Call for Participants Hackathon -

Dear colleagues,
We are organizing a Hackathon within the COST Action INTUF (CA23148), and I would like to invite you to apply or share it with relevant colleagues or students. The hackathon will focus on three-dimensional urban tree monitoring and will take place in Bratislava on 1–5 June 2026. The event will focus on hands-on work with ground-based LiDAR and close-range sensing for urban trees, combining rapid field data collection, open-source processing, and stakeholder engagement to develop practical workflows for city tree management. The application deadline is 31 March 2026, and selected participants from COST countries can receive reimbursement for travel, accommodation, and subsistence. Those outside of COST countries can still apply, but without the reimbursement option. There is no registration fee.

Please do not feel that you need to be an expert in everything to apply. We are building a group with complementary skills, and the whole point of the week is to work together, learn from one another, and create something meaningful as a team. We are looking for people with experience or interest in areas such as close-range sensing, point cloud processing, coding, urban forestry, science communication, and policy translation. The emphasis is very much on concrete outputs: open workflows for data collection and processing, training materials, a policy brief, a scientific manuscript, and a broader showcase that can help stakeholders across Europe think about implementation.

We are also very keen to ensure good gender balance in the group, and we would particularly like to encourage women to apply. We want this to be an inclusive, supportive, and productive collaboration, where different perspectives, skills, and backgrounds strengthen the outcome. Beyond the technical work itself, we hope the hackathon will help build a network around practical 3D urban tree monitoring and connect participants with stakeholders involved in urban tree management across Europe.