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TOMORROW at Virtual SciDatCon 2021 – 21 October 2021

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Day Four of Virtual SciDataCon 2021 will be the busiest yet, with four themes over the day: cross-domain case studies as part of the Data for SDGs Strand, the first two sessions on Global Open Science, three sessions on Data in the Earth Sciences, and the first set of sessions on Data Skills and Stewardship.

The sessions are listed below to make it easier to register if you have not done so already.

Cross-Domain Case Studies – Data for the SDG

Collaborative Systems Modelling for Urban Health, Thursday 21 October, 07:00-08:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

Current planetary health conditions culminate and often also originate in cities. Cities are complex systems which have beneficial but also detrimental impacts on human health and wellbeing. Collaborative Systems Modelling (CSM) can help better understand those complex relations and can provide decision support for urban planners, decision-makers and citizens on how to plan, manage and make use of urban green spaces. The ISC Programme for Urban Health and Wellbeing has been exploring a Data-Knowledge-Action methodology in relation to CSM. This session will present the rationale, the process and the outcomes of a Collaborative Systems Modelling Workshop carried out for a green space in the city of Guangzhou, China. The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion on the findings of the modelling workshop, the type and quality of data, the value of a participatory and collaborative approach and the prospects of the CSM being added to urban monitoring activities, in order to improve health and wellbeing in cities and be better prepared for and ideally prevent future health emergencies.

Sharing Population Data for Infectious Disease Research in Africa, Thursday 21 October, 16:00-17:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

This panel will report on activity in African projects around the sharing of population data coming from HDSS sites and other sources, including the integration of such data with clinical sources. Several major developments in this area have occurred, and ongoing projects have continued to evolve. Built on the foundations of the IMDEPTH and subsequent ALPHA Networks, INSPIRE has pushed forward in prototyping a data-sharing platform based on OMOP. The INSPIRE PEACH project is now building analysis tools on top of this platform in Kenya and Malawi. This initial work was presented at the International FAIR Convergence Symposium in December 2020, and further developments in this work are discussed. A major new effort in this space is also taking shape in the form of the African Population Cohort Consortium (APCC). This panel will present a high-level view of these developments, and explore some specific topics of interest within this frame.

Global Open Science / Global Open Science Commons
 

Update from the Global Commons, Thursday 21 October, 11:00-12:30 and 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

There is an ever expanding ecosystem of activities and organizations working on national, regional, disciplinary, topical, and global infrastructures. There are also a variety of names and possible functions for these infrastructures: clouds, commons, platforms and just plain infrastructures. Previous meetings have provided high level overviews of national, pan national and domain infrastructures in various Commons. This meeting will be a deep dive into our understanding of the mechanics used in these infrastructures. The overarching goal of this session is to bring clarity around this question: once an organization or community of practice has published data, what technical devices are being utilized to ensure that those data are both discoverable at a meaningful level of detail and consumable in other Commons? The Data Discovery session will address two tiers of discovery: high level and domain specific metadata. The Data Access session will address technical issues, examining use cases and solutions that allow for interoperability between clouds/commons. The wrap up panel discussion will explore how the various initiatives can more effectively work together to create optimal synergies among them.

Earth Sciences Data
 

Earth and Environmental vocabularies and ontologies today: how are they managed? How are they used by scientists? Thursday 21 October, 11:00-12:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

The Environmental and Earth sciences are faced with complex and dynamic challenges: they cannot be solved in isolation from each other or from other sciences, such as the social and health sciences. Researchers who tackle real world challenges must have data that are easy to use and understandable in a variety of contexts. An important element of understanding these data is the use of well-organised, community-accepted terminology for data. This session presents seven experts with a range of approaches to effectively using heterogeneous environmental and earth science terms. They will present brief histories of vocabulary implementation, plus the challenges encountered in real-world use. After the presentations, a panel discussion will be used to outline characteristics of vocabularies and ontologies which are required to support existing and anticipated environmental and earth science research.

