News & Articles

Call for expressions of interest to establish International Centres of Excellence (UHWB ICE)

Co-sponsored by the International Science Council (ISC), the United Nations University (UNU), and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), the Urban Health and Wellbeing (UHWB) programme was launched as a ten-year programme to address the major challenges to health and wellbeing in the urban environment. Starting in 2014 its International Programme Office at the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IUE, CAS) took up its operation.

The UHWB programme addresses the emerging health challenges in urban environments which are under the influence of and accelerated by broader climate, epidemiological, demographic and ecological changes. The programme recognizes the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of cities as socio-ecological-technological systems and the associated risks to the health and wellbeing of people living in cities. Ageing, safety, inequality, malnutrition, migration, transport, pollution and a range of communicable and non-communicable diseases are among some of the problem areas for which better knowledge and data need to be created, integrated and communicated for improving urban decision-making. However, despite the increasing amount and availability of data the decision-making process requires more systems intelligence to better cope with complexity and progress towards the global goals and targets of the UN landmark agreements of the New Urban Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The UHWB programme therefore aims at promoting and encouraging the application of various types of systems approaches in different fields of urban health and wellbeing by developing methodology, identifying and integrating data, strengthening capacity, communication, outreach and decision support to support the implementation of the UN landmark agreements. The programme aims at facilitating the creation of systems intelligence for improving health and wellbeing in changing urban environments.

The UHWB Programme is directed by the Science Committee and the International Programme  Office  (IPO)  which  decided  to  establish  a  limited  number  of  International

Centres of Excellence (ICE). An ICE can be based on and located at existing organisations, such as Public Health Agencies, focusing on public, global, urban health research and service delivery, research and development, education and awareness raising with a focus on cities. The ICE should operate in networks of other hubs engaging and collaborating with other organisations in the region, country or city.

Read more for full details


Call For Papers: Special Collection on Research Data Alliance Results

The Research Data Alliance (RDA) is an international member based organization focused on the development of infrastructure and community activities that reduce barriers to data sharing and exchange, and the acceleration of data driven innovation worldwide. With more than 6,900 members globally representing 137 countries, RDA includes researchers, scientists and data science professionals working in multiple disciplines, domains and thematic fields and from different types of organisations across the globe.

This special collection aims to collect and give visibility to research results and outcomes stemming from RDA activities.

In particular, it solicits high quality papers describing the latest results of RDA working groups (WGs) or interest groups (IGs) that have recently produced an output, including recommendation and associated use cases that could highlight the added value of RDA work in the data related fields.

The scope of the special collection is to become a point of reference for experts from the international community that are committed to directly or indirectly enabling data sharing, exchange, or interoperability. The aim is to promote the work carried out in IGs and WGs and bring the results obtained to the global data expert community. Specific tools, code, best practices, standards, surveys, recommendations, reports, and WG case statements will be brought to a larger audience via the peer-reviewed, open access Data Science Journal.

 Important dates

  • 1 September 2018 – First Submission deadline
  • Accepted articles will be published on-line on a rolling basis to the special collection as they are completed.

Publication fees

Publication fees (i.e. Article Processing Charges) for the first 6 articles will be covered by the “RDA Europe 4.0” project (funded by the European Commission, grant nr. 777388). No other fees will be charged to the Authors of this special collection for publication.

Guest editors

  • Leonardo Candela, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione “A. Faedo”, Italian National Research Council, Pisa, Italy
  • Donatella Castelli, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione “A. Faedo”, Italian National Research Council, Pisa, Italy
  • Emma Lazzeri, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione “A. Faedo”, Italian National Research Council, Pisa, Italy
  • Paolo Manghi, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell’Informazione “A. Faedo”, Italian National Research Council, Pisa, Italy

Paper Submission

Papers submitted to this special collection for possible publication must be original and must not be under consideration for publication in any other journal or conference. Previously published or accepted conference papers must contain at least 30% new material to be considered for the special collection.

All papers are to be submitted by following the instructions and guidelines availailabe at https://datascience.codata.org/about/submissions/. During the submission process authors should select the article type (Research Papers, Practice Papers, Reviews, Essays) and specify that the submission is to be considered for the special issue “Research Data Alliance Results” in the “Cover letter” to be compiled during the submission process.

 


Call for papers: BigSDM2018, International Conference on Big Scientific Data Management, China

The International Conference on Big Scientific Data Management (BigSDM 2018) will be held in Beijing, China, during November 30th–December 1st, 2018. The Conference is jointly organized by Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University, CWI, and MonetDB Solutions.

 

BigSDM 2018 aims to bring together international experts from natural and computer sciences to explore the life-cycle management of Big Scientific Data, to discuss major methodologies and key technologies in Big Data-driven discovery making, to exchange experience and knowledge about Big Scientific Data across various fields through specific cases, and to identify the challenges and opportunities in scientific discovery acceleration. We hope to, through the conference, gather ideas for fostering new ways of scientific thinking, and promote big data sciences at large. 

