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How to apply to participate
Course venue: Kruger National Park, South Africa
Course dates: 18 - 21 November 2024
The application deadline is 31 July 2024
Applicants from Norwegian and South African institutions should fill out this form in order to apply for the course: https://forms.gle/a8g85KGKcpCfx9hU8
All students applying for the course from Norway must have permission from their supervisors and be responsible for funding their own flight costs. All other expenses (food and accommodation) will be charged to the project. Note that the application form is for both Norwegian and South African applicants, questions related to race are solely for the purpose of South African applicants and are used for statistical purposes to maintain their equal opportunity program.
The BioDATA Advance project is offering 10 – 12 places to students from Norway and 14 places for students from South Africa.
Course information
BioDATA Advanced is an international project between Norway and South Africa that aims to support students in upper education in developing skills in biodiversity data management and publishing, in addition to the most modern molecular methods for monitoring biodiversity. The skills taught within BioDATA Advanced are important for carrying out the everyday tasks of a modern biologist, though many of these skills are not taught in higher education.
This project also looks to strengthen the partnership between the South African Node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (SANBI-GBIF) and the other BioDATA partners, through exchanges and enhanced collaborations on scientific projects of mutual interest.
Course content
This course is a practical, hands-on introduction to how to extract, manipulate, and use data from GBIF for scientific analysis. We will spend 3 days learning some data use fundamentals and techniques, with an exciting fieldwork session planned, and some more thematic discussions on data use, and project showcases from Norway and South Africa. There will also be some time for practical work on your own project, with 1-on-1 help from the teachers.
The course aims to cover aspects like Data Standards, Open Science Fundamentals, Fitness for Use, Data Cleaning, and Manipulation, as well as delving into the use and application of biodiversity data, to understand the value of data in science and policy.
This course will teach you how to access and use biodiversity data in your research. The course curriculum includes:
- An introduction to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- Introduction to biodiversity in South Africa (SANBI)
- Open and reproducible science (open and FAIR research data)
- Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reproducible (FAIR) data principles
- Computer programming using the GBIF API (application programming interface)
- Datatables, databases, and data structures
- Data standards (including Darwin Core)
- Computer code management (including GitHub)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) supported programming
- Using Google Colab for collaborative code development
- Using Digital Twins for data analysis (use case on crop wild relatives)
- Data cleaning, wrangling, and data carpentry
- Data visualisation
Audience
The course is suitable for MSc and PhD students in biology and other early career professionals in relevant fields. Participants should have an affinity or professional interest in biodiversity. Participants need to have the motivation and interest to use biodiversity data, and in particular GBIF data. Some technical knowledge of programming in R or Python will be an advantage, and a good understanding of English is required to follow the course, carry out the exercises, and get good support during the teaching.
Prerequisites
Participants should have an affinity or professional interest in biodiversity. Participants need to have the motivation and interest in using biodiversity data to conduct scientific research. A good understanding of English is necessary to follow the course, carry out the exercises, and receive support during the teaching. Ideally, you should also be familiar with programming in R or Python.
Venue and dates
- The course is from the 18th to the 21st of November 2024 at the Safari Lodge, Skukuza Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park.
Contact information
You can also contact Rukaya Johaadien (rukayasj@uio.no), Fatima Parker-Allie (F.Parker@sanbi.org.za), and Morne Du Plessis (DuPlessisMG@ufs.ac.za) with any questions about the course.