Abstract

Science Hack Day is an international weekend-long event that brings together scientists, developers, engineers, designers, artists, hackers, and all manner of science-interested creative types to hack things with science. It has run more than 50 events in 30 cities around the world. Over the weekend, participants form and work in teams to create a wide variety of science-related projects ranging from science experiments, to apps, to communication, to art, to games, to quirky demonstrations of science concepts. The larger events attract capacity crowds of 200 people but others have a few dozen dedicated people in places like Antananarivo, Madagascar and Bogotá, Colombia. So far, no Science Hack Day events have been run in Australia, the only non-Antarctic continent to be missing out. This will change in 2017 with the first Science Hack Day Brisbane. This presentation will illustrate the workings of Science Hack Day and introduce what it can bring to public participation in science, and interdisciplinary cooperation.