B-Cubed is gearing up for its April Hackathon – a dynamic gathering of biodiversity informaticians, researchers, and practitioners in Brussels. The event aims to foster collaboration and address various biodiversity challenges by exploring data cubes.

The Hackathon is accepting project submissions until 17 December. You can submit your project here.

Throughout the four-day event, participants will receive guidance from technical coaches and scientific committee representatives, with multiple opportunities to attend keynote presentations.

To provide participants with insights into the variety of expertise that will be available at the Hackathon, B-Cubed will present some of the key event contributors through a series of news items. 

Discover two more members of the technical support team, who will be on-site at the Hackathon to assist you.

Ward Langeraert

Meet Ward, a statistical expert at the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), specialising in the development of monitoring schemes, data analysis, and reproducible research. He anticipates the collaborative learning experience that the Hackathon offers and is looking forward to exchanging insights and practical use cases with fellow researchers: “This will provide a significant effort in the quest for streamlining biodiversity data analyses”.

Lina Estupinan Suarez

As a postdoctoral researcher at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv/MLU), Lina focuses on the development and implementation of the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) framework, the EBVCube standard and data harmonisation to provide actionable knowledge for policy. She also leads the alignment of B-Cubed with other biodiversity initiatives, as well as works on the development and implementation of FAIR data policy for the project workflows and outputs. In terms of the Hackathon, Lina is enthusiastic about delving into data cube management, testing interoperability with diverse datasets, and enhancing analytical skills to address the challenges of the Anthropocene: “Data cubes allow us to make the most of biodiversity data in an era of pseudo-exponential data growth”.

Rocìo Beatriz Cortes Lobos

Rocìo is a PhD student at the University of Bologna, focused on the application of machine learning methods to satellite images and the analysis of land cover changes in large areas. She believes the Hackathon is “a huge opportunity to share ideas and knowledge with fellow researchers with the aim to explore and develop data cubes” and is looking forward to discovering the potential of data cubes as a tool for monitoring biodiversity changes.