Goal: Develop a short course curriculum for tools, resources, and practices for reproducible science
Location: NESCent, Durham, NC
Dates and times: December 8 - 11, 2014; 9 am - 5 pm each day
To apply: http://goo.gl/GzS118 ; deadline October 10, 2014. Successful applicants will be notified by October 17th.
Making science more reproducible has enormous potential to accelerate scientific advance, including for practicing individuals. Despite this, the tools and approaches that are already available are rarely taught. To address this, we are organizing a 4-day workshop aimed at developing, and later teaching, a short course curriculum for tools, resources, and practices for reproducible science. A part of the workshop will also be devoted to addressing gaps that hinder the broad adoption of such resources. The event will be held December 8-11, 2014, in Durham, NC, at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). We aim to assemble a diverse and interdisciplinary group of participants, and invite those interested to apply by Oct 10 at http://goo.gl/GzS118.
As science becomes increasingly more data and computation intensive, maintaining the ability to build on our own or other’s prior work requires that the process that takes data and other inputs all the way to the results presented in a paper is documented and made available in full detail. The concept of reproducible science means that someone else should either be able to obtain the same results given all the documented inputs and the published instructions for processing them, or if not, the reasons why should be apparent from comparing the executed processing steps to the documented ones.
Provided the necessary domain and technical knowledge, and the computational and other resources are available, reproducible science is verifiable and repeatable, two cornerstones of the scientific process. Reproducible science is also becoming a requirement of journals and granting agencies. Aside from obliging journal and funder expectations, the practices that make science reproducible can allow others, including one’s future self, to repeat and extend analyses, for example with new data, new tools, or parameter modifications. That is, making one’s science more reproducible stands to accelerate one’s own research, as well as the ability of science as a whole to build on it. Despite this potential, the tools and best practices that allow scientists to reap the benefits of more reproducible science are only rarely taught, and although many tools and resources already exist, they are scattered and many scientists remain unaware of them.
To address this, we are organizing a 4-day workshop to develop a short course curriculum for tools, resources, and practices for reproducible science. The goal of this workshop is to identify and subsequently address the teaching needs and technological gaps that hinder the broad adoption of reproducible science in biology. The material developed during this workshop will subsequently be taught at a two-day training workshop.
We aim to assemble a diverse and interdisciplinary group of scientists, educators, and developers, encompassing various levels of experience and a broad set of skills. This includes participants who are familiar with, or even involved with developing tools and technologies under the reproducible science rubric, but also includes scientists and other people enthusiastic to learn more about reproducible science and who are interested in helping to shape the curriculum.
Applications are due October 13, 2014. Travel support is provided. Women and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact anyone of the organizing committee.
Organizing committee
- Karen Cranston, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, [email protected]
- Hilmar Lapp, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
- Ciera Martinez, University of California Davis
- François Michonneau, University of Florida
- Matt Pennell, University of Idaho
- Tracy Teal, Michigan State University