FAQ

Click on the below questions to show more information.

Have a question? Contact us! hearthackathon@ismcs.org

Team Logistics

  • There is no cap on how large your team is! However, your team must consist of no more than 20% PhD students. The rest may be undergraduates, honours, masters students, etc.

  • You may work with other students from your own University. There is no limit on the size of your team.

  • If your university’s other campus is in a different country, you may form a separate team. In other circumstances, separate teams will be approved on a case-by-case basis. Please contact us if you are in this situation.

  • We encourage you to create an interdisciplinary team. You will need great project managers, technical experts (e.g. engineers) and business experts (e.g. business, commerce). It is compulsory to nominate 1-2 student leaders and an academic advisor associated with your university.

  • No! We won't assess your team demographics until the first submission deadline. But we recommend that you have confirmed team lead(s) and an academic advisor before you start.
    By the first submission, you will need team lead(s), an academic advisor, and a list of your confirmed competing team at this time.

  • Yes! We understand that institutions don't have the same schedule, so recruitment is different for everyone. Your members may change throughout the year. Please keep the Organizers informed with a list of your current team members.

  • Unfortunately, Heart Hackathon does not currently manage external sponsorships for the competition participants.

    While teams are encouraged to explore sponsorship opportunities for support, any arrangements would need to be coordinated independently.

  • At Heart Hackathon, students are encouraged to remain within their competing teams for up to 1 year after graduating. This allows them to pursue individual research within the one-year period.

    Nonetheless, students should be aware of the PhD composition limit within their teams.

    Please do not hesitate to reach out to us should you have any questions!

Entry Fee - ISMCS Membership

  • Yes. All you have to do is obtain an ISMCS Heart Hackathon Team Membership and you're in! ($750 USD)

    Refer to our Registration page to learn more.

    Please note that this membership does not cover conference attendance. Should you wish to attend the conference after the Grand Final event, registration must be covered separately.

  • ISMCS asks that when you purchase your membership:

    • Nominate 4 team members to be registered on the membership.
    (We recommend you include your advisor and team leads.)

    • Provide the information below in the comment section:

    Heart Hackathon - "Team Name", University, Country
    Team member 1 - Role
    Team member 2 - Role …

Submissions and Assessment

  • An assessment guide and marking rubric are provided for each assessment. Teams are asked to build their assessments based on the guidelines. Assessors will mark submissions against the provided rubric. All of these documents may be found on our Resources page.

  • Yes! We know this will help teams to continue to improve their designs. Please note, the depth and quantity of feedback will strongly depend on the capacity of the judging panel, and the number of entries to be assessed.

  • Keep researching! There will be some times between submissions (Eg: after the Final Report submission, before the grand Finale presentations). Use this time to continue working on all elements of your TAH, such as prototyping, testing, refining, marketing research, etc.

  • No! If you do more research and achieve more results between submissions, then present on what is most relevant for your team. Future reports and presentations are not limited by what has been included in previous submissions.

  • Yes! This is a key part of iterative, year-on-year competition like this one. If your team wants to make major design changes or overhaul your design, this is okay. But be sure to document WHY you have made this decision. The Organizers and Assessors will want to know.

    Just be mindful of whether such an overhaul is appropriate at the stage of the competition you are in.

    For example: If your team has submitted your Final Report and is preparing your presentation at the Grand Final, it may not be a good time to scrap your current design. However, it is a perfect time to present and discuss challenges you are facing, and note a design overhaul as part of your future plans.

  • We will mark your submissions with respect to whether you are a brand new team, or whether you are a returning team. E.g. New teams may be assessed more heavily on their progress so far, while returning teams maybe assessed more heavily on their reflections on previous work.
    Any differences will be quantified and communicated in assessment guidelines and rubrics, found on our Resources page.

Grand Final and Prizes

  • Winners will receive a monetary prize, with the potential for many other benefits through our sponsors.

    As a finalist, you will be invited to attend the Grand Final event at the 2024 ISMCS Annual Conference to showcase your work.

  • No - though we recommend it! The Grand Final will be held a day before the formal conference begins. If you only wish to participate in the Final presentations, then that is okay. If you wish to attend the conference over the following days, registration must be done separately.

  • No – but please be aware only in-person attendees will be eligible for Grand Final Prizes. If your team will not attend the Grand Final in person, but still wants to be involved, a recording of their final presentation may be submitted to share with the other teams.

Additional Resources

  • v-Patients, developed by Virtonomy.io, is an innovative software that enables users to simulate and test their med-tech designs in a virtual environment.

    The software can be accessed by the participating student teams for free. Please visit the available private content for student teams for more information.

    For a more comprehensive usage of the software, please get in touch with Virtonomy via their website.