INTERNATIONAL DATA WEEK 2018 ...

... is a global conference - with the theme of ‘The Digital Frontiers of Global Science’- taking place in Africa.  It encompasses all issues relating to data in research from cutting edge issues in data science (the digital frontiers of global science), through challenges of data intensive research, research infrastructures, data stewardship, the use of data in science, society, innovation and development.

International Data Week 2018 is organised by ICSU World Data System (WDS), the ICSU Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), the Research Data Alliance (RDA), the African Open Science Platform and the Botswana Open Data Open Science Forum, represented by the University of Botswana. 

WITHIN THE FRAME OF THE 12th Research Data Alliance (RDA) Plenary Meeting ...

... the RDA Agricultural Data Interest Group (IGAD) chairs are organizing the IGAD Meeting(s).

CODATA INVITES PROPOSALS FOR TASK GROUPS 2018 - 2020 ... 
 

... to be approved by the 31st CODATA General Assembly (9-10 November 2018, in Gaborone, Botswana), following International Data Week 2018, 5-8 November 2018 (comprising CODATA research conference SciDataCon 2018).

The final deadline for submissions of Task Group Proposals is 18 July 2018.  Task Group Proposals should be submitted on this form to Simon Hodson, CODATA Executive Director [email protected].

Proposals will be reviewed by the CODATA Executive Committee and by external experts. Recommendations will be presented to the CODATA General Assembly which will select the Task Groups.

Task Groups are approved by the General Assembly for 2 years. Existing CODATA Task Groups may apply for renewal and are subject to the same criteria, as described in the attached document.

The three priority areas in the CODATA Strategy are as follows:

1. To promote Open Data principles, policies and practices;

2. To advance the frontiers of Data Science and its adaptation to scientific research;

3.  To build capacity for improving skills and the functioning of science systems (particularly in low and middle income countries - LMICs).

The call suggests some high priority topics under each of these headings (see the call document for further details): 

Open data principles, policies and practices

• developing good practice and recommendations around data principles and policies
• examining the limits of openness
• synthesizing and advancing work on the benefits of data sharing
• exploring the theme of data diplomacy to consider what international agreements can promote the more open availability of data

Frontiers of Data Science

• Reproducibility in research
• Statistical, epistemological and ethical challenges of Big Data
• Criteria for selection and preservation of research data
• Development of glossaries, data dictionaries or ontologies
• Data integration and data strategies for international, transdisciplinary research programmes

Capacity building, data skills and education

• analyzing requirements for data education
• developing and refining the curriculum for ‘research data science'
• examining and articulating the processes and standards for the creation of reusable online materials and the development of those materials
• examining and addressing issues around access to research software, the maintenance and development of Open Source research software (e.g., The Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT)A free open source software tool used to publish and share biodiversity datasets through the GBIF network)

Task Group proposals addressing these or similar issues are particularly encouraged. This does not mean that Task Group proposals addressing areas not described below will be considered out of scope: we invite and encourage innovative ideas from the CODATA community.

Related:

* APPLY FOR CODATA-RDA Foundational School in Research Data Science, 22 October – 2 November, 2018, Kigali, Rwanda - Deadline for Applications 18 July 2018. The goal of this 10 days workshop is to train researchers in Research Data Science (RDS). RDS refers to the principles and practice of Open Science and research data management and curation, the use of a range of data platforms and infrastructures, large scale analysis, statistics, visualization and modelling techniques, software development and data annotation. These are important tools for extracting useful information from data and these tools are useful in every research area.  (For further information contact: [email protected]  or [email protected])

* APPLY FOR Summer School 2018 "Riding the Data Life Cycle" - Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology (BRICS), 03 - 07 September 2018* Turning FAIR Data into Reality - EC Expert Group Report and Action Plan (Consultation until 5 August 2018)

* Framework and Roadmap towards an Open Science Infrastructure (slides, CODATA, 2018)

* Welcome to Open Data Management in Agriculture and Nutrition Online Course (watch the course video presentation; learn more about the course and related information here)

* OECD Global Science Forum and WDS Report (2018) on Coordination and Support of International Research Data Networks

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And, thanks again for your interest !