Frequently Asked Questions

GlacierHack 2025 is open to students, professionals, and enthusiasts in geoscience, machine learning, and related fields of all skill levels. Whether you're just starting with geoscience, machine learning, or related fields or an experienced practitioner, there's a place for you at GlacierHack 2025.

While some experience with programming, theoretical or domain knowledge is helpful, we welcome participants of all skill levels. You are encouraged to form a team with members of different domain and experience level.

While we encourage team participation (teams of 2-4 members), you can also register individually.

Absolutely! GlacierHack is designed to be inclusive of all skill levels. The most important qualities are enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

GlacierHack 2025 will be a hybrid event. Registration, Phase I and Phase II competition will be conducted through the online portal. The prize distribution ceremony and the top 15 poster presentation will take place in IEEE InGARSS 2025, Bhubaneswar, India.

The GlacierHack 2025 is a two phased, more than 3 months long competition from August 04 - November 15, 2025. However, the full event includes registration, phase I competition, phase II competition, publication of leaderboards for phase I and II, winner declaration and the awards ceremony on December 10-13, 2025.

We encourage full participation of every participants in phase I of GlacierHack 2025. The teams allowed to participate in phase II of GlacierHack 2025 should ensure that they can collectively cover the event duration.

All deadlines are listed in 11:59 PM UTC +14:00.

Projects should incorporate machine learning and AI techniques to solve real-world problems. This year features five main challenge tracks: Healthcare Diagnostics, Climate Resilience, Financial Inclusion, Educational Technology, and Open Innovation.

You may use open-source libraries, frameworks, and pre-trained models with proper attribution. However, the core implementation of your project must be built during the hackathon. You cannot use previously built private projects.

Yes, all registered teams will receive cloud computing credits for training models. Our sponsors will provide access to GPU resources, and we'll have technical support available to help you optimize your infrastructure setup.

You can use any programming languages and frameworks of your choice. Popular options include Python with TensorFlow/PyTorch/scikit-learn, but you're free to use alternatives if they better suit your project needs.

GlacierHack 2025 offers over ₹2 Lakh+ in prizes, including cash awards, computing credits, hardware, and mentorship opportunities. Each challenge track will have its own prize pool, and there are additional special recognition awards.

Projects will be evaluated based on innovation (25%), technical implementation (25%), potential impact (25%), and presentation quality (25%). A panel of industry experts and academic leaders will review all submissions.

Winners will be announced during the virtual closing ceremony on August 15, 2025, at 4:00 PM EDT. All participants are encouraged to attend.

Yes, each challenge track will recognize 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Additionally, we have special recognition categories like 'Most Innovative Use of ML,' 'Best UI/UX,' and 'People's Choice Award.'

Absolutely! GlacierHack 2025 welcomes participants from around the world. Our hybrid format allows for virtual participation from any location, and all key sessions will be recorded for asynchronous viewing across time zones.

While we aim to be as inclusive as possible, participants must ensure they comply with their local laws regarding international competitions. Some prize distributions may be subject to regional restrictions due to legal requirements.

Yes, we'll provide recordings of all sessions, and our mentors will be available across multiple time zones. The platform will also indicate time zone information for all scheduled events.

The primary language for the event is English, but we'll provide translation support for key materials. Teams can work in any language, but final submissions and presentations should include English documentation.

GlacierHack 2025 have a nominal registration fee of ₹200 or US$ 10 per participant to ensure commitment. However, there is an early bird registration discount of 50% till August 15, 2025.

We are sorry that there is no scope of fee waiver as GlacierHack participation cost is minimal.

The fee helps cover event costs, including platform infrastructure, attractive prizes, swag, and resources for participants. InGARSS 2025 attendees also receive meals and refreshments.

We are sorry that there is no scope of refund as GlacierHack participation cost is minimal.

Participants will receive access to cloud computing resources, datasets, ML frameworks, and technical support from our mentors. We'll also provide documentation, tutorials, and pre-hackathon workshops.

Yes, we'll have a team of experienced mentors from industry and academia available throughout the hackathon. They'll provide guidance on technical implementation, project scope, and presentation strategies.

We'll provide curated datasets relevant to each challenge track. Teams are also welcome to use public datasets with proper attribution, or collect data during the hackathon (with appropriate consent if human subjects are involved).

We'll have a dedicated support platform where you can request mentor assistance, ask technical questions, or resolve any issues. We'll also host regular office hours with sponsors and technical experts.

Participants retain full ownership of what they build during the hackathon. By participating, teams grant GlacierHack organizers the right to showcase their projects for promotional purposes.

Absolutely! We encourage teams to continue developing their projects beyond the hackathon. Many past participants have gone on to launch startups, publish research papers, or integrate their solutions into existing products.

While open-source contributions are encouraged, they are not required. You can choose the license that best suits your project goals. For judging purposes, you'll need to provide repository access, but you can make it private again after the event.

Teams must handle any personal or sensitive data in compliance with relevant regulations. Solutions should prioritize user privacy and data security, and any AI models developed should be documented regarding potential biases and limitations.