Energy-climate data hackathon

Decarbonisation is driving rapid changes in the way energy is produced, transmitted and used. Many of these changes are, however, increasing the exposure of the energy system to weather and climate. Recent years have therefore seen a growing awareness of the risks posed by a changing climate to energy system operations, reliability, resilience and planning, yet there remain many gaps and barriers at this research frontier.

To promote the understanding of climate risk in future energy systems, the Universities of Oxford and Reading, working in partnership with the UK Met Office, are hosting a virtual (online) 5-day hackathon on 21-25 June 2021. There will also be a a half-day “scoping event” held on 18th May (2-5pm) which participants will need to be available for.

The goal of the hackathon is to produce novel solutions for understanding and quantifying climate risks in future energy systems. This may include but is not limited to:

• Developing decision support aids
• Providing improved solutions for data-exchange between energy- and climate- science
• Model development and enhancement
• Novel end-user applications

Register now

Eligibility

The hackathon is open to anyone working in the fields of energy and/or climate whether from industry, policy or academia. Places are limited and we are therefore looking to select enthusiastic participants with experience in any of the following areas:

• Energy system science and modelling
• Climate science, climate modelling and the use of climate data
• Software development
• Data analytics
• Mathematical & physical modelling

Early career participants are encouraged to apply, particularly PhD students and postdocs (or other equivalent). Technical support will be provided but we expect all applicants to have some prior knowledge of scientific programming and to have experience of at least one of the parent disciplines (i.e., energy or climate).

Prior to the hackathon, a half-day “scoping event” will be held on 18th May (2-5pm). At this event, participants will be introduced to a series of potential hackathon topics (each led by an experienced project lead) and will be encouraged to share their thoughts on the topics and/or propose their own if they wish.

Participants will be invited to sign up to their preferred topics prior to the main event. It is anticipated that the outputs of the hackathon will be made publicly available (open source). There will be an opportunity to pitch the tools/science/innovations developed to a “Dragon’s Den” panel of leading experts at the close of the event.

Applications

If you are interested in applying and having the opportunity to engage with like-minded scientists, then please complete the application form.

Participants are welcome to join from anywhere in the world but please be aware that the hackathon will be mostly run during UK working hours (9-5 UTC+1).

The closing date for applications is 11 May 2021.

If you have any queries, or have any difficulties completing the registration form, please email events@eng.ox.ac.uk?

Hackathon organising committee

University of Oxford: Dr Sarah Sparrow, Professor David Wallom, Professor Tim Woollings

University of Reading: Professor David Brayshaw