FAQ
We will provide a more detailed schedule and information about the challenges closer to Hackathon weekend. Please reference answers to Frequently Asked Questions below, and please feel free to reach out to us if you have any additional inquiries.
When?
The hackathon takes place from Friday, November 21st at 17:00 EST until Sunday, November 23rd at 17:00 EST.
The 2025 MIT Policy Hackathon will be held fully online. Please note that participants are expected to be fully engaged and actively involved throughout the entire duration of the event.
What format will the Hackathon have?
Do I need a specific background?
Anyone, whether you are a MIT affiliate or not, can participate as a hacker. You do not need to have a specific background to attend! We're looking to attract an interdisciplinary group of hackers—domain experts, policy students, data scientists, and more. One of our goals is to encourage the formation of multidisciplinary teams that can propose creative policy solutions using a combination of robust data analytics and domain expertise. We hope to foster a collaborative community comprising people from all backgrounds.
How do I register?
Visit mitpolicyhackathon.org and fill out the application form. Participation in the hackathon is not guaranteed through registration due to limited space and efforts to curate well-rounded multi-disciplinary teams across all domains. Your application will involve listing your areas of interest as well as relevant experience based on which teams and challenges will be assigned.
Applications submitted by 11:59 pm EST on October 11th, 2025 will be given priority. Applications received after that day and until November 1st, 2025 will be reviewed on a rolling basis until remaining spots fill out.
How do I find a team?
If you don’t have a team to participate in the Hackathon, don’t worry! Team formation will occur in the week before the event. Teams ought to consist of three to five people. Having members of diverse backgrounds on teams is strongly encouraged. If you have a pre-formed team and you want to participate with them, you are very welcome. Note that everyone is expected to register for the event individually.
Teams will produce data-driven policy solutions to their challenge statements in the form of a 3-minute pitch and a 3 to 5 page policy paper. Initial judging will be based on the pitch, after which judges will hold a Q&A session with finalists based on their policy papers. The winners of the hackathon will receive cash prizes and potential opportunities to publish or connect further with our challenge partners.
What are the outcomes of the hackathon?
What challenge topics are covered?
We will give more information on the challenges for this year’s hackathon closer to the weekend of the 21st Nov. In previous years we have tackled challenges ranging from human rights, housing, and logistics to cybersecurity, internet policy, and space policy. You can check out our previous challenges in the ‘PREVIOUS HACKATHONS’ section.
What resources will be provided for each challenge?
Each challenge statement will be accompanied by a background memo containing data sets and resources that could be useful in crafting your policy solutions. We will also have representatives from the institutions posing the challenge statements available to talk with teams during the hackathon.