Call for papers

The two-day conference provides an open forum to discuss the opportunities and challenges of a big scientific data ecosystem, and to explore best practices, standards, architectures and data infrastructures for fostering cross-disciplinary discovery and innovation.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Paradigms for enhancing scientific discovery through big data
  • Framework for helping the science and AI communities to work together
  • Data cleansing and quality assurance of science data
  • Data sharing and preservation policy
  • Data management challenges posed by big scientific data
  • Machine learning methods to facilitate/accelerate scientific discovery
  • Streaming data, sensor networks and complex event processing
  • Scientific workflow management
  • Science platforms: (hardware/software) tools for data discovery and analysis from different angles
  • Storage system for large scale scientific applications
  • Cloud technology for big scientific applications
  • Scientific data visualisation

Paper Submission

The online submission system is: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=bigsdm2018. Authors may submit to either the full paper or short paper track. Full papers should be between 10 to 12 pages in length, and short papers between 6 to 8 pages. All submissions must be written in English and conform to the Springer LNCS proceedings format.

Accepted papers will be published in LNCS proceeding.

Important Dates

Abstract submission: 

September 15，2018

Full papers submission: 

September 22，2018

Notification to authors:

October 20，2018

All deadlines are at 11:59PM Pacific Time.


CODATA-RDA Foundational School in Research Data Science, 22 October – 2 November, 2018, Kigali, Rwanda - Deadline for Applications 18 July 2018

Foundational School in Research Data Science
22 October – 2 November, 2018 
University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda

The goal of this workshop is to train researchers in Research Data Science (RDS). RDS refers to the principles and practice of Open Science and research data management and curation, the use of a range of data platforms and infrastructures, large scale analysis, statistics, visualization and modelling techniques, software development and data annotation. These are important tools for extracting useful information from data and these tools are useful in every research area. A 10-day workshop, organized by CODATA, ICTP and EAIFR, will be conducted at the University of Rwanda, Kigali to introduce participants to the skills of RDS.

Topics covered

  • Open Science
  • Unix Shell
  • Version Control
  • Introduction to R
  • Research Data Management
  • Databases and SQL
  • Data Visualization
  • Machine Learning and Artificial Neural Networks
  • Research Computational Infrastructure

Participation Information

This workshop is open to researchers in every field. Science graduates (masters and doctoral levels) working in data intensive fields will find it particularly useful. Women  candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Selection of participants will be based on their technical background and also the urgency of their needs to apply the tools of RDS. Applications for participation for the workshop can be found at: https://e-applications.ictp.it/applicant/login/9006

Deadline for application: July 18, 2018 

For further information contact: info@eaifr.org  or workshop20181022@eaifr.org

Information for Applicants

There is no registration fee for these events.  Some support for travel and accommodation is available and its allocation will be determined during the selection process.  Much of this funding is intended for participants from lower and middle income countries.  Potential participants have the opportunity to indicate they need support in the application.  Self-funded participants are welcome.  All applicants are strongly encouraged to look for alternative ‘third-party’ sources of funding to support their participation.  
 
The CODATA-RDA Research Data Science Summer School is open to participants in any research discipline.  The data skills taught are also useful for (data) librarians and other research support staff, such as those who envisage a career as data steward or data analysts.  Furthermore, people who are more advanced in their careers who would like to improve their data skills as a form of continuing professional development are also eligible.
 
Participants will be selected on merit from a very competitive field.  Applicants are urged therefore to ensure they pay careful and full attention to the requirements of the application process.  
 
Selected participants for the Research Data Science Summer School will have a baseline of data skills and these will have been tested by an online form.  Applicants to the Advanced Workshops should demonstrate their capacity and skills to engage with these themes on a more advanced level.
 
Applicants to either event should pay particular attention to their personal statement and communicate persuasively their reasons for wishing to attend the Summer School and/or Advanced Workshops: how do they intend to use these skills and experiences, how will participation in the Summer School and/or Advanced Workshops benefit their research or the institution in which they work?  Finally, candidates should take pains to ensure that their application is well supported by references from their past or present tutors or line managers.  This is particularly important so that the directors and organisers of these events have confidence in the candidate and that the skills learnt will have the maximum benefit and impact.


Announcement of the 3rd Digital Belt and Road Conference (DBAR 2018)

Digital Belt and Road Program (DBAR) is a pioneering international venture to share expertise, knowledge, technologies and data to demonstrate the significance of Earth observation and big Earth data applications for large-scale sustainable development.
 
The 3rd Digital Belt and Road Conference (DBAR 2018) will host several specialized sessions examining the applications of big Earth data for sustainable development in different fields, such as environmental change, disaster mitigation, water resources, agriculture food security, natural and cultural heritage, coast and marine, urban and infrastructure, High Mountain and Arctic, and the need for big Earth data in solving large-scale regional and global problems. It will host experts and participants from wide variety of public and private entities for improved partnerships and networking towards collaborative and collective efforts for regional sustainable development, through cooperation, sharing and integration of methodologies and data, and pooling of human and technological resources, as an example towards global sustainability.
 
Date:
5-7 December, 2018
 
Venue:
The Empark Grand Hotel, Tengchong, Yunnan, China
 
Important Dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline: 20th September 2018
Notification of Reception of Abstract: 8th October 2018
End of Online Registration: 30th November 2018
Onsite Registration: 4th December 2018        
 
Registration Fee:
Early Bird Registration: RMB 2500/person (before 1st November 2018)
Normal Registration: RMB 3000/person
 
Conference Website:


Read more CODATA news