Fetched about 4 hours ago
Friday, March 20, 2026
to Sunday, March 22, 2026
β’
2 days long
Event Type
in person
3
Participants
0
Est. Projects
BioHackathon Edinburgh 2026 is a 3-day interdisciplinary hackathon bringing together biologists, programmers, data scientists, and entrepreneurs to collaborate on real-world biological and computational challenges.
We're part of the Bio-Innovation Series β a broader initiative of pre-hackathon workshops, the flagship event, and post-hackathon continuation support β designed to cultivate a long-lasting ecosystem that bridges academic research with real-world innovation.
20β22 March 2026
Day 1 (Fri 20 Mar): Edinburgh Futures Institute, Room 2.35
Days 2β3 (SatβSun 21β22 Mar): The Nucleus Building, King's Buildings Campus, University of Edinburgh
Undergraduate students, postgraduate taught/research students, postdocs, academic staff, and recent graduates (within the past year) from UK universities interested in biological and computational innovation. No coding experience required.
Collaborate on open-ended research challenges proposed by academic groups β including computer vision for biological image segmentation and classification, protein characterisation, and machine learning approaches for biological datasets. Teams get access to sample datasets, academic mentors, and opportunities for follow-up collaborations.
Work on problem statements proposed by industry partners from biotech, health, and data-driven companies. These challenges are practical and outcome-focused, aiming to translate ideas into prototypes, pipelines, or analytical insights.
For participants without a coding background: design experimental frameworks, conceptual solutions, and project management strategies. Activities include problem-based team exercises, scientific storytelling, and collaborative design thinking.
13:00 β Registration & welcome
14:00 β Opening ceremony + challenge introductions
15:30 β Networking / final team formation
16:00β17:00 β Q&A with challenge providers and sponsors
17:00 β Team formation deadline & hacking begins
18:30 β Dinner
21:00 β Building closes
08:00 β Breakfast
10:00 β Optional workshop / mental health break
12:00 β Lunch
15:00 β Mental health break (guided walk)
18:00 β Dinner
20:30 β Evening break
23:00 β End of day
08:00 β Breakfast
10:30 β Mental health break
12:00 β Submission deadline (DevPost)
12:00 β Lunch
13:00β15:00 β Pitching & judging sessions
15:00β15:30 β Judges deliberate
15:30 β Closing ceremony & awards
17:00 β End of event
All workshops are free to participants. Pre-event workshops are optional and can be selected based on skill level.
| Workshop | Date | Format | Delivered By |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Property | Wed 4 March, 15:30β16:30 | Online | Lysimachos Zografos, Edinburgh Innovations |
| Git & GitHub | Tues 17 March, 14:00β17:00 | Hybrid (Murchison LG.15) | Dr Alasdair Ivens, Director of Bioinformatics, CIIE |
| How to Use Eddie HPC | Wed 18 March, 14:00β17:00 | Hybrid (Murchison LG.15) | Mike Wallis, Digital Research Services |
Participants will have access to:
Edinburgh University's Eddie HPC cluster, including GPU resources
OpenAI API access for teams working on LLM-enabled challenges
Pre-hackathon onboarding and guidance for computing resource setup
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh
Digital Research Services, University of Edinburgh
OpenBioSim
Quas Drinks
Amytis
Converge Challenge
Centre for Engineering Biology
Ian Yang (Swain Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh) in collaboration with PRIMED Edinburgh and the Centre for Engineering Biology.
π§ Contact: ian.yang@ed.ac.uk
π Website: https://biohackathon2026.cjxol.com/
π¬ Discord: https://discord.gg/XvdWCmKF
πΈ Instagram: @primed_edinburgh
π LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ukprimed
Hashtags: #EdinBiohack2026 #PRIMEDEdinburgh
Sam Chen
sam@example.org