Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

November 3–6, 2026 · One training day followed by three Brainhack days

What is Brainhack Donostia?

BrainHack Donostia is an in-person, collaborative, and interdisciplinary event centered on neuroscience, open science, and open-source tools. A gender-balanced board of researchers from BCBL invites you to join a four-day gathering — one introductory training day followed by three days of hands-on Brainhack project development — designed to foster new ideas, findings and future collaborations. In addition, we will host four international keynote speakers that will share their experience on state of the art methods, good practices in science and hot topics in research nowadays. By doing so, we will continue to grow our contributions towards sharing knowledge openly and transparently across disciplines and specialties, and to the development of open-source tools.
Accessibility to science is an important objective for BHD and we are determined in making this year's event more inclusive and open. Following last year's organization, a real-time transcription system will be provided during all talks and tutorials in order to ensure fluid and intelligible subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing participants. This system is also a valuable aid for all those participants who are not native speakers of English.

Open Science projects in Neurosciences

Brainhack Donostia is not an ordinary conference but an event focused on cooperation and collaboration in Neuroscience, as well as the promotion of Open Science. Our aim is to explore the multiple applications of neuroscience from a cross-disciplinary perspective. With this goal in mind, we bring together students, researchers, users, and non-academic industry professionals to learn about and develop collaborative projects. BHD is an opportunity to learn new skills and create long-lasting collaborations with interesting people from various backgrounds with a strong interest in Open Science.
These projects are proposed by the attendees for the attendees, and can be in any stage of development (i.e, it can be just an idea). Any attendee can propose any number of project, but can only lead one. The presenter of the project is responsible for making sure that anyone can contribute to the project, regardless of their level of expertise and background knowledge in programming. If possible, the project leaders should try to define some 'beginners' tasks'. We firmly believe that every single one of the attendees has something valuable to contribute to any project and we can't wait to see what it will be!

Brainhack Global

Brainhack Donostia is part of a larger initiative that holds simultaneous events all over the world with this same goal. A cornerstone of Brainhack is the promotion of responsible research and innovation in an inclusive, open, and transparent manner. Accordingly, knowledge sharing activities and the use of open-source resources are two of the basic tenets of Brainhack.
Through talks, hands-on tutorials, and the development of projects, attendees actively explore and learn how to manage data acquisition using different neuroimaging techniques such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magneto-/Electroencephalography (M/EEG), or Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS).

Invited speakers

Open source projects

Community building

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BHD2026 Program

November 3–6, 2026

One training day followed by three Brainhack days

Tuesday, November 3 — Brainhack Training Day

TimeActivity
09:00–09:30Social Coffee & Pastries + Registration
09:30–10:00Welcome to BrainHack Donostia 2026
10:00–11:30Training module 1: Introduction to Brainhack, Open Science and collaborative workflows
11:30–12:00Coffee Break
12:00–13:00Training module 2: Git/GitHub and reproducible collaboration
13:00–14:00Lunch Break
14:00–15:00Keynote Talk 1 — Mireia Torralba Cuello: “Investigating Human Cognition Through Dynamic Brain Activity and Individual Variability”
15:00–16:30Hands-on training session
16:30–17:00Coffee Break
17:00–18:00Guided practice, questions and preparation for project pitches

Wednesday, November 4 — Brainhack Day 1

TimeActivity
09:00–09:30Social Coffee & Pastries
09:30–10:00Brainhack kick-off and practical information
10:00–11:00Project Pitches
11:00–11:30Coffee Break + team formation
11:30–13:00Project Kick-off / Project Time
13:00–14:00Lunch Break
14:00–15:00Keynote Talk 2 — Ibai Diez Palacio: “From Brain Maps to Molecular Mechanisms: Unveiling the Neuroimaging-Genetic Intersections in the Human Brain”
15:00–16:30Project Time
16:30–17:00Coffee Break and departure preparation
17:00 onwardsSocial science walk: Milla Cuántica in Donostia

