What does it take to develop digital research skills?

This blog series showcases skills development opportunities across schools and colleges.
Part 1 deals with digital research skills development.

Developing data, computational and digital research skills, particularly valuable for researchers, research students, and staff supporting research, is a cornerstone of the Digital Research Services programme. On top of the many opportunities offered by colleagues across Information Services Group, Schools and Colleges, the Facilitation Team curates online resources and coordinates intense training sessions, seminars and project showcases covering the full research lifecycle. Depending on your background, skills and experience you can choose what you would like to explore further and how. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, so let’s have a look at our upcoming events and activities.

The Digital Research Bootcamp will take place on the 4th and 5th December, covering in-depth research computing, data management topics, publishing your research outputs and maintaining your research profile. The programme consists of lectures, workshops and hands-on sessions, so attendees can mix and match the topics they are most interested in. Less time-intensive digital research skill development opportunities will be offered next semester, with our Lunchtime Seminar Series coming. Each seminar will last approximately an hour, including short presentations and Q&A, followed by a mini-networking session. This year the seminars will take place in hybrid mode, at the Bayes Centre, and online via Teams. Save the date: the first session on research planning is scheduled for 22nd January.

Bootcamp Lunchtime seminars

An excellent way to develop a better understanding of digital research is to find out more about projects with significant digital or computational components, getting a closer look at how the digital tools, services and resources are being used. We have scheduled the ‘Research In Action’ events with this in mind. You can find even more case studies and learn how researchers across disciplines and domains use services, from cluster computing to data management, to support discoveries, improve research outcomes, and share results on our website.

Case Studies

The Ambassadors Internship is a fantastic opportunity to develop skills, not only for student interns but also for research and professional staff who act as “hosts”. For those not already aware of this scheme, Digital Research Services is recruiting postgraduate students with strong data and computing skills and matching them with host projects across the University. Interns bring in digital research expertise, contributing to skill development and project planning. As Prof Jin Ooi (School of Engineering) highlighted, his team have learnt much from the internship. This year hosts will be announced shortly, and we can’t wait to welcome the new interns next semester.