The University repository was established in 2003 as a service to store and provide access to the wealth of the University of Cambridge’s research outputs, from pre-prints to data. In September 2017, the OSC team were delighted to be able to report that Apollo, as the repository is now known, now hosts more than 1,000 datasets, a landmark achievement. Dr Lauren Cadwallader and Peter Sutton-Long of the OSC Data team created the 1,000th dataset, which examined the popular Request a Copy service. You can read about this fascinating dataset in Dr Danny Kingsley's examination on the Unlocking Research blog.
In celebration of this milestone, the OSC hosted a garden party on Thursday 14 September. Unfortunately, due to poor weather the ‘garden’ was a rather nice potted plant indoors! However, the OSC team celebrated with many of the researchers and colleagues who collaborated with them over the years. Librarian Dr Jessica Gardner, PhD student Zoe Adams, Head of the OSC Dr Danny Kingsley and Deputy of the OSC Dr Lauren Cadwallader all spoke at the party, celebrating the research of the University, and the benefits of open and accessible research data in this internationally important repository.
Find out more on the Unlocking Research blog.
|
|
Business Weekly reports a Cambridge startup has discovered surprising skill gaps in the UK. Cambridge Data Insights investigated which key technical skills developers based in the UK are missing, and found that the most significant skill gap is in the areas of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence.
As a result of this, Cambridge Data Insights has launched a new AI and machine learning skills development program. Find out more and book onto these courses via the Cambridge Data Insights website.
|
|
|
Two EU working groups have separately recommended embedding Open Science within research practice, a significant endorsement for Open Science proponents. Writing on the Open Working TU Delft blog, Alastair Dunning and Marta Teperek discuss the positive implications of these recommendations.
Dunning and Teperek particularly focus on the implications for data issues, as open data is not feasible for all scientific research but the need for clear strategies for data management and access remains. The data team at TU Delft hope that these recommendations will lead to improved support and cooperation from stakeholders, institutions and publishers.
Find out more on the Open Working blog.
|
|
|
Laurent Gatto, a Data Champion and researcher at the University of Cambridge, has written on his personal blog his talk from the Open Science in Practice 2017 summer school. Arguing that open research is not only the right thing to do, but is also the best thing to do, Gatto discusses how necessary support from senior academics, librarians and funders is for early career researchers, as well as emphasising that open research should not be lesser research.
Read the talk on Laurent Gatto's blog.
|
|
|
New research in College & Research Libraries has for the first time investigated how the education system prepares data professionals for their careers. Camille V.L. Thomas and Richard J. Urban conducted an investigation with 105 practicing data professionals and their supervisors, looking into how the library science education programmes prepared these professionals for the realities of their roles.
Among the issues involved, communication between libraries and data librarian candidates was found to often be unclear regarding the demands of the role. Additionally, the definition of the role ‘data librarian’ is rarely agreed upon. Thomas and Urban conclude that changes to the education system would aid greatly in improving library data services.
Read the study on the College & Research Libraries website.
|
|
The Laura and John Arnold Foundation has awarded a significant grant to a coalition of groups representing the international Earth and space science community to address the problem of key data that is often not saved, and may be one-time only observations. This grant is intended to facilitate developing standards to enable FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data on a significant scale.
Find out more on the Coalition on Publishing Data in the Earth and Space Sciences website.
|
|
|
Amidst uncertain times in the United States, a new bill has been introduced to the Senate titled the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2017 (FASTR). The confused and complex history of the bill is discussed by Robert Harington on the Scholarly Kitchen blog. In many ways the FASTR bill seeks to accomplish things such as improved open access to research that have already been implemented around the country by other groups, including CHORUS, a group of which Harington is a member.
The future is uncertain for the scientific community in the United States. Find out more about the history of this Bill and where the future could lead on the Scholarly Kitchen blog.
|
|
|
16-17 October
Berlin
Hosted by the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL), the Open Science Days 2017 focus on Open Research Data. The aim is to review and take stock of the preliminary development and discussion so far.
Participants will have the opportunity to present their own ideas, experiences, initiatives or activities and to discuss current topics related to Open Research Data. Aside from the mentioned thematic priority, there will also be room for discussion on current developments concerning further areas of Open Science.
Find out more and register on the Open Science Days website.
|
|
From Thursday 19 October
University of Kent
What is Big Data? How does it affect you; the decisions you make; the services you receive; and the environment that you live in? The Business and Local Government Data Research Centre are running a free lecture series at the University of Kent. Experts from the public and private sectors, and the world of academia will discuss their views and experiences of what Big Data can do to enhance the environment, evolve business, and empower society, and will then join a panel to answer audience queries.
Find out more about this series of events on the ESRC Business and Local Government Data Research Centre website.
The next event will be Big Data Can... Evolve Business on Thursday 19 October.
|
|
|
Wednesday 25 October, Friday 27 October
University of Cambridge
Established by SPARC and partners in the student community in 2008, International Open Access Week is happening worldwide between 23 and 29 October 2017. The Theme of the 2017 International Open Access Week is ‘Open in order to…’
The Office of Scholarly Communication is preparing several events, blogs and announcements to mark this year’s theme. The three events taking place over this week are aimed at three very distinct audiences.
