Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon 2026 #DHH26

Join us for the Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon 2026—an opportunity to collaborate and innovate in an interdisciplinary setting. The application period is open (until 14 April 2026) –  to be part of this year’s cohort.

People talk about hackathons, but there is only one Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon. #DHH26 is the 11th iteration of our international summer school (aimed primarily at master's students and beyond), which brings together diverse participants from Finland and across Europe. 

In the Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon, you will experience an interdisciplinary research project from start to finish within the span of 10 days. For researchers and students from computer science and data science, the hackathon gives the opportunity to test their abstract knowledge against complex real-life problems. For people from the humanities and social sciences, it shows what is possible to achieve with such collaboration.  For everyone, the hackathon gives the experience of intensely working with people from different backgrounds as part of an interdisciplinary team, as, during the hackathon, each group develops a digital humanities research project from start to finish. Working together, they formulate research questions with respect to particular data sets, develop and apply methods and tools to address them, and present the work at the end of the hackathon. 

Participation in #DHH26 is free for all accepted participants. This year, we also expect to sponsor a limited number of participants from outside Finland with flights and accommodation (decisions on this to be made after the application period). 

The event is organised by —particularly its  component—in collaboration with HELDIG and the Department of Digital Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Helsinki, as well as . We are supported by , , the , and Marie Curie Training Networks  & . 5 ECTS credits may be gained from participating in the hackathon for students, and it also functions as a staff training event for leadership and collaboration across disciplinary borders.

For information on what the hackathon was like in previous years, see , , ,, , , , ,  and .

Themes

This year, the hackathon groups are organised around the following five themes:

• Parliaments Beyond Borders: Exploring the Role of Foreign Nations in National Policy Debates
• Crimes and Punishments: “True Crime” in Britain during the 19th century
• The Language of Profits: A Multi-Disciplinary Exploration of Corporate and Legal Rhetoric
• Knowledge Production through the Lens of 200 Million Books across 600 Years
• Decoding the System of Finnic Oral Poetry

See further information on the .

Ap­plic­a­tion sched­ule for #DH­H26

17.3.2026 This year's themes are unveiled, and the application period starts
14.4.2026 Application period ends
27.4.2026 Registration period ends for #DHH26 for accepted participants
4.5. & 11.5.2026 Two #DHH26 pre-hackathon online preparatory sessions
20.–29.5.2026 #DHH26 hackathon in Helsinki

Please note that we can only accept participants who are able to commit to the full week of intensive work (not just a couple of hours here and there), as well as the preparatory sessions. Thus, if you know that you have other commitments during the hackathon, please consider applying next time when you can make a full commitment.

Venue

Minerva Plaza, Siltavuorenpenger 5 A ()
University of Helsinki
Finland

Prac­tic­al­it­ies and Timetable

The hackathon will take place between 20.–29.5.2026. The participants are expected to commit to the hackathon for the whole period; work takes place mainly between 10 AM and 5 PM on weekdays (the weekend is free!). In addition, there are two online pre-sessions on Mondays 4.5. and 11.5., between 2 – 4 PM UTC+03:00 for orientation, group formation and preparation for the intensive hackathon period. The participants are expected to attend also these pre-sessions.

Public presentations of the projects:
29.5.2026 13:00–16:00, Minerva Plaza, Siltavuorenpenger 5 A, room K226.
The event will be streamed at 

Or­gan­isa­tion

General organisers:

• , professor in  at the University of Helsinki
• , professor in  at the University of Helsinki
• , associate professor in  at Aalto University
• , university researcher at , University of Helsinki

You can contact the organisers via email: .