Thursday, November 5 — Brainhack Day 2

TimeActivity
09:00–09:30Social Coffee & Pastries
09:30–11:30Project Time
11:30–12:00Coffee Break
12:00–13:00Keynote Talk 3 — Pandelis Perakakis: “Replacing academic journals by repositories and peer communities”
13:00–14:00Lunch Break
14:00–16:30Project Time / Unconference
16:30–17:00Coffee Break
17:00–18:00Project Time / Community session

Friday, November 6 — Brainhack Day 3

TimeActivity
09:00–09:30Social Coffee & Pastries
09:30–11:30Final Project Time
11:30–12:00Coffee Break
12:00–13:00Keynote Talk 4 — Asier Erramuzpe Aliaga: “Brain Age the Brainhack Way”
13:00–14:00Lunch Break
14:00–15:30Final Project Time and preparation of presentations
15:30–16:00Coffee Break
16:00–16:30Talks Recap
16:30–17:30Project Results
17:30–18:00Closing Remarks
EveningBrainHack Donostia Social Event

BHD2026 Keynote Speakers

Take a look to the amazing speakers we will host!

Photo coming soon

Investigating Human Cognition Through Dynamic Brain Activity and Individual Variability

Mireia Torralba Cuello, Serra Húnter Assistant Professor
@ Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)

Photo coming soon

From Brain Maps to Molecular Mechanisms: Unveiling the Neuroimaging-Genetic Intersections in the Human Brain

Ibai Diez Palacio, Ikerbasque Research Fellow
@ Biobizkaia Health Research Institute

Photo coming soon

Replacing academic journals by repositories and peer communities

Pandelis Perakakis, Associate Professor of Psychology
@ Complutense University of Madrid (UCM)

Photo coming soon

Brain Age the Brainhack Way

Asier Erramuzpe Aliaga, Ikerbasque Research Fellow
@ Computational Neuroimaging Lab, Biobizkaia Health Research Institute

BHD2026 Projects

Projects will be announced soon.

Previous Brainhack Donosti Editions

  • BHD 2025

    Chairs: Monika Utroša Škerjanec & Clémentine Lévy-Fidel.

    Team: Noemi Bonfiglio, Joaquín Ordoñez, José Antonio Gonzalo Gimeno, Francisca Campos Matias, Irtisha Chakraborty, Cristina Comella Luengo, Marco Flores-Coronado, Melissa Donati, Chiara Bernini, Nirmitee Mulay, Antje Walter, Daniel Nieto Carrero, Seyma Takir

  • BHD 2024

    Chairs: Nirmitee Mulay & Emanuele Ciardo .

    Team: Joaquin Ordones, Noemi Bonfiglio, Maria de Almeida Ribero, Kirill Aksenov, Manuela Ruzzoli, Cesar Caballero-Gaudes, Alejandro Tabas, Ihintza Malharin, Melissa Donati, Marco Flores-Coronado, Vincenzo Verbeni, Francisca Campos Matias, Catarina DOmingos, Irtisha Chakraborty.

  • BHD 2023

    Chairs: Marco Flores-Coronado & Ihintza Malharin.

    Team: Ana Bautista, César Caballero-Gaudes, Manuel Carreiras, Inés Chavarría, Cristina Comella Luengo, Garikoitz Lerma-Usabiaga, Leandro Lecca, Lucía Manso, Jiaqi Mao, Ryland Miller, Chiara Luna Rivolta, Anique Schüller, Cristina Tobias, Yi-Ting Yang.

  • BHD 2022

    Chairs: Lucía Manso & Hana Zjakic.

    Team: Hülya Aldemir, César Caballero-Gaudes, Manuel Carreiras, Inés Chavarría, Patxi Elsosegi, Marta la Pietra, Laura Fernández-Merino, Ane Gurtubay-Antolin, Garikoitz Lerma-Usabiaga, Leandro Lecca, Ning Mei, Mengxing Liu, Manuela Ruzzoli, Abraham Sánchez, Eneko Uruñuela.

