DataFest Germany 2025 - Announcement
On March 28-30, 2025, the Social Data Science and AI Lab at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München will host around 100 data enthusiasts throughout the weekend to attend the 8th edition of DataFest Germany, an annual event where students from universities across Germany will dive into a “secret and unreleased” dataset for three days.
DataFest follows a similar format to a "Data Hackathon" a data-driven competition that alternates between the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Mannheim every year.
As every year, during the 48-hour event, students will visualize, analyse, model, and extract valuable insights from an extensive and undisclosed dataset. The exact nature of the data remains a secret until the event kick-off, adding an element of surprise and excitement. The challenge culminates with participants presenting their findings to a panel of esteemed judges from academia and industry, competing for awards in categories such as "Best Insight", "Best Visualization”, “Best Use of Outside Data “and “Best Data Quality Insights”.
Throughout the competition, participants will have the support of a team of consultants from the Social Data Science and AI and the Department of Statistics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Additionally, an internal Career Fair will offer students the opportunity to network with potential employers and explore career prospects.
DataFest is an event which follows upon the format developed by the American Statistical Association in the United States. The first DataFest organized took place at the University of California in 2011. Since then, the concept has spread globally, with universities around the world hosting their own DataFest events.
This year, DataFest Germany will also host the first cohort of participants from the KODAQS Data Quality Academy Certificate Program who will participate on a special category aimed to develop a project for “Best Data Quality Insights”. KODAQS is a training initiative jointly managed by the University of Mannheim, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
For more information on DataFest Germany 2025 and to get involved in this exciting exploration of data, visit the official website at www.datafest.de or learn more about the initiative at the the American Statistical Association (ASA) website.
Interested parties can also reach out to Luis Mejía (datafest@stat.uni-muenchen.de) for further details.