CODATA, in collaboration with CODATA-China is delighted to invite applications from young researchers, research leaders and managers of research institutes in countries with emerging and developing economies to participate in the CODATA International Training Workshop in Big Data for Science, Beijing, 4-20 June 2014.  Participation for successful applicants will be financially supported, thanks to a grant from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).  The deadline for applications is 16 April.  Further details, application instructions and the application form are available here.

Data Science and International Collaboration for the Big Data Age

New types of ‘mega-science’ facilities and sensors are generating streams of digital data from telescopes, video cameras, traffic monitors, magnetic resonance imaging machines, and biological and chemical sensors monitoring the environment. This is a Big Data age, and it presents many exciting opportunities to make scientific research more productive, to accelerate discovery and innovation, and thereby to address key environmental, developmental and societal challenges.

The training program offered aims to engage participants with a number of facets of data science and data management in the age of Big Data.  Topics include, but are not limited to, interdisciplinary applications of data intensive research, data management policies, cloud computing, visualization and data infrastructure development.

Through an intensive programme of lectures and workshop activities, the course will promote interaction and exchange of knowledge between experts and participants.  It is intended that participants should benefit greatly from participation in a group from widely varying academic and national backgrounds.

A number of activities will be organized involving elite Chinese scientists, in order to promote knowledge sharing and to develop opportunities for future exchanges and collaboration.  Participants will benefit also from visits to a number of leading research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  In these visits, participants will have the opportunity to learn from the scientific approach, management expertise, knowledge development and practical application which characterize activities at CAS institutes working at the frontiers of research.

The first Call for Abstracts for Oral Presentations and Sessions at SciDataCon 2014 has now been released.  Proposals for Papers and Sessions are invited under the conference theme of Data Sharing and Integration for Global Sustainability and a number of related sub-themes and topics.  Further details are available on the conference website.  The deadline for submissions is 25 May 2014.

Registration for the conference, which takes place in New Delhi, 2-5 November 2014, is also now available.

SciDataCon 2014 is co-organised by CODATA and our sister organisation, the ICSU World Data System, with the support of the Indian National Science Academy and a Local Organising Committee.  The International Scientific Programme Committee has also been announced – it will be co-chaired by CODATA Past-President, Professor Krishan Lal of and Professor Paul Berkman of the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.  With genuinely global participation, this is intended to be a landmark conference addressing various issues relating to data and international research.

CODATA-China

The First Scientific Data Conference, organised by the Chinese National Committee for CODATA (CODATA-China), was recently held in Beijing, on 24-25 February 2014.  Entitled Big Research Data and Data Science, the conference aimed to improve understanding of the central issues in the era of Big Data, to promote multidisciplinary communication, to help the development of young data scientists, to encourage revitalisation of traditional research approaches and to contribute to and support the Chinese national strategy to promote innovation.

Professor Guo Huadong, President of CODATA, addresses the First Scientific Data Conference, organised by CODATA-China

The conference received a congratulatory message from Academician Ding Zhongli, president of CODATA-China.  Professor Huang Xiangyang, vice-president of CODATA-China chaired the opening ceremony. Academician Guo Huadong, president of CODATA, Professor Wangfan, deputy director of the Bureau of Facility Support and Budget, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Professor Cao Jinghua, deputy director of the Bureau of International Co-operation CAS, each attended the conference and delivered welcome speeches at the opening ceremony.  More than 400 experts, scholars and students from over 100 research units participated in the conference, making it a significant success.

Participants in the auditorium at CODATA-China’s First Scientific Data Conference

Spanning two days, the conference featured two plenary sessions and fourteen breakout sessions. There were four major keynotes, three invited reports and three business reports. Academician Guo Huadong, Academician Chen Runsheng, Academician Wang Maohua and Professor Meng Xiaofeng were invited as keynote speakers.  The keynotes focused on the hot issues in the Big Data era, including integration and notation of Big Data, development opportunities and major challenges for science and technology.

The breakout sessions included both technical sessions and open forums. The technical sessions involved Big Data issues in a range of research areas, including earth and space science, life sciences and medicine, material science, agricultural and rural informatics, physics and chemistry, as well as Big Data analysis and processing technology, linked data and information recommendation, DOI registration, cloud computing, data discovery and visualisation.

CODATA-China’s First Scientific Data Conference

At the closing ceremony, Dr. Li Jianhui, secretary-general of CODATA-China, made a concluding speech and announced the forthcoming book, soon to be published by Science China Press, on Scientific Research Activity in the Big Data Era, which covers many of the themes of the conference. The best papers from the conference will be published in the CODATA Data Science Journal.  The conference is one of the most successful academic activities to have taken place during the thirty years since CODATA-China was established.

In collaboration with CAS, RADI (the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth), CODATA-China and other organisations, CODATA will convene an International Workshop on Big Data and International Scientific Programmes: Challenges and Opportunities which will take place in Beijing in June 2014.  More details soon!

CODATA International’s Officers, Executive Committee and Executive Director are currently meeting at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities for CODATA’s annual planning meeting.  We would like to congratulate CODATA-China for organising this important conference and we look forward to future collaborations.  Many thanks go to the CODATA-China Secretariat, Dr. Li Jianhui, Ms. Zhang Hui and Ms. Li Chang for this post and for their hard work convening the conference.