Proposals are invited for sessions at International Data Week’s SciDataCon 2022: Data to Improve our World. The deadline for proposals is 23:59 UTC on 14 February 2022.
Submit your session proposal at https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/submit/
About SciDataCon 2022 and International Data Week 2022
SciDataCon 2022 is part of International Data Week 2022, to be held virtually and in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The main conference will take place on 20-23 June 2022 and there will be colocated, hybrid and virtual events both before and after these dates.
International Data Week 2022 comprises two founding events: the 19th RDA Plenary and SciDataCon 2022. SciDataCon is a conference for peer-reviewed research and practice presentations, which covers all aspects of the role of data in research, society and policy. As well as the core themes of data science and data stewardship, Open Science, and FAIR data and services, SciDataCon shares high-level themes with International Data Week.
SciDataCon 2022: High-level Themes
The overarching theme of International Data Week and SciDataCon 2022 is Data to Improve our World. In our post-pandemic future, humanity has an opportunity and obligation to address major challenges, including climate change, sustainable development, and disaster risk reduction. The digital revolution and the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, the methods and practices of Open Science, and of FAIR data and services, give humanity the tools to do so. Embracing these possibilities requires engagement with society, rigorous research methods, and good practice in data science and data stewardship. The theme Data to Improve our World explores the nexus of these issues.
The high-level themes of IDW 2022 and SciDataCon include:
- Data to Improve our World: The role of data to address global challenges
- The State of Open Science Globally
- Research Transparency, Accountability, and Reproducibility
- Data, Research and Industry: The Interface between Data-intensive Research and Innovation
- Science and Society: Engagement and participation
- Empowering and Enabling Society: Data Science and Stewardship Education and Data Literacy
Session proposals addressing these themes are particularly welcome.
SciDataCon 2022: Themes
Also in scope are session proposals addressing any of the below core, persistent themes of data and research typically addressed in SciDataCon. Further detail and examples of topics are given below.
Data and Research: Data issues in relation to major research questions. This can include, for example, the availability, findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability of data in different fields of research; the challenges of combining and integrating data; and the challenges of effective analysis. The discussion of such data issues should relate concretely and directly to specific research questions.
Data Science and Data Analysis: Frontier scientific, technical, and epistemological challenges associated with data in research. Topics relating to data science and data analysis in particular research domains, or across domains.
Data Stewardship: Advances in sustainable, long-term data stewardship. This could include good practice, organisational and institutional aspects, and topics related to the FAIR, TRUST, and CARE Principles.
Policy and Practice of Data in Research: Data policies and practices, as well as the role of data in scholarly communications. Data policy and practices can include their development and harmonization, in addition to issues around legal interoperability, rights management and privacy; the value and sustainability of research data infrastructure; and data publication, metrics, credit, and attribution.
Data and Education: Educational and training responses to the digital revolution. This can include mobilizing capacity in areas such as data science and data stewardship; addressing needs and gaps in data skills, especially for the modern workforce; as well as formal education and curricula development to increase data literacy.
Data, Society, Ethics, and Politics: The broader dimensions of data and data-driven research in relation to society. This can include any issues concerning the social, legal, and ethical dimensions of data and research; for example, data sovereignty, the Digital Divide, data openness and availability, and digital empowerment.
Open Data, Innovation, Industry and Development: The interactions among industry, innovation, and data. This could include collaborations and partnerships with the private sector around any of topics already mentioned above, and especially concerning data-driven innovation and development.
Please note that the simple presentation of research results is not in scope. The primary focus should always be on the data issues in different fields of research.
SciDataCon Sessions
Sessions at SciDataCon explore research and practice. Sessions may include presentations of original research, of interesting data practices, or a mix of the two. Sessions may be structured around conventional presentations and discussion, or they may take more interactive formats, including panels and interactive workshops. All session proposals will be peer-reviewed. They should be compelling and of interest to the global data community. The format, structure, and outcomes should be clearly expressed.
Sessions may be structured around a set of invited speakers and presenters, or they may be open sessions on a given theme that then requests presentation submissions. Whether a session is by invitation or open to submissions should be clearly stated.
Suggested session types
- Research Presentations (state clearly if invited presentations or open to submissions)
- Practice Presentations (state clearly if invited presentations or open to submissions)
- Mix of Research and Practice Presentations (state clearly if invited presentations or open to submissions)
- Panel Discussion
- Ignition/Lightning Talks and Structured Discussion
- Group Discussions (World Café)
- Workshop Session (state format)
- None of the above (you may suggest an alternative format, but you should describe it clearly)
Proposing a SciDataCon Session
Please take into account the following considerations when preparing your proposal for a SciDataCon 2022 session:
- Sessions will be 90 minutes in duration.
- Session proposals should explicitly address one or more of the conference themes outlined above.
- Session proposals should clearly describe the format and ‘type’ of the session: see above for information about the different formats of sessions that are invited.
- The proposed session structure should allow sufficient time for interaction and discussion with participants and audience.
Your proposal should:
- Explain the significance of the issues to be tackled in the session.
- Provide a clear description of the approach, structure, format, and suggested agenda for the session.
- Provide as much information as possible about proposed speakers and the subject of their papers, or state clearly that it is an open session, actively soliciting presentations (i.e., that the purpose of the session proposal is to address an important topic and create a space on the programme to which papers on this topic may be submitted).
- Be no shorter than 300 words and no longer than 900 words.
Sessions proposals should be made at https://www.scidatacon.org/IDW-2022/submit/ – if you have not already done so, you will need to create a SciDataCon account. Please note that creating such an account is not the same as registering for the conference.
Next Steps and Timescales
The deadline for session proposals is 23:59 UTC on 14 February 2022.
Selected sessions will be notified by 1 March 2022.
The Call for Sessions will be followed by a general Call for Presentations, which will open on 1 March 2022 with a deadline of 23:59 UTC on 31 March 2022.
The Call for Presentations will invite:
- Presentations specifically for sessions approved from the current call.
- Presentations submitted independent of approved sessions to ‘General Submissions’ (which, if selected, will be organised into thematic sessions by the SciDataCon Programme Committee).
It is the responsibility of the organisers of an accepted session to ensure that invited speakers for the session submit their abstracts by the deadline.
The SciDataCon Programme Committee may allocate paper(s) from the general Call for Presentations to a session if appropriate and with the agreement of the session organisers.
Selected presentations will be notified by 15 April 2022, when we also intend to publish an outline programme.
Summary of Key Dates
- 8 November 2021: Release call for sessions
- 14 February 2022: Deadline for session proposals
- 1 March 2022: Notify successful session proposals
- 1 March 2022: Release call for presentations and posters
- 31 March 2022: Deadline for presentations and posters
- 15 April 2022: Notify successful presentations and posters and publish programme