Last week a group of UNE early career researchers travelled to Sydney to upskill in digital research technologies at a three-day event hosted at Macquarie University.
The event was ResBaz Sydney, a volunteer-led annual event hosted by a different Sydney university each year for all NSW researchers. The purpose: to equip researchers with next generation skills in computational research techniques and introduce the exciting worlds of big data, data science and data analytics.
While the event was free for all participants, significant financial challenges confront participants attending from non-Sydney based universities. Of course in the past, this has meant that, while the event is for “all NSW researchers”, it has attracted researchers predominantly from metropolitan universities.
As a response, this year the Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Research, Prof Heiko Daniel, in partnership with the Deputy Director of Graduate Studies, Dr Eliza Kent and Intersect’s eResearch Analyst, Dr Paddy Tobias, established a scholarship program earlier in the year to give UNE researchers the opportunity to attend.
Through a competitive process, ten researchers were selected to attend under the DVCR’s bursary scheme, supported by another 15 from UNE who attended via their own means.
For the first two days, participants were treated to skills development in advanced data science techniques using programming languages like R, Python or SQL, or chose to tackle a mix of skills required for Digital Humanities.
On the last day, participants we had a choice between a number streams focusing on machine learning and AI technologies in research, more digital humanities by way of a THAT Camp, and research impact and innovation.
ResBaz (short for Research Bazaar) is a relatively new event, having began in 2015 at the University of Melbourne. Since then it has gained traction across the globe, being held in as far reaching places as Norway. It presents a tremendous opportunity for researchers to catch up to fast evolving world of digital research. For this reason, a major sponsor of this year’s Sydney-based event was Intersect Australia, a ten-year partner of UNE’s to provide such research skills training and access to computing technologies.
For UNE researchers reading this piece and interested in such future opportunities in this area, keep an eye on the Digital Research Support webpage. For other research training opportunities hosted at UNE, researchers can find out more here or contact the eResearch Analyst.