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OPEN NOW: Call for Applications PhD Fellowships for Women Scientists from Developing Countries

PhD Fellowships for Women Scientists from Developing Countries 

OWSD is proud to announce that the call for applications is now open and the forms are online! 

The Fellowship is offered to women scientists from eligible countries to undertake PhD research in science subjects at a host institute of recognized international reputation in the South. Each fellowship is offered for up to four years and can cover the following:

  • Monthly allowance to cover basic living expenses while in the host country
  • Travel allowance to attend international conferences 
  • Return ticket from the home country to the host institute for the agreed research period
  • Visa expenses
  • Annual medical insurance contributionThe opportunity to attend regional science communications workshops, on a competitive basis
  • Study fees (including tuition and registration fees) in agreement with the chosen host institute

For details, please go to https://owsd.net/career-development/phd-fellowship#menu-development


Deadline approaching: 15 May. Information and applications at http://school2017.gcras.ru

 

 

We are pleased to inform you of an upcoming one week summer school for young scientists "Methods of Comprehensive Assessment of Seismic Hazard", to be held at the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the RAS (Moscow, Russia) on 3-7 July 2017.  

The School will offer MSc, graduate students and postdoctoral scientists the opportunity to study new methods developed recently for seismic hazard assessment and integration on the basis of the systems analysis of results obtained by these methods. Lectures and practical seminars at the School will be given by leading scientists representing Geophysical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia (GC RAS), Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia (IPE RAS), Institute of Earth Physics of Paris, Paris, France (IPGP), Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia (IEPT RAS), University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy (UNITS) and other scientific institutions.

All current information on the School is available at the website http://school2017.gcras.ru/.

Applications are now being accepted, so consider participation of yourself and also please spread the information about the School to your colleagues who may be interested to attend. 
 


LEARN Project Toolkit of Best Practice for Research Data Management

The LEARN Project has released its free Toolkit of Best Practice for Research Data Management: http://learn-rdm.eu/en/research-data-management-toolkit-now-available/
 
[…]  Research data is the new currency of the digital age. From sonnets to statistics, and genes to geodata, the amount of material being created and stored is growing exponentially. 
 
For research performing organisations, this deluge of data presents many challenges in areas such as policy and skills development, training, costs and governance. The LEARN Toolkit of Best Practice for Research Data Management is designed to help institutions address these challenges.

The Toolkit expands on the issues outlined in the LERU Roadmap for Research Data (2013). It is nearly 200 pages long, and includes:
  • 23 Best-Practice Case Studies from institutions around the world, drawn from issues in the original LERU Roadmap;
  • 8 Main Sections, on topics such as Policy and Leadership, Open Data, Advocacy and Costs;
  • One Model RDM Policy, produced by the University of Vienna and accompanied by guidance and an overview of 20 RDM policies across Europe;
  • An Executive Briefing in six languages, aimed at senior institutional decision makers.
The toolkit includes a chapter from CODATA President, Professor Geoffrey Boulton on ‘Why Open Data?’ which is available at https://doi.org/10.14324/000.learn.12
 
[…] Several years ago, rigorous data management was seen by many universities merely as a cost, as an “unfunded mandate”. Increasing numbers of universities now see open data as a necessary part of their future and plan to position themselves to exploit the opportunities that it offers. Some of the essential principles of good research data management have now been established as a result of hard won experience many of which are shared in this volume. The “hard” infrastructure of high performance computing or cloud technologies and the software tools needed to acquire and manipulate data in these settings are only part of the problem. Much more problematic is the “soft” infrastructure of national policies, institutional relationships and practices, and incentives and capacities of individuals. For although science is an international enterprise, it is done within national systems of priorities, institutional roles and cultural practices, such that university policies and practices need to accommodate to their national environment.
 
