The Pre-FENS Brainhack 2026
Everything you need to know about the Pre-FENS Brainhack 2026 in Barcelona, Spain.
Overview
The Pre-FENS Brainhack is a lively event that brings together people who are passionate about open science, open-source tools, and collaboration around computational and systems neuroscience. The hackathon provides an opportunity for people from different institutions to work together on projects of shared interest and learn from each other.
The 2026 edition of the Pre-FENS Brainhack will center on reproducibility in interpreting data within systems neuroscience, drawing inspiration from CON²PHYS — CONceptual CONsistency in electroPHYSiology. During the Brainhack, participants will analyze the same electrophysiology dataset and attempt to answer multiple-choice questions that reflect real research challenges. This setup aims to reveal how researchers deal with conceptual ambiguity and how their analytical choices affect outcomes. The event fosters collaboration in teams of 3-4, integrating varied expertise and code practices to enhance reproducibility in analyses. Read more about the concept here.
In addition to hands-on work, Research Software Engineers (RSEs) will provide talks about current tools and practices in systems neuroscience, offering insights into making analyses more reproducible through cleaner code, standard data layouts, and effective testing practices. The full schedule is available here.
This hackathon is heavily inspired by the Pre-COSYNE Brainhack.
Dates & Location
The hackathon runs on July 5, 2026 — the day preceding the FENS conference. It will be held at the Facultat de Medicina of the Universitat de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.
Registration
Registrations will open soon!
Sponsors
Pre-FENS Brainhack 2026 is sponsored by the International Brain Lab, supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Simons Foundation, the Institut de Neurociències de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB), the NOMIS Foundation, the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), and the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS)
Organizers
Pre-FENS Brainhack 2026 is organized by Helena Lluís Sanchez-Lafuente, Andrea Navas-Olive, Olivier Winter, Florian Rau, Gaëlle Chapuis, Irina Pochinok, Mattia Chini.