Jun 2-4, 2025 | Weimar
What is the ReTune Hackathon?
The annual ReTune Hackathon is an intensive and collaborative event, to address a spectrum of scientific coding problems.
During the Retune Hackathon, the participants chose a team and worked on a specific project for 3 days. The projects were selected to address software problems shared across multiple domains within the SFB. This collaborative synergy fostered effective troubleshooting and set the stage for further collaborative initiatives.
What happened?
From June 2 to 4 2025, researchers gathered in Weimar for an intense, focused, and highly collaborative coding sprint. AI played a central role in this edition. Participants explored modern annotation pipelines, experimented with machine learning classification, and even delved into explainable AI methods, mirroring recent shifts in how researchers use AI tools in coding and data analysis.
The scientific program was enriched by a keynote speech from Steffen Schneider, PhD, who provided insights into explainable AI and neural embeddings.
The bootcamp provided hands-on practice, while the Hackathon offered space to push limits, prototype ideas, and learn from one another.
What collaborations or projects came from it?
The Hackathon teams focused on three core projects that addressed shared technical challenges across the consortium:
- A new GUI for parsing movement data, making data handling and analysis more accessible across labs.
- Enhancements to the Perceive toolbox, improving its functionality based on the needs of multiple research groups.
- A comparative machine-learning project aimed at investigating the neural correlates of a behavioural task, providing a foundation for future ML-driven research collaborations.
Beyond the technical outcomes, the event fostered new collaborations and strengthened existing ones. Many participants continued refining their tools and sharing expertise after the Hackathon ended, which demonstrates how three focused days can jump-start long-term scientific connections.
