Thursday, 19 March 2026
From March 9–13, 2026, the Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology hosted the hybrid HACK-4-SAGES hackathon, focused on the application of digital twin concepts in astrobiology. Eighteen participants attended the on-site part in Warsaw. At the same time, students competed at Partner institutions at the Gdańsk University of Technology and ETH Zurich, as well as co-hosting institutions in Europe, Asia and North America. A total of 194 students from 25 countries across five continents applied for the event.
HACK-4-SAGES was organized by a consortium of ETH Zurich, Warsaw University of Technology and Gdańsk University of Technology. The local organisation at Warsaw University of Technology was coordinated by Karolina Popowska, MSc Eng., a doctoral candidate at the Doctoral School of WUT at the Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering, Prof. Georgy Kornakov and Błażej Żyliński, MSc Eng., from the Faculty of Physics, as well as Prof. Dariusz Plewczyński from the Faculty of Mathematics and Information Science. The project was carried out within the ENHANCE Alliance (ENHANCE Testbed) and funded by the European Union.
Teams of 2 - 4 undergraduate students were eligible to participate, provided they had previously submitted a short description of their proposed project. From all submissions, 60 teams were selected - 20 in each thematic category. The hackathon was held in a hybrid format: participants could work online or on-site at one of 12 partner institutions, including Warsaw University of Technology.
The event brought together students, researchers, and mentors from academic institutions across Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia, as well as members of international organisations such as ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA. Together, they worked on solutions addressing one of the most fundamental scientific questions: how life originated on Earth and how common it may be in the universe.
Astrobiology - an interdisciplinary field combining astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, and advanced computational modelling - provided the main scientific framework of the event. Participants explored topics related to the origin of life, the conditions for its development, methods for detecting biosignatures, and the potential habitability of planets and moons beyond Earth. Thanks to its interdisciplinary nature, astrobiology proved to be an ideal field for applying digital twin methods.
During the hackathon, student teams worked on projects in one of three scientific categories: Origins of Life, Life Detection & Biosignatures, and Exoplanet Habitability. Each team developed its own project concept using modelling techniques, data analysis, and computer simulations.
Mentors—doctoral candidates and academic staff—played an important role by supporting teams in developing their ideas, providing technical guidance, and sharing research experience. Mentoring also provided an opportunity to build an international academic network.
Participants had the opportunity to collaborate on real scientific challenges. The three best projects—Observer Bias in Life Detection (team from AGH University of Science and Technology), ExoStress Twin: Interactive 2D-EBM Digital Twin for TRAPPIST-1e Habitability Analysis (team from Lublin University of Technology), and A Digital Twin Framework for the Emergence of Life in Hydrothermal Systems (team from the University of Lisboa)- were awarded a trip to ETH Zurich, where the authors will present their solutions to leading astrobiology researchers.
Additionally, three projects involving students from Warsaw University of Technology received distinctions in two competition categories. In the Digital Twins in Origins of Life category, two projects were recognised: A Simulator of Interstellar Lithopanspermia: Microbe-Carrying Ejecta Digital Twin and Modelling the Effects of Archean Earth Radiation on the Formation of RNA Secondary Structures. In the Digital Twins in Exoplanet Habitability category, the project Habitat Tipping Points was distinguished.
The HACK-4-SAGES hackathon demonstrated how effectively different scientific disciplines and modern technologies can be combined to jointly seek answers to questions about the origin and potential existence of life beyond Earth.