Opportunity brief
Overview
Neurohack is a two-round computational neuroscience hackathon hosted under BIOGEN at SHAASTRA 2026, IIT Madras. Participants will work with real EEG datasets to build pipelines that classify human emotions from brainwave signals, combining signal processing, machine learning, and neuroscience in one challenge.
Eligibility
- Open to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
- Teams of 1–4 members.
- Participants may be from any discipline and any institute; no prior EEG experience is required, but working knowledge of Python is expected.
Target Audience
Students interested in:
- Biotechnology & biomedical engineering
- Neuroscience and cognitive science
- Computer science, data science and machine learning
- Signal processing and electronics
Competition Rounds
Round 1: Online Quiz
An online quiz covering basic neuroscience, EEG principles, brain-wave patterns, and Python for data analysis. Top-scoring teams advance to Round 2.
Round 2: 24-Hour Offline Hackathon
Selected teams are invited to IIT Madras during SHAASTRA 2026 for a 24-hour hackathon. Participants receive a preprocessed subset of a public EEG emotion dataset and build a complete pipeline to classify human emotions using signal processing and machine learning.
Finals at IIT Madras: PPT Presentation
Each team presents its problem approach, features, model, results, and insights from the brain signals to a panel of judges, followed by a Q&A session.