25 November 2014

GeoPortal project showcase: a proof-of-concept for research data management at UCT Libraries

Date: 25 November 2014

Time: 11:00 - 12:30

Cost: Included in conference registration

Presented by: Kelly.L., Steele, D., Kistain, L., Barry, W., Hodgson, H., Walker, A, UCT Libraries

 


A guide to the FAIRness of data: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable

Date: 25 November 2014

Time: 13:30 - 15:30

Cost: Included in conference registration

Presented by: Professor Barend Mons, Leiden University

Professor Barend Mons holds a chair in Biosemantics at the LUMC and is one of the scientific directors of NBIC. In addition he acts as a Life Sciences 'eScience integrator' in the Netherlands eScience centre. Currently, he coordinates the creation of the DTL Data programme and in that capacity he is also the scientific representative of The Netherlands in the interim board of the ELIXIR ESFRI project. Barend is also participates in Data FAIRport.

 


27 November 2014

Technology in the Service of Research: Solutions, Practices, and Challenges

Date: 27 November 2014

Time: 09:00 - 12:30

Cost: Included in conference registration

Presented by: Robert McLaughlin (UCT)

Summary

Panel 1: Mediating Encounters with Compliance 
              R McLaughlin: Topics in Technology and the Responsible Conduct of Research at UCT  
                                      (SAVC Compliance/applications for authorisation; Conflicts of Interest Management; Training, Tracking, &
                                      Storage)
             Stellenbosch: Tracking systems for ethics reviews and protocol monitoring; other topics from the Research Office
             Questions, Answers, Discussion

Panel 2: Finding Needles in Electronic Haystacks: Research Professional AfricaSearching external funding opportunities using
              Research Professional Africa
              Questions, Answers, Discussion

Panel 3: Using Bibliometrics to measure Research Performance at UCT (11:45-12:30)
              Questions, Answers, Discussion

 


Microsoft Azure for Research Tutorial

Date: 27 November 2014

Time: 09:00 - 17:00

Cost: free

Space: 40 participants

Registration: Complete the online registration form.

Presented by: Dr Kenji Takeda (Microsoft Research)

Dr Kenji Takeda is Solutions Architect and Technical Manager for Microsoft Research. His current focus is helping researchers take best advantage of cloud computing, including through big data and data science approaches, including the Azure for Research programme – www.azure4research.com. He has extensive experience in Cloud Computing, High Performance and High Productivity Computing, Data-intensive Science, Scientific Workflows, Scholarly Communication, Engineering and Educational Outreach. He has a passion for developing novel computational approaches to tackle fundamental and applied problems in science and engineering.

He was previously Co-Director of the Microsoft Institute for High Performance Computing, and Senior Lecturer in Aeronautics, at the University of Southampton, UK. There he worked with leading high value manufacturing companies such as Airbus, AgustaWestland, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Formula One teams, to develop state-of-the-art capability for improving science and engineering processes. His technical expertise is in the areas of aerodynamics, aeroacoustics and flight simulation.

Summary:

This tutorial will cover websites, virtual machines, cloud storage, scale-out computing, and visualisation. You will also learn how cloud computing can accelerate your research.


27 - 28 November 2014

Software Carpentry Bootcamp

Date: 27-28 November 2014

Time: 09:00 - 17:00

Cost: R500 for two-day workshop (including lunch and tea breaks)

Space: Limited to 80 participants interested in research software development

Registration: Complete the online registration form and select Software Carpentry under the Registration fee section.

Presented by: Jonah Duckles (USA), Dr James Hetherington (UK), Dr JC Leyder (Spain), David Merand (RSA), Dr Bruce Becker (RSA) and Peter van Heusden (RSA)

Jonah Duckles

Jonah Duckles is Director of Informatics and Innovation in a joint appointment with The University of Oklahoma's Libraries and Information Technology organizations.  In this role he attempts to inspire people with tools and best practices for scientific software development and digital fabrication. He holds degrees in Physics and Forestry & Natural Resources, both from Purdue University.

Dr James Hetherington

Dr Hetherington is a research software engineer, who combines the skills and experience of a computational scientist with those of a professional software engineer. As leader of UCL's Research Software Development team, he works with researchers to produce maintainable, usable, well-tested scientific software that will have a lasting impact. Dr Hetherington holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics.

David Merand

David has been lecturing mathematics at the Wits School of Education for the last three years and is currently part of the Academic Development Unit where support in Mathematics is provided to Engineering students. He has a background in commercial systems development and mathematics education and a passion for using technology to improve science and mathematics education.

Dr Bruce Becker

Bruce Becker is a senior researcher at the SANREN Competency Area of the CSIR Meraka Institute. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cape Town and has worked at the CEA (Paris) and INFN (Cagliari) on the ALICE experiment at the LHC. After moving back to South Africa, he kickstarted the South African National Grid, a federation of institutes, national laboratories and research groups providing an integrated computational and data infrastructure. He continues the coordiantion of SAGrid, and at the regional level, the Africa-Arabia Regional Operations Centre. His roles in this context are to ensure smooth technical interoperability between resource centres in the region, promote the deployment of new sites, provide technical and operational support and promote the uptake of services associated with the ROC. Working closely with the Ubuntunet Alliance, he has been involved in several FP7-funded support actions, including ei4Africa, CHAIN and CHAIN-REDS projects. He works closely with SANReN in the area of identity federations, network-intensive applications and other advanced services.

Peter van Heusden

Peter van Heusden is a systems administrator and software developer at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute, a life sciences research institute at the University of the Western Cape. He has been supporting research computing in academic settings for two decades.

Summary

Software Carpentry (SWC) is a volunteer organization teaching basic scientific computing skills to researchers in science, engineering, and medicine. Founded in 1998, it is backed by the Sloan Foundation and Mozilla, and has run over a hundred events for several thousand people across the globe in the last year alone.

The event will focus on teaching software development best practice to postgraduate students and researchers involved in data intensive research projects associated with genomics, bioinformatics, and astronomy but will be open to researchers in any field of study.  More information is available at http://goo.gl/1PiFdz.  

 


28 November 2014

Microsoft Azure Machine Learning for Research

Date: 28 November 2014

Time: 09:00 - 15:00

Cost: free

Space: 40 participants

Registration: Complete the online registration form.

Presented by: Dr Kenji Takeda (Microsoft Research)

Dr Kenji Takeda is Solutions Architect and Technical Manager for Microsoft Research. His current focus is helping researchers take best advantage of cloud computing, including through big data and data science approaches, including the Azure for Research programme – www.azure4research.com. He has extensive experience in Cloud Computing, High Performance and High Productivity Computing, Data-intensive Science, Scientific Workflows, Scholarly Communication, Engineering and Educational Outreach. He has a passion for developing novel computational approaches to tackle fundamental and applied problems in science and engineering.

He was previously Co-Director of the Microsoft Institute for High Performance Computing, and Senior Lecturer in Aeronautics, at the University of Southampton, UK. There he worked with leading high value manufacturing companies such as Airbus, AgustaWestland, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Formula One teams, to develop state-of-the-art capability for improving science and engineering processes. His technical expertise is in the areas of aerodynamics, aeroacoustics and flight simulation.
 

Summary:

You will learn how to create, test, evaluate and publish machine learning predictive analytics easily, all in the cloud.