The OneGeochemistry Initiative: Mobilising a Global Network of FAIR Geochemical Data to Support Research into the Grand Challenge of an Environmentally Sustainable Future, Thursday 21 October, 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

Geochemical data are fundamental for understanding past, present, and future processes in natural systems, from the interior of the Earth to its surface environments on land, in the oceans and in the air, to the entire solar system. Currently, despite the pervasive acquisition and analysis of geochemical data in the last century, it is hard to harness this wealth of data as existing practices have resulted in geochemical databases that are located in either personal, institutional, national, or programmatic silos. Due to lack of standards that are especially challenging to develop in long-tail communities, like geochemistry, much of this existing data is not interoperable and reusable: very little is open and accessible online. The OneGeochemistry initiative is proposed as a new initiative to rally geochemists around the world to come together to help develop the required international standards and define the best practices to enable the creation of a FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) global network of interoperable distributed geochemical databases. This cannot be done in isolation of standards that are being developed elsewhere, in particular liaison with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is required so that the Geochemistry Community can leverage relevant standards based on the periodic table that are already developed within the chemistry community. The objective of this session is to consolidate ideas for a viable and sustainable FAIR global geochemistry network to support research grand challenges of today and meet those of the future.

Celebrating a decade of making material samples FAIR and Open: where to next? Thursday 21 October, 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

After a decade of successful operation, the IGSN e.V. is working to modernise and  implement new governance and technical models which will continue to support the physical specimen communities into the next decade. As this year marks the 10th anniversary of the formation of the IGSN e.V., this session provides an opportunity to celebrate the past, present, and plan the future of physical specimens.  This session will include presentations from the physical specimen community to present work that highlights services, tools, projects, and community efforts which involve making physical specimens FAIR and Open. The session will go beyond identifiers per se, and encompass themes of discovery, access, reproducibility, and the support of a global, multidisciplinary specimen ecosystem.

Education, Skills and Developing Data Stewardship

Research Data Management Skills Development Using Rubrics and ePortfolios, Thursday 21 October, 11:00-12:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

This session will discuss the use of ePortfolios to develop the Research Data Management (RDM) skills ofnew researchers via four talks followed by a panel discussion. Recognition of the importance of RDM skills has grown since the 1950s to the point where RDM skills are now required for all researchers in any discipline. Recently, several emerging factors have increased the need for new researchers to develop their RDM skills. These factors include surrounding contexts like Open Science, an increasing concern for research integrity, and the rapid development of digital support technologies. To succeed, researchers must now continuously assess and systematically improve their RDM skills. In this session, we will focus on a maturity model represented by “rubrics” and their systematic use in ”ePortfolios,” which have become an effective learning methodology in higher education.

Building learning communities, Thursday 21 October, 13:00-14:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

Building communities based on individuals who have taken part in the same training has been identified as a powerful enabler of that training. A potentially very powerful idea comes into play – namely that these communities mutually support its members even though individuals may be isolated in the institutions that they work at; that they carry out research together or work in associated research activities; or that they are proactive in their learning through either learning and teaching together or pulling in outside expert advice when required. Nonetheless, evidence from a range of communities has highlighted the challenges of ensuring longevity and effectiveness. These communities have addressed these challenges in a range of different ways, including the structure/hierarchy of the community, the leadership on community activities and the resources dedicated to community building. In this session we consider some established software development communities that have evolved from training activities.

Empowering Early Career Researchers in Data Science and Data Stewardship During the Global Pandemic, Thursday 21 October, 16:00-17:30 UTC: REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION

Networking and sharing best practices are crucial for young scholars that aim to excel in their fields and increase the visibility and potential impact of their work. This is even more important now that Covid-19 raises new challenges for early career researchers (ECRs). The pandemic has affected our work in many ways, with the closure of laboratories and libraries, travel restrictions, being forced to work at home—often in difficult conditions—in addition to stressful caring responsibilities for many. ECRs are being forced to adapt by learning new methods and skills, accessing new types of data, and using new digital tools. The WDS-ECR Network aims to offer support in this regard: through this proposed session, we will provide ECRs with opportunities to come together to network and share ideas for how to successfully carry out data management, data analysis, and data sharing during these challenging times. The session will consist of a mixture of invited research and practice papers, followed by an open panel discussion of challenges and opportunities that Early career researchers are facing in these challenging times.

Virtual SciDataCon 2021 is organised by CODATA and the World Data System, the two data organisations of the International Science Council – PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE – FULL PROGRAMME – please note that registration is free, but participants must register for each session they wish to attend.