Trainings

It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the trainings available. On this page we provide a list of trainings available.

Bytes and Bites

Do you want to meet other researchers, improve your programming skills, or ask questions related to programming? Pick up your laptop and come to Bytes & Bites. We’re back in full swing for another edition of our coding cafe Bytes & Bites. At Bytes & Bites anyone is welcome, whether you are a beginner or advanced programmer, whether you write in R or in C++. And of course, you can’t program and work with “Bytes” without any tasty “Bites”! We’ll make sure there is pizza or snacks available!

URL: https://ubvu.github.io/bytes-and-bites/
Topics: Programming, Python, R, Community, Software, Coding
Target audience: everybody
Status: Monthly
Duration: 120 minutes
Online/in-person: In-person

Data Analysis with R — Data Carpentry workshop for programming beginners

Are you analysing tabular data in your research? Would you like to learn how to use the programming language R to make your work more effective and efficient? This workshop is for absolute programming beginners and introduces basic steps for the analysis and visualization of tabular data with R Studio. You will:

Organize tabular data, handle date formatting, carry out quality control and quality assurance and export data to use with downstream applications.
Explore, summarize, and clean tabular data reproducibly.
Import data, calculate summary statistics, and create publication-quality graphics using the programming language R

URL: https://datacarpentry.org/lessons/#social-science-curriculum
Topics: Software skills, Data analysis, Plotting, R, OpenRefine, Spreadsheets
Target audience: Researchers, students
Status: Available on set moments
Duration: 28 hours over four days
Online/in-person: In-person and online (self-study)

Escape Room: Data Horror

Resolve the data horror of professor Hutseephluts and secure the grant! This online escape room challenges everyone to tackle the horrors of research data management. Will you be able to escape within an hour?

The Data Horror Escape Room was made for the Data Horror week 2020.

URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6949510
Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0
Topics: Research data, Escape room, Workshop, Data management, Research data management, FAIR
Target audience: Everybody
Status: Active
Duration: 60 minutes
Online/in-person: Online

Escape Room: Open Science Horror

Help the cyborgs by publishing their code the right way — the open science way! This online escape room challenges everyone to tackle the horrors of open science and open access publishing. Will you be able to save the cyborgs and finally get a coffee?

The Open Science Horror Escape Room was made for the Data Horror week 2021.

URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6963493
Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Topics: Open science, Escape room, Workshop, Open access, Research data management, FAIR
Target audience: Everybody
Status: Active
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Online/in-person: Online

Escape Room: Software Horror

The only thing between you and certain doom — getting your software management in order! This online escape room challenges everyone to tackle the horrors of software management and open software publishing. Will you be able to save your own soul and publish in Frontiers in Hell?

The Software Horror Escape Room was made for the Data Horror week 2022.

URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7350527
Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Topics: Software management, Escape room, Workshop, Software, Research data management, FAIR,
Target audience: Everybody
Status: Active
Duration: 60 minutes
Online/in-person: Online

Lego Workshop

This workshop offers a hands-on experience in the importance of careful documentation during research. Participants will discover the pitfalls in communicating research progress through written media. This offers a fun introduction in writing well structured contextual metadata such as research logs, protocols, machine settings and general README files.

The data package offers a powerpoint and general guidelines in hosting the workshop.

URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10174000
Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Topics: Metadata, Contextual metadata, LEGO, Workshop
Target audience: Researchers
Status: Active
Duration: 30-90 minutes
Online/in-person: In-person

Open Science Framework (OSF) Workshop

This is a hands-on course to get started with the Open Science Framework (OSF). You won’t need any experience with the tool beforehand. We will show the differences and similarities between OSF and other tools at the VU (such as Yoda). We will make a preregistration of a (mock) OSF research.

The OSF is an open-source project management tool that supports researchers throughout their entire project lifecycle. As a collaboration tool, OSF helps research teams work on projects privately or make the whole project publicly accessible for broad dissemination. As a workflow system, OSF enables connections to the many scientific tools researchers already use, streamlining their process and increasing efficiency. You may even use OSF as a portfolio tool for sharing your work as a prepublication with potential collaborators.

URL: https://osf.io/ab923/
Topics: OSF, Preprint, Publishing, Archiving, RDM tools, Data management
Target audience: Everybody
Status: Bi-annually during the Support Training Days
Duration: 120 minutes
Online/in-person: Online

Open Science against Humanity

This card game is based on “Cards Against Humanity” and teaches basic concepts of Open Science, Research Data Management, Software Management, FAIR principles, and Research Ethics in a fun and entertaining way. The white cards describe research related situations or statements relevant for researchers. The black cards contain potential answers or prompts that have a connection to Open Science. The goal of the game is to pair the white cards (prompts) and the black cards in the funniest, most provocative, or smartest way you can. Playing the card game online or with a physical deck creates awareness of issues around resesarch practices and allows for discussions around Open Science.

URL: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10017280
Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Topics: Open science, Card game, Workshop, Game, Research data management, FAIR, Software management
Target audience: Everybody (familiar with academics)
Status: Active
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Online/in-person: Online and in-person

Open loves Science

Open Science aims to improve, streamline and elevate science to something bigger. Why? Out of love for science of course!

In Open loves Science, players are invited to engage in playful and deep conversations about Open Science. The card game features an encyclopedia of issues that pervade this movement of research reform and ask participants to consider their role and values in changing academic culture. Like Open Science, this game is about connection. Players are meant to look into each other’s eyes, engage in conversation, and better understand one another.

“Open loves Science” was made for the Data love week 2024.

URL: https://nlesc.github.io/open-loves-science/
Licence: CC-BY-4.0
Topics: Open science, Card game, Workshop, Game, Research data management, FAIR, Software management
Target audience: Everybody
Status: Active
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Online/in-person: Online and in-person

Software Carpentries

The Software Carpentries are hands-on workshops that teach basic skills needed to program in a reproducible way.

A Software Carpentry workshop covers lessons on:

Plotting and Programming in Python or R
The Unix Shell
Version Control with Git and GitHub

The lessons are designed for programming beginners and do not require any experience. You program along, learn by helping one another, and apply what you have learned in exercises.

URL: https://software-carpentry.org/lessons/
Topics: Coding, Software skills, Python, R, Bash, Unix Shell, Git, GitHub, Version control
Target audience: Researchers, students
Status: Available on set moments
Duration: 28 hours over four days
Online/in-person: In-person and online (self-study)