The 5th hackathon of the nextGEMS project is coming up! Join us from 14th to 18th of October 2024 in the dutch town of Wageningen to find out how our models can be applied in the sector of natural hazards.

The event will be organised in cooperation with the Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and the University of Bern and hosted on the WUR campus.

In the spirit of what was written in our proposal, participating scientists, programmers, and other project partners will work in small groups to create new knowledge on a topic. The topics will be related to the four nextGEMS research themes, as well as to natural hazards, such as wildfires and heavy precipitation. We will all explore research questions based on the newest simulations of the IFS and ICON models, identifying bugs and developing improvements. If you haven’t been to a hackathon, have a look at our previous hackathons to get an impression of the atmosphere and collaboration.

Registration

If you are interested in participating in the Hackathon, please register here until the 1st of July, 2024.

The event will charge a EUR 150 participation fee. Once your participation is confirmed, you will also receive the instructions for the payment.

Stipend Application

Once again, we are also opening a call for stipend applications to support the participation of young scientists with a strong interest in climate science or Earth system informatics. The stipend application deadline is 15th June 2024.

For any additional questions, please refer to the event website or contact the nextGEMS project office.

Where and when: Wageningen University, Netherlands – 14th to 18th October 2024

nextGEMS offers up to 15 stipends for participation in the Hazard Hackathon to support young scientists (at Master and PhD student level) from outside the project.

Application deadline: 15 June, 2024.
-> quicklink to registration & application

What is a nextGEMS hackathon?

nextGEMS is an European project that follows a new approach to climate modelling with global storm-resolving Earth-system Models. The project members meet regularly at hackathons to collaboratively analyse the latest model runs, exchange ideas and develop new ways forward.

We would like to include universities and research groups, especially from regions with less of a tradition in climate science. External participants applying for a stipend will be organized in teams to work on an Application Challenge Problem. This time around, the focus will be on the application of data and climate models in the context of natural hazards. As the Storms & Land theme is inviting us to meet in Wageningen, the main themes are fire weather, (urban) heat extremes, and extreme precipitation. As always, everyone is invited to bring their own subject as well. nextGEMS scientists, as well as experts from the field, will supervise and support the hackathon teams.

If you haven’t been to a hackathon, have a look at past hackathons to get an impression of the atmosphere during our previous meetings.

Who can apply?

We welcome young scientists with a strong interest in climate science or Earth system informatics!

Eligibility criteria:

What is included?

The hackathon participation is free and includes coffee breaks, lunches and a dinner. Additional travel and accommodation costs (incl. breakfast) up to €1000 are available per stipend.

How to apply?

Before applying for a hackathon stipend, please prepare the following documents:

Information on the hackathon, as well as registration details, can be found on the event website.

During the registration, please indicate that you apply for a hackathon stipend. Following the respective check-box, please upload the documents listed above in one single (concatenated) PDF file.

Application deadline is 15 June, 2024.
We will let you know as soon as possile whether we can arrange for your hackathon participation in Wageningen.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with the nextGEMS project office.

Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI), Hamburg, 4th – 8th March, 2024

The km-scale Hackathon was co-organized by the three climate science projects EERIE, WarmWorld, and nextGEMS and welcomed over 130 professionals from different scientific backgrounds, levels of expertise, diverse nationalities and a variety of institutions.

Participants were creating valuable output while hacking and got some inspiring input by talks and keynotes throughout the week.

On the first day, Eulàlia Baulenas explained what is needed to transform knowledge created in climate science into tangible actions and scientists Rohit Gosh and Dian Putrasaham shared the current state of the Earth System Models used in the EERIE project. Meteorologist Daniela Jacob held a key note about the challenges posed by climate change, affecting the lives of all of us and how the Earth Visualisation Enging (EVE) and the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) could be one step towards an international, joint approach to address and tackle these difficult times ahead. 

A second key note was delivered by Sarah Kang, the Climate Dynamics Director at MPI, on Wednesday evening. She presented her work on understanding the physical processes driving observed, unexplained cooling trends in the tropical Pacific.

Additionally, Daniel Klocke talked about the Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic Weather and Climate Model (better known as ICON), used by all three of the organizing projects. He introduced some of the aspects of the model that were improved since the last Hackathon and gave an idea about which challenges still need to be combated in the near future. Similarly, Thomas Rackow updated the participants on the improvements of the Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) used in the nextGEMS project.

As a little treat, special side events were organized. These included a communal dinner, a world café, trips to the Wind Tunnel at the University of Hamburg and the DKRZ supercomputer Levante and a short Yoga-session to refresh the participants bodies and minds.

The closing session on Friday was used by the thematic groups to share their observations, analysis, challenges, and suggestions. Participants also engaged in a discussion about their opinions or concerns regarding the Earth System Models, future publications, and possible collaborations between different projects. This day was particularly special due to it coinciding with the International Women’s Day on March 8th, opening up the opportunity to especially celebrate the achievements of our female scientists, organizers and supporters.

In the scientific landscape, diversity isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a fundamental ingredient for innovation. The 4th km-scale hackathon hosted in Hamburg by the nextGEMS project exemplified this mindset, bringing together over 130 participants from institutions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. From March 4th to 8th, 2023, professionals with particular backgrounds, levels of expertise, and from 16 different countries converged to further develop the existing Earth System models used in nextGEMS, as well as extrapolating current and past data to create future scenarios.

Participants at the Hamburg hackathon.
Group of participants working together at the Hamburg hackathon.

Matias Olmo, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, reflected on the unique opportunity the hackathon presented to integrate new scientists into the community, especially those who, like him, were attending for the first time. Specifically, he highlighted how helpful the event was to increase his understanding of how to use high-resolution data.

Similarly, Stephy Libera, a Research Assistant at the Earth and Life Institute from Louvain Catholic University (UC Louvain), highlighted the casual encounters facilitated by the hackathon gatherings. For her, it was advantageous „meeting people from different projects altogether and seeing that there are so many colleagues working on similar, complementary, and parallel topics.“ Additionally, Libera contributed as part of the European Eddie-Rich ESMs (EERIE) project – one of the projects co-organizing the hackathon – and shared a brief insight into the work she will be doing as part of EERIE after the hackathon: the effects on mesoscale eddies underneath sea ice, starting with the sea ice in the Antarctic and later in the Arctic.

Indeed, the essence of a hackathon isn’t solely measured by the quantity of scientific output, as Quan Liu, a Postdoctoral Researcher from the Climate Variability Department at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, emphasized. For him, „the idea of the hackathon is more about making people work together, which somehow helps transfer coding skills in a very practical and useful way to younger scientists”.

Other participants advanced with their modelling endeavors during the event, like Alejandro Uribe, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Meteorological Department of Stockholm University. His work during the hackathon was focused on the intricate dynamics of precipitation efficiency within specific regions, shedding light on the model’s fidelity in reproducing real-world phenomena. Furthermore, he shared how, compared to previous hackathons, the provided support and information on-site and through the nextGEMS website enabled him to „analyze and access data easier, avoiding wasting too much time in technicalities and using that time for analysis and for thinking“.

With each participant bringing a unique perspective and expertise to the table, the hackathon served as a melting pot of ideas, propelling Earth System Modeling and Climate Science forward. At the same time, the event demonstrated the power of collaboration, diversity, and community in scientific work.

In cooperation with the Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and the Universiy of Bern we will organise our next Hackathon in October this year. It will be the 5th hackathon for the nextGEMS project and it will happen in the town of Wageningen in the Netherlands.

Mark the week of the 14th-18th of October 2024 in you calendars and keep an eye on this page for more information in the future

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