Training Opportunity: SKIES Registration is Open

The SKIES (SKilled, Innovative and Entrepreneurial Scientists) training workshop (4-8 April, 2022) is now open for registration. SKIES is a training and mentorship program, and this workshop is aimed at South African based astronomy PhD candidates and young researchers**, and focuses on career development, open science and entrepreneurship.

The event will take place on April 4-8, 2022 at the UCT Graduate School of Business Conference Center in Cape Town (but it will also be possible to attend online). The programme features hands-on exercises, external speakers to showcase career opportunities, and the possibility to interact with astronomy alumni.

Participants will learn about the basics of innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as how to improve creativity and develop a business model. All materials have been developed by astronomers, for astronomers.

The workshop registration is free and all lunches will be covered (note: dinners, accommodation and travel are NOT covered). Each participant will get a certificate of attendance at the end of the programme.

There are a maximum of 40 places to this training workshop (we can accommodate a maximum of 30 in-person attendees and the rest should be online). We recommend in-person attendance if possible.

Register now to secure a place : https://www.groundstation.space/skies-training-and-mentorship-programme-south-africa/

Registration closes on March 25th, 2022.

You will receive a confirmation of acceptance for participation in the event by latest 29 March. For any questions please contact Dr Lucia Marchetti: lucia.marchetti@uct.ac.za

**This program will prioritise PhD and early career post-doc/researchers, but if you are a Masters student and you would be interested in joining this training workshop, please send an email to lucia.marchetti@uct.ac.za and we will keep you posted if there will be any available space closer to the date.

CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science – South Africa

The volume and variety of data that researchers and students are required to work with continues to grow. In order to work effectively with large datasets, data skills are becoming increasingly important, and can be enormously empowering.   

The Department of Information Science of the University of Pretoria, in collaboration with DIRISA, SADiLaR and NeDICC, presents the CODATA-RDA School of Research Data Science. This school is aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers, and teaches foundational data science skills. The material covered by the programme is fundamental to all areas of research, and thus open to researchers and professionals from all disciplines that deal with significant amounts of research data. The goal is to provide a practical introduction to these topics with some theory and extensive hands-on training.

Topics covered include:
– Open Science
– Introduction to Unix Shell
– Introduction to Git
– Open and Collaborative Research
– Research Data Management
– Data Cleaning – using Open Refine
– Data Analysis and Visualisation – using R
– Data Intensive Social Science
– Author Carpentry
– Information Security
– Machine Learning and Neural Networks
– Research Computational Infrastructure

Please refer to the document below or the website (http://datascienceschools.co.za/) for more information. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2022

Quantum Computing Research Funding Opportunity

The Research Office at Wits University and SA QuTI (the South African Quantum Technology Initiative) have successfully raised funds to support the Quantum Initiative, and have extended an invitation to final year students to apply for funding. Students (from any faculty), engaged in a quantum project may apply, and mentorship and/or collaboration with existing quantum hubs is encouraged but is not essential.

For more information, contact Taariq Surtee: Taariq.Surtee@wits.ac.za

Data Carpentries Workshop Opportunity

CPUT’s Centre for Communication Studies is hosting a Data Carpentries workshop for participants interested in learning about research data skills in the humanities. 

See more herehttps://annajiat.github.io/2022-02-07-CPUT-ONLINE

The workshop is free and delivered by the Carpentries, co-ordinated locally and affiliated with the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SaDiLAR) based at NWU. It will be held online between 9am and 1 pm on Mondays in February, and there are some spaces available. Anyone interested should register on the google form before end of day Thursday this week: https://forms.gle/SvSCVaqVW9BuS3Me9

Africa Women in Data Science: Online Event

DARA Big Data (Development in Africa through Radio Astronomy), in partnership with the Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD), IDIA (Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy) and SARAO (South African Radio Astronomy Observatory) is hosting a free 3-day Africa Women in Data Science online event. The event will coincide with International Women’s Day 2022 and will also mark the one year anniversary of the publication of the SARAO Women in Data Science report.

The event organisers hope to help build a thriving African community of female data scientists and promote skills development for women who are interested data science careers. Registration for the event closes January 31 2022.

The event will take place from 8-10 March 2022, which coincides with International Women’s Day. It aims to increase African women’s participation in the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) to build a prosperous, resilient Africa of the future. The integral role of African women for the 4IR will be discussed and various opportunities will be showcased for young women hoping to get into the field of data science.

Africa Women in Data Science is free to attend and will be split into a conference on Day 1 (March 8) and a hackathon on Days 2 and 3 (March 9-10). The conference will feature inspiring female panel discussions, presentations from leading industry experts and question and answer sessions. Day 1 is open to anyone across Africa with a keen interest in data science. To register for the conference, only complete the first section of the registration form.

Register here: https://www.astro4dev.org/2022/01/11/registration-open-for-africa-women-in-data-science-event-iwd2022/

Enquiries can be emailed to linzi.stirrup@manchester.ac.uk

Webinar: RDM and Kikapu

A webinar on Monday 30 August discussed RDM (research data management) at UWC and Kikapu, our institutional research data repository. Practicing RDM has become an integral part of doing research, and good data management needs to be practiced throughout the research lifecycle. Mark Snyders (UWC Library) and Sarah Schafer (UWC eResearch Office) presented on various aspects of RDM and Kikapu.

https://youtu.be/BzwxJ4TKVmQ
Watch the recording

Relevant documents:

UWC’s RDM Policy

Kikapu Data Deposit Guidelines

Upcoming Webinar: Archival Futures and Research

Preservation, access and UWC’s digital infrastructure

The findings of an archival planning process soon to be officially published in a White Paper: UWC 2021-25: Revitalising Research Archives at UWC will be presented and discussed in an upcoming webinar.

The Director of eResearch, Prof Mattia Vaccari, will moderate the session, and speakers include Prof Patricia Hayes (NRF SARChI Chair in Visual History and Theory, UWC), Dr Nancy McGovern (Director of Digital Preservation, the MIT Libraries, USA), Dr Valmont Layne (Centre for Humanities Research, UWC), and Dr Anthea Josias (University of Michigan).

The webinar will take place on Friday 20 August at 15:00.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://uwc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kd–qpj8tHNZ0w5LBj81ge6t7zVElyykL

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining.

Creating a Data Management Plan (DMP) Workshop

UWC’s Division for Postgraduate Studies (DPGS), eResearch Office and Library Research Support & Scholarly Communications hosted a workshop on creating Data Management Plans (DMPs) on 16 August 2021.

Along with UWC’s Research Data Management (RDM) Policy and the Protection of Private Information Act (POPIA), DMPs are central to the research process. The workshop provided an overview of RDM and Data Management Planning, and demonstrated some practical advice on how to craft a DMP.

Watch the recording.

Data Management Planning is ultimately most useful for the researcher, and it helps achieve the benefits that come with managing and sharing data. Increasingly, funding bodies and publishers mandate the submission of a DMP to ensure that data can be preserved and shared. UWC’s Research Data Management Policy encourages all UWC researchers to submit a data management plan in the course of their research.

August Newsletter

The eResearch newsletter is a quarterly email that includes information about new opportunities in the field, as well as news about what the eResearch Office has been busy with.

View our August newsletter and sign up for the next one.

Free Learning Opportunities with the AAL

South African students are eligible to register to join the next cohort of the African Launchpad initiative (AAL), which offers free nanodegrees through Coursera, edX, and Udacity. The courses include the fields of artificial intelligence, games and applications development and virtual reality.

The initiative was first announced in Egypt in 2018, and is an Africa-wide platform that aims to build capacity of Egyptian and African youth and foster the establishment of sustainable African startups in the area of the advanced ever-changing app and game technologies. AAL works by availing a high-quality, technology-learning online platform through crowd-sourcing top online content developed by prestigious universities and leading companies, and delivered through three leading MOOCs (Coursera, edX, and Udacity). Participants will need to dedicate approximately 10 hours per week throughout the track duration in order to be able to finish in time.

To register, click here, and to find out more details and available learning tracks, click here.