The final conference for the LEARN Project ‘Managing the Data Deluge: roles and responsibilities for your institution’ takes place today (Friday 5 May 2017) in London.  CODATA Executive Director, Simon Hodson, is participating in one of the panel discussions: http://learn-rdm.eu/en/events/final-conference/programme/


RDA EU-ENVRI Summer School on Data Management and Data Science - Deadline for Applications 12 May

 
Together with ENVRI Plus RDA Europe is organising a one-week Summer School on Data Management and Data Science at 12-16 June 2017 in Helsinki/Espoo, Finland with hands-on practicing. The course will include various results from RDA groups.

The Summer School is targeted at students/PhDs/PostDocs from all domains as well as from the environmental sciences. The course covers theoretical and practical skills in data management and access.  The deadline for applications is 12 May.
 
More information about this opportunity can be found here: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/rdasummerschool/ ; information about the application process, conditions and requirements is available at http://blogs.helsinki.fi/rdasummerschool/costs-and-registration/ 
 
RDA EU-ENVRI Summer School on Data Management and Data Science
Data Science is a new methodology to better understand the complexity of environmental, living and societal systems and to exploit the huge amount of data being generated for scientific and business interests. Professional Data Science requires a deep understanding in techniques for efficient Data Management. It is not surprising that scientific labs and also industry are desperately looking for well-trained Data Scientists (DS) and Data Managers (DM). Yet there is no clear distinction in the job profiles and it makes sense to be trained in both sides of the same coin. While DS are more focusing on the analytics aspects, DM are focusing on aspects of how to organise, store, describe, and access data. Summer Schools are currently seen as one of the most effective way to train a new generation of data professionals ready to meet the challenges of DS and DM.

Therefore, ENVRI Plus cluster project active in the environmental science and the Research Data Alliance (RDA EU) globally active in defining social and technical recommendations joined forces to organise this summer school supported by a number of institutions and initiatives. The main goals of this course are to

  • Learn what is the state-of-art on FAIR compliant professional data management
  • Experience and practice with the latest software to manage and analyse data
 
Most of the time will be reserved for practical hands-on sessions. After the Summer School, participants will be able to successfully deal with a wide range of Data Science related activities. Throughout the course we will use environmental data, but the applied methods are widely independent of the nature of the data.

The course is primarily meant for master students, PhD students or post docs from the environmental sciences. However, we would also accept interested students from other scientific disciplines and experts from start-ups. We expect knowledge about programming since we will use scripting languages such as Python or PHP and basic knowledge about data.


Open Data and Open Science for the SDGs: UN STI FORUM Side Event, 15 May

UN STI Forum Side Event, 15 May
 
Presented by the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) and the International Council for Science (ICSU), with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN)
 
The digital revolution has created enormous potential for scientific discovery, for efficiency and productivity in business, the economy and education, for socio-political innovation and for minimizing disaster risk. Harnessing the power of the digital revolution to achieve these ends through open data and open science will be essential if we are to maximize the probability of achieving the sustainable developments goals. Developing the capacities of national science systems to deploy open data concepts and tools to address these goals is therefore a vital priority. It is for these reasons that the International Council for Science (ICSU) and its Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) are working with UN agencies, governments, institutions and other international partners to create regional Open Science Platforms in Africa and Latin America & the Caribbean. The Platforms are digital ecosystems designed to provide a virtual space for scientists to:
  • find the tools they need for discovery and application;
  • develop capacities at all levels, from individuals to institutions/companies and to governments;
  • provide powerful digital tools to address major problems;
  • exchange ideas, best practice and opportunistic links with international data-science communities.
 
This side event will take place in Conference Room 4 at UN Headquarters, New York, between 6:15 and 7:30pm on the 15th May. The programme is:
 
Moderator: Dr Robert Chen (UNSDSN)
Presentations: 
- The Digital Revolution & the SGDs: Dr Heide Hackmann, Executive Director, ICSU.
- Africa & Latin America Open Science Platforms: Dr Geoffrey Boulton, President, CODATA.
Panel & General Discussions
 
 
Registration for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Stakeholders: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfS8LhswBDDPrsiGiIOrSROuEEc-u84EWhf0CD2KH8rgWbvFw/viewform


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