Wednesday 25 October
Helping Researchers Publish in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Join us for a new addition to our series exploring resources to help with the process of publishing our research in HASS disciplines – from recording observations to peer review. This session offers the chance to learn about available resources and options in publishing and reviewing, and ask questions of the experts. If you are already using these resources user support will be available.
Further details and booking information: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/osc/event/2246836
Friday 27 October
Helping Researchers Publish in Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Join us for the third in our series exploring resources to help with the process of publishing your research in STEM disciplines – from recording observations to editing to peer review. This session offers the chance to learn about available tools and options in publishing and reviewing, and ask questions of the experts. If you are already using these resources user support will be available.
Further details and booking information: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/osc/event/2246398
|
|
|
Tuesday 24 October
Berlin
This full-day workshop focuses on the proliferation of standards-based annotation, practical use cases, attendee-driven unconferences, and a hack session. Directly following the workshop attendees will gather at a nearby pub (TBA) to catch up with old friends and colleagues and make new acquaintances.
Find out more and register on the Annotating All Knowledge Coalition website.
|
|
|
31 October
Cambridge University Library
- How much data would you lose if your laptop was stolen?
- Have you ever emailed your colleague a file named 'final_final_versionEDITED'?
- Do you know what your funder expects you to do with your research data.
As a researcher, you will encounter research data in many forms, ranging from measurements, numbers and images to documents and publications. Whether you create, receive or collect this information, you will need to organise it.
Managing digital information properly is a complex issue. Doing it correctly from the start could save you a lot of time and hassle when preparing a publication or writing up your thesis.
Find out more information and book a place when bookings open via the University Training website. |
|
Engaging Researchers in Good Data Management
15 November
St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge
This event is a new international joint venture between the University of Cambridge Office of Scholarly Communication, SPARC Europe and Jisc. The day will bring together people who run programmes aimed at engaging researchers with research data management (RDM), those who plan to start activities of this kind, as well as researchers themselves.
The event will be live-streamed to allow those who cannot travel to participate remotely. Book your place and find out further details via the EventBrite booking page.
|
|
16 November
University of Cambridge
OpenCon 2017 is the student and early career academic professional conference on Open Access, Open Education, and Open Data being held in Berlin 11-13 Nov 2017. The OpenCon 2017 Cambridge satellite event on 16 Nov 2017 will bring together students, early career academic professionals and open advocates from around Cambridge.
This year's OpenConCam theme is ‘Open for everyone’, aiming to support and build the open community in Cambridge. The program will include international speakers, as well as focus group discussion and crowdsourcing solutions.
You can follow the main OpenCon event held in Berlin on #OpenCon, and you can join the discussion around the Cambridge satellite event at #OpenConCam2017 and @OpenConCam.
Find out more on the OpenCon website.
|
|
Thursday 23 November
Vienna
The Research Data Alliance - RDA Europe are holding a one-day Workshop in Vienna, a collaboration between RDA Europe, the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology.
Against the backdrop of the European Open Science Cloud and other European data initiatives, the topics of FAIR data, data policies, data management plans and KPIs will be discussed by a mix of national and international experts.
Take part in discussions covering the newly established EOSC, the development of national research infrastructure initiatives (“Use Case Austria”) as well as international research infrastructures.
Register via the Workshop event page.
|
|
29 November – 1 December
Berlin
This three-day training programme is tailored to up-and-coming researchers that want to learn the skills necessary to maximize the impact of their research, also—but not exclusively—in relation to evaluation procedures of science funders. The sessions will be held by experts in their respective fields and cover the three dimensions of scholarly impact: societal impact, economic impact, and political impact.
Find out more and book your place via the Leibniz Research Alliance Science 2.0 website.
|
|
|
The Urban Big Data Centre is hosting a data-based competition intending to answer the question: how do we get more people cycling?
Participants can download the data, develop ideas and pitch their innovations to an expert judging panel to win the exciting new cycling Data Challenge and take home the £1,000 voucher prize.
Find out more and enter by midnight, Sunday 8 October via the UBDC website.
|
|
|
The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) has put out a call for papers for the 2018 International Digital Curation Conference (IDCC). All papers accepted will also be considered for inclusion in the International Journal of Digital Curation. The theme of the IDCC is ‘beyond FAIR – from principles to practice to global join up’. The IDCC will focus on sharing practical lessons on the efforts made so far to curate data and pursue a digital data commons. There will also be a focus on the themes of data, skills and services, and value.
Find out more about the IDCC and submission guidelines on the DCC website.
|
|
|
University College London (UCL) are seeking an experienced and dynamic systems engineer to join a dedicated team providing operational and development support for large-scale data storage and curation services based at UCL’s Bloomsbury campus. The role will involve managing existing operations as well as implementing and integrating new systems and services.
The successful candidate will take on a technical lead role as part of a service team and contribute to multiple projects. The role involves working with staff and researchers from across the University and partner organisations to ensure UCL’s data management systems meet evolving demands.
Find further details and apply by Monday 16 October via the UCL website.
|
|
|
|
|
|
