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Call for Task Groups 2018-2020

Call for Task Groups 2018-2020

CODATA invites proposals for Task Groups to be approved by the 31st CODATA General Assembly which will be held on 9-10 November 2018, in Gaborone, Botswana, following International Data Week 2018, 5-8 November 2018 (comprising our research conference SciDataCon 2018).
The final deadline for submissions of Task Group Proposals is 18 July 2018.  Proposals will be reviewed by the CODATA Executive Committee and by external experts.  Recommendations will be presented to the CODATA General Assembly which will select the Task Groups.
Task Group Proposals should be submitted on this form to Simon Hodson, CODATA Executive Director simon@codata.org by the deadline of 18 July 2018.
Task Groups are approved by the General Assembly for 2 years. Existing CODATA Task Groups may apply for renewal and are subject to the same criteria, as described in the attached document.
The three priority areas in the CODATA Strategy are as follows:
  1. To promote Open Data principles, policies and practices;
  2. To advance the frontiers of data science and its adaptation to scientific research;
  3. To build capacity for  improving skills and the functioning of science systems (particularly in low and middle income countries – LMICs)
The call suggests some high priority topics under each of these headings (see the call document for further details):
Open data principles, policies and practices
    • developing good practice and recommendations around data principles and policies;
    • examining the limits of openness;
    • synthesizing and advancing work on the benefits of data sharing;
    • exploring the theme of data diplomacy to consider what international agreements can promote the more open availability of data.
Frontiers of Data Science
    • Reproducibility in research
    • Statistical, epistemological and ethical challenges of Big Data
    • Criteria for selection and preservation of research data
    • Development of glossaries, data dictionaries or ontologies
    • Data integration and data strategies for international, transdisciplinary research programmes
Capacity building, data skills and education
    • analyzing requirements for data education
    • developing and refining the curriculum for ‘research data science’;
    • examining and articulating the processes and standards for the creation of reusable online materials and the development of those materials;
    • examining and addressing issues around access to research software, the maintenance and development of Open Source research software.
Task Group proposals addressing these or similar issues are particularly encouraged.  This does not mean that Task Group proposals addressing areas not described below will be considered out of scope: we invite and encourage innovative ideas from the CODATA community.