  • BHD 2021

    Chairs: Irene Arrieta & Chiara Luna Rivolta.

    Team: Hülya Aldemir, Karen Arellano, César Caballero-Gaudes, Manuel Carreiras, Amaia Carrión, Inés Chavarría, Florent Dueme, Laura Fernández-Merino, Vicente Ferrer, Alberto Furgoni, Garikoitz Lerma-Usabiaga, Lucía Manso, Piermatteo Morucci, José Pérez-Navarro, Abraham Sánchez, Eneko Uruñuela.

  • BHD 2020

    Chair: Eneko Uruñuela.

    Team: Jose Aguasvivas, Daniel Alcalá, Hülya Aldemir, Irene Arrieta, César Caballero-Gaudes, Manuel Carreiras, Catherine Clark, Florent Dueme, Teresa Esteban, Vicente Ferrer, Candice Frances, Alberto Furgoni, Marta García, Meritxell García, Shuang Geng, Sandra Gisbert, Garikoitz Lerma-Usabiaga, Mengxing Liu, Ning Mei, Stefano Moia, Piermatteo Morucci, Carlos Pérez-Serrano, Ileana Quiñones, Chiara Luna Rivolta, Polina Timofeeva, Trisha Thomas.

  • BHD 2019

    Chairs: Stefano Moia & Polina Timofeeva.

    Team: Jose Aguasvivas, Daniel Alcalá, Nicoletta Biondo, Manuel Carreiras, Matteo Diano, Teresa Esteban, Vicente Ferrer, Candice Frances, Sandra Gisbert, James Hartzell, Maddi Ibarbia, Jordi Martorell, Ning Mei, Jose Pérez-Navarro, Carlos Pérez-Serrano, Eneko Uruñuela.

  • BHD 2018

    Chairs: César Caballero-Gaudes & Stefano Moia.

    Team: Lucia Amoruso, Usman Ayub Sheikh, Borja Blanco, Manuel Carreiras, Matteo Diano, James Hartzell, Maddi Ibarbia, Nicola Molinaro, Piermatteo Morucci, Sanjeev Nara, Craig Richter, Dana Scarinci, Maite Termenon, Polina Timofeeva.

Organizing Team

Brainhack Donostia 2026

Cristina Rius

Co-chair

François Steffann

Co-chair

Vilani Rajapkse

Treasury & Event Planning

Anam Qureshi

Treasury & Event Planning

Yixuan Zhu

Treasury & Event Planning

Iria Nieto

PR & Design

Nursena Arslan

PR & Design

Iñigo García

IT

Feel free to contact us!

Code of Conduct

Brainhack is dedicated to providing a harassment-free Brainhack experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any event venue, including talks. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the event without a refund at the discretion of the event organizers.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

  • Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion.
  • Sexual images in public spaces
  • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
  • Harassing photography or recording
  • Sustained disruption of talks or other events
  • Inappropriate physical contact
  • Unwelcome sexual attention
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour

Enforcement

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
Organizers and presenters are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, they should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material.
Event organisers may take action to redress anything designed to, or with the clear impact of, disrupting the event or making the environment hostile for any participants.
If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, event organisers have the responsibility to remind the offender about Brainhack’s Code of Conduct, and warn them that repeated inappropriate, uncivil, threatening, offensive, or harmful behavior can lead to a temporary or permanent ban from the event with no refund. The offending person(s) may also see affected their participation in future Brainhack events.
We expect participants to follow these rules at all event venues and event-related social activities. We think people should follow these rules outside event activities too!

Reporting

If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible to the event organizers or safety.bhg-donostia@bcbl.eu.
Harassment and other code of conduct violations reduce the value of our event for everyone. We want you to be happy at our event. People like you make our event a better place.
You can make a report either with your personal email or using an anonymous email.

Contact Us

Do you have any questions about Brainhack Donostia 2026?

You can get in touch with us at info.bhg-donostia@bcbl.eu

Location

Av. de Tolosa, 72
20018 Donostia - San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa