RDA/CODATA Schools of Research Data Science 5 Years of Success. What should the next 5 Years look like?

The Interest Group works to grow a community of trainers that participate in the Schools in Research Data Science for Early Career Researchers (ECRs). In particular, the Schools offer a model for providing that cohort with a set of foundational skills for analyzing, managing, visualizing and processing research data. The schools were specifically to be delivered to ECRs from Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). The first of these Schools ran at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, in August 2016 and our 5th year of hosting schools will be kicked off in August of 2020 with the fifth annual Trieste event. Trieste 2020 will be the 11th school and approximately 450 students will have completed schools by the start of Trieste. 

The initiative is continuing with support and engagement from both CODATA and RDA. There are a number of significant outputs which will be the focus for discussion: the model for the curriculum as a broad but shallow foundational course in essential data skills for researchers; the materials which can be reused and refined (and approaches to making this process as effective as possible); the model for building a network of schools; and the participants and instructors as the agents of this.

The session at RDA P15 will focus on establishing working groups that will lead the Schools into the next 5 years of operation. These include functional working groups focused on Curriculum Evolution, Sustainability, Train-the-Trainer Sessions, and External Messaging and regional working groups focused on Africa and Europe, Asia and Australia, and North Americas.