Frequently Asked Questions
The next Lindau Online Sciathon will take place 19–21 April 2024.
Leading up to the event, you will find the most important answers around the Sciathon, including information on the rules, the jury, and the results, on this page. Lindau Alumni and Young Scientists 2024 can register and connect in the Lindau Alumni Network.
Basic Information
What Is the Sciathon?
The 4th Lindau Online Sciathon is an opportunity to develop novel ideas in small groups. Members of the Lindau Meetings’ community from different research areas are invited to work together within a period of 48 hours from 19–21 April 2023.
Ideas for projects for this hackathon-type event are submitted by Lindau Alumni. After confirmation by the organizers, Lindau Alumni with accepted projects will become group leaders. Other Lindau Alumni and Young Scientists invited to the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting can then register to work in a project group.
What Is the Topic?
We’re inviting creative and diverse ideas for the Sciathon 2024 in one overall topic for the project proposals: The application of physics for a more sustainable world.
Who Initiated This?
Since their foundation in 1951, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have developed into a unique international scientific forum. The annual Meetings facilitate an exchange between different generations, cultures and disciplines. The theme of the Lindau Meetings alternates between Physics, Chemistry or Physiology and Medicine – the three scientific disciplines of the Nobel Prize. An interdisciplinary Lindau Meeting takes place every five years. The Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences is held every three years.
Through numerous declarations and statements, the scientists of our community have repeatedly joined in the public debate with political appeals (including the 2015 Declaration on Climate Change, 1955 Lindau Declaration Against the Use of Nuclear Weapons, 2020 Lindau Guidelines, 2022 Call for Peace).
During the Sciathon
What Happens During the Sciathon Weekend?
We hope the 48 hours of the Lindau Online Sciathon will be a lot of fun, a lot of work – and the start of great collaborations, projects and friendships.
The Sciathon is bookended by an opening and a closing event.
Throughout the weekend, there will be Ask the Organiser sessions during which groups can video chat with the organisers in Lindau to ask questions about the Sciathon.
What Do We Need to Hand In?
- What is the idea?
- Why is it revolutionary?
- What needs to be done so that the idea can be implemented or investigated
Please provide us with a paper (max 3 pages text, 2 pages graphics). Please use A4 as format and at least a font size of 11 pt.
We also ask you to provide a short video (*.mp4), where you explain your findings or summarise your progress.
Whether every member of your group or nobody of your group appears in your 2-minute video is completely up to you, but the group should be represented in some way. However, we ask you to produce your video in landscape (and not in portrait) format. Use your imagination and have fun with the video and the paper!
Timeline During the Sciathon Weekend
Friday, 19 April
17.00 Opening event, start of the Lindau Online Sciathon
17.30 Ask the Organiser
Saturday, 20 April
9.00 Ask the Organiser
17.00 Lindau News: A live broadcast from Lindau
17.20 Ask the Organiser
Sunday, 21 April
9.00 Ask the Organiser
15.00 Ask the Organiser
17.00 Deadline for the paper
16.55 Closing event
What Is the Deadline and the Submission Process?
Both the video and the paper should be submitted to us (alumni@lindau-nobel.org) by the end of the 48 hrs. Please upload them on WeTransfer, Dropbox etc and send a download link to us. The paper deadline is a hard deadline.
Since the video format is new for many, groups may take a bit more time for handing in the video – until Monday, 22 April, 17.00 hrs CEST.
Please label the paper and the video with your group name.
After the Sciathon
What About the Results?
An expert jury will evaluate the projects and determine the five best groups. The representatives of the groups on this short list will have the opportunity to present their projects and attend the meeting on the day of the presentation. If necessary, the top 5 groups will be supported in optimally preparing their project presentation in the run-up to the workshop.
In addition to the workshop, the final papers and videos will be published on sciathon.org and the awarded projects will be promoted through the online channels of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
Do Ideas Become Reality?
Hopefully, the intense and inspiring group work during the Sciathon will kick start further collaborations. Several groups from earlier iterations of the Sciathon are still working together. Maybe a collaboration based on your Sciathon project will be next?
The ideas will find a platform on this website and in the Lindau Alumni Network. If individuals or institutions from our community are interested in supporting the further growth of your project after the Sciathon, we’ll be happy to liase between the parties.
Rules, Terms and Conditions
What is the Role of the Group Leader?
The group leader is the initiator of the project, responsible for coordinating the group, and the main contact person between the group and the Sciathon organisers in Lindau (e.g. to ask questions about the process).
What Are the Terms and Condtions?
In addition to the rules of the competition, the Terms and Conditions linked below apply, as does the Privacy Policy of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.
What Are the Rules of the Sciathon?
The core of the Sciathon is cooperative, inclusive, fair teamwork done in diverse, interdisciplinary groups and in line with the Lindau Guidelines and the Lindau Spirit. Besides the rules of the competition, the focus should be on the exchange of ideas of the participants working in a group.
Access for Media and Public
What About Press Access?
If you work as a journalist and/or blogger and would like to run a story about the Sciathon, please do not hesitate to contact the communications team of Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. We will find a way to bring you in contact with group leaders or groups before or after the sciathon, maybe even during the event.
Are Interviews Possible?
If you are interested in interviews with group leaders or members, please let us know about your wish. We will find the right person and arrange a time and a virtual meeting.
Is Public Access Possible?
The results of the Sciathon will be made public after the event and we will publish more information on lindau-nobel.org. Follows us on social media or sign up to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the Sciathon and other projects. The opening and the closing ceremony will be streamed online on sciathon.org