modeling for the prediction of artemisinin resistance in malaria

“…Training data was obtained from the 2019 DREAM Malaria Challenge 8,9 . The training data consists of gene expression data of 5,540 genes of 30 isolates from the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.…”

The Soundscape Hackathon as a Methodology to Accelerate Co-Creation of the Urban Public Space

“…Even writing a scientific paper can be the goal of a science hackathon, as was the case for the Paper Hackathon on computational life sciences [22,23]. In September 2016, the DREAM of Malaria Hackathon was organized, with the human malaria parasite as a central research topic [24]. This particular event posed a specific research question and aimed towards gaining skills, experience and basic science understanding in its specific field.…”

“…Hackathons are highly interdisciplinary and bring together specialists from different fields to collaborate intensively on a specific problem [18,20]. Different perspectives can generate innovative approaches, which make hackathons the perfect place to accelerate generating outside-the-box ideas [24] and to nurture innovation [20]. Participants develop creative solutions to the problem, improve on communication, teamwork and presentation skills, and transfer their knowledge to team members, which is very valuable from an educational point of view [24].…”

“…Different perspectives can generate innovative approaches, which make hackathons the perfect place to accelerate generating outside-the-box ideas [24] and to nurture innovation [20]. Participants develop creative solutions to the problem, improve on communication, teamwork and presentation skills, and transfer their knowledge to team members, which is very valuable from an educational point of view [24]. Last but not least, hackathons are not solely about the results, but also about the relationships between participants with different backgrounds, functions and skill sets, about the opportunity to meet new people and create networks for the long term [20,26].…”

An Informal Learning Program as a Replicable Model for Student-Led, Industry-Supported Experiential Learning

“…Articles have been written about hackathons and other informal learning events used in the classroom [1] - [4], engaging with the public [5], [6] and about research around the events themselves [7] - [9]. In recent years, interdisciplinary collaboration has become a growing component of OHI/O's program and that is echoed in the literature which focuses on bridging engineering with business [10], entrepreneurship [11], [12], and health and wellness [13]. While outputs of hackathons often have mixed results for continued development, Kitsios and Kamariotou summarize 70 articles related to hackathons, open data, and ongoing entrepreneurial success rates and propose a model for successful entrepreneurial development as an outcome for events [14].…”