Datathon@LISH

A Research Study & Data Science Competition by the
Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard

Do You Have What It Takes to Win a Datathon?

A research study & data science competition, the Datathon@LISH is a remote two-day data science competition running on the weekend of October 14, 2023. The event is designed for any US-based university students or affiliates and is organized by the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard.

The competition is now live! Please click on the button below to start the pre-contest survey that will get you started on the datathon! Good luck!

Click here for the Pre-Contest Survey

Help the science of
(data) science

To further knowledge on data science, contest code will be collected for a research study on data science problem-solving. Participants will also complete two short surveys before and after the contest.

Grow your data science skills

Hone your data science skills by solving our selected prediction problem for social good. Our selected contest problem is sourced from a non-profit working in global development.

Win cash prizes, swag, and recognition

Cash prizes and recognition among the Harvard data science community for winners. First Place: $1000, Second Place: $500, Third Place: $250, Top-10 Finish: $50. Participation Prize ($10 Amazon gift card) for eligible teams that beat the baseline score in the contest. (New!) An additional $500 prize will be given to the team with the best documentation.

Competition Details

Prediction Problem

Our contest features a statistical prediction problem similar to ones on Kaggle, AICrowd, or TopCoder. The winner will be the model with the best prediction score on our holdout sample.

Timeline

Friday Oct 13, 5PM ET to Sunday Oct 15, 5PM ET (a 48-hour period, on the shorter end for datathons). See the contest timeline for full details.

Expected Time Needed to Participate

Work time is flexible and self-determined during the contest. We recommend blocking off at least 8 hours to work on the problem in order to be competitive.

Eligibility + Python Requirement

Any US university affiliates may join (including non-Harvard affiliates). You must be eligible to work in the USA (i.e. can get a SSN) to be awarded a prize. Python programming is required for the contest. Learn more.