The University of Edinburgh is running a series of online workshops in software and data skills as part of the Scottish Funding Council’s programme for Data Skills Workforce Development.

These courses are intended to help members of the Scottish Workforce to upskill or reskill in several digital data competency areas. There will be a total of three workshops, each run over three or four half days in April, May and June. The workshops are highly interactive, and will be delivered remotely, via online platforms, such as Zoom.

More information about the programme can be found here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/bayes/about-us/our-work/education/workforce-development.

Registration links can be found below, under ‘Course Schedule and Structure’. For questions, contact Gina Pegu at G.pegu@sms.ed.ac.uk or Lucie Woellenstein at lucie.woellenstein@sms.ed.ac.uk. 

Course overview

Data Carpentry workshops teach fundamental data skills needed for anyone who works with data and datasets. These workshops focus on the introductory computational skills needed for data management and analysis. The model is based on a community of certified instructors who teach at the workshops, and contributors who maintain the lesson materials. The instructors come from a range of backgrounds and are often researchers with sound experience in working with data.

The lessons materials are all available under a CC-BY licence and are maintained by the community itself. They are modular, allowing for the provision of slightly different workshops, depending on the attendees’ needs.

The target audience is learners who have little to no prior computational experience. We create a friendly environment for learning to empower researchers and enable data-driven good practices. The workshops are highly interactive and hands-on.

Course schedule and structure 

Each course covers a slightly different selection of topics. Learners should consider which one best suits their needs, as they may only attend one. Times will be from 10am–3pm BST each day.

• Workshop 1: 12-14 April; 3 half-days
  • Day 1: Spreadsheets and OpenRefine
  • Day 2: R
  • Day 3: R (continued)

To register, email: G.pegu@sms.ed.ac.uk

• Workshop 2: 3-6 May; 4 half-days
  • Day 1: R
  • Day 2: R (Continued)
  • Day 3: Regular expressions
  • Day 4: SQL

Register here. 

• Workshop 3: 7-9 June; 3 half-days
  • Day 1: Spreadsheets and OpenRefine
  • Day 2: Python
  • Day 3: Python (continued)

Register here.

No prerequisite knowledge is needed for any course. However, the courses will be easier for people with a basic knowledge of computers. There will be pre-workshop surveys to assess the level of the attendees and help the instructors to set the level.

Eligibility criteria

Places on the course are free-of-charge, but only available to those who meet Scottish Funding Council (SFC) fee waiver criteria. Note that places are limited and that full-time students are not eligible for funding.

You must meet at least one of the following criteria to be eligible, as per SFC requirements:

• living in Scotland or the EU (but not England, Wales, or Northern Ireland) for the last three years for reasons other than education.
• living in the rest of the UK and working for a Scottish employer (an employer that is based in or has a significant presence in Scotland).