Abstract: Hackathons and unconferences are growing in popularity within academia, and astronomy is no exception. These events typically combine networking events, talks and tutorials on specific topics, and unstructured time for project work.
Inspired by initiatives such as Astro Hack Week and DotAstronomy, earlier this year the astronomy graduate student representatives in Heidelberg and Munich organised the first IMPRS-Astro-Hackathon. We brought members of the two largest astronomy graduate programs in Germany together for a three day self-organised event. This is in response to a call for less structured and more engaging networking opportunities, as well as better communication and collaboration between the graduate schools.
In this talk, I will outline the rationale, structure and evaluation of our event. I will discuss how we planned sessions, what challenges we faced, and some takeaways for anyone thinking about organising a similar event of their own.
