DCC Newsletter

The DCC Newsletter informs you about: thematic sessions, ICT for research facilities, developments in Open Science and Open Access, Research Data Management and FAIR data. 

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DCC newsletter archive

2023

  • June 2023

    In this newsletter, we inform you about our previous events as well as upcoming workshops and events. We hope to see you there in person or online!

    During 2023, we will gladly help you again with managing your data and making your research outputs more open to other scientists and society.

    OPEN SCIENCE FESTIVAL 2023 

    Get ready for the third edition of the Netherlands National Open Science Festival! After last year’s successful event with over 300 visitors, this year the festival will be held at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam on 31 August 2023. 

    Like the previous editions, the festival revolves around sharing knowledge and peer learning: it is aimed at both active researchers from universities (of applied sciences), academic hospitals and research institutes in the Netherlands, and policy makers who enable Open Science practices to spread throughout the academic world.

    MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

    Practical Guide on Open Science

    Open Science is essential for reliable research, but it's not just the work of superhuman geniuses. Collaboration is key, and researchers must build upon each other's work to make progress. That's why, in collaboration with UKB, UNL, DANS, and the NWO, Loek Brinkman, Elly Dijk, Hans de Jonge, Nicole Loorbach and Daan Rutten have published a practical guide on Open Science. 

    This guide is aimed at PhD candidates, Research Master Students, and early-career researchers from all disciplines at Dutch universities and research institutes, and is designed to accompany researchers in every step of their research. From preparing your research project and discovering relevant resources to data collection, analysis, writing, publishing, and outreach, every chapter provides you with the best tools and practices to implement immediately.

    DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE

    YOUNG ACADEMY: HOW TO BE AN OPEN SCIENTIST

    Would you like to learn how to make your research more collaborative and open for the public? Or do you already do so, and would like to be inspired by other ways of doing so? Then do not hesitate, and register for the event “How to be an open scientist” on the 19th of June 12:30-13:30!

    During this session, you can also ask all your questions to two UT researchers and two leading members of the Open Science Community Twente: Xavier Pouwels and Zafer Öztürk and Raul Zurita Milla and Florian Schuberth. Next to answering questions, they will share all their tips and best practices: How do you start contributing to open science? Who can help you? And what does it bring you in return?

    MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

    INTERVIEW EO AFRICA R&D FACILITY

    The European Commission has proposed an exciting partnership between Africa and Europe to digitally transform Africa. Part of this effort is the EO AFRICA R&D Facility, led by the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), which seeks to create a thriving research community based on Open Science principles and foster innovation in EO (Earth Observation) capabilities in Africa.

    Together with Serkan Girgin, Head of the Center of Expertise in Big Geodata Science (CRIB) and Associate Professor at the Geo-Information Processing Department of the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), and Marloes Penning de Vries, Assistant Professor Water, Climate and Health Interactions at the Water Resources Department, we explore how the facility promotes Open Science practices and how the expertise and services of the Digital Competence Centre are of value in this.

    READ THE FULL ARTICLE

    DCC NEWSLETTER

    Keep an eye out for future events hosted by the Open Science Community Twente and the Digital Competence Centre. Subscribe to our newsletter and join us in shaping the future of science and become a part of the Open Science movement today

    SUBSCRIBE

  • April 2023

    In this newsletter, we inform you about our previous events as well as upcoming workshops and events. We hope to see you there in person or online!

    During 2023, we will gladly help you again with managing your data and making your research outputs more open to other scientists and society.

    CREATE AND PUBLISH FAIR DATASETS DIRECTLY FROM YOUR RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

    Join both us and the Open Science Community Twente on the 20th of April from 14:00 - 15:30 in LEARN-X (DesignLab) for our joint event on FAIR research datasets

    Guest speaker, Dr. Ing. Serkan Girgin, will be presenting on "How to create and publish FAIR research datasets directly from your research environment?" In this talk, Dr. Girgin will introduce the open-source FAIRly toolset, which aims to bridge the gap between virtual research environments and research data repositories, enabling easy research data publication directly from the research environment.

    We have a maximum capacity of 50 people, so register on time!

    MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION


    4TU.RESEARCHDATA ROAD SHOW

    4TU.ResearchData hits the road this spring on a journey to meet and better engage with their community! They are doing a tour to visit their partner and member institutions to strengthen their collaboration with both staff and students.

    The roadshow aims to bring together data stewards, data support staff, researchers, supervisors, research software engineers… and more! Will you be joining 4TU.ResearchData and us at the 25th of April? Read more via the link below.

    MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

    OSCT-DCC ON RECOGNITION & REWARDS

    This past March, together with the Open Science Community Twente (OSCT), we organized our second joint OSCT-DCC event of the year. During this event, we discussed the topic of "Recognition & Rewards".

    Guest speaker Sander Bosch, Open Science coordinator at the VU Amsterdam, reflected on how Open Science and Recognition & Rewards relate to each other in the context of a university, drawing from his experiences at the Vrije Universiteit and national Open Science programmes and Recognition & Rewards initiatives. If you missed out on this event, don't worry: you can view the recording of the presentation session underneath.

    VIEW RECORDING

    OPEN SCIENCE SURVEY - HELP NEEDED

    The Open Science Community Twente (OSCT) and the Digital Competence Centre (DCC) have teamed up to conduct a survey on Open Science, and we need your input! Our survey aims to gather your thoughts and experiences on the transition towards Open Science: a more open and participatory science culture, where research outputs are made freely available as early as possible.

    By taking just 5 minutes to fill out the survey, you can help shape the future of science. We value your privacy, and no personal information will be collected. Your feedback will be shared and discussed within the UT community, so your voice can really make a difference. Don't miss out on the opportunity to share your opinion and be part of the Open Science movement.

    Thank you for your participation!

    GO TO THE SURVEY

    DCC NEWSLETTER

    Keep an eye out for future events hosted by the Open Science Community Twente and the Digital Competence Centre. Subscribe to our newsletter and join us in shaping the future of science and become a part of the Open Science movement today

    SUBSCRIBE

  • March 2023

    In this newsletter, we inform you about our previous events as well as upcoming workshops and events. We hope to see you there in person or online!   

    During 2023, we will gladly help you again with managing your data and making your research outputs more open to other scientists and society.

    Joint OSCT-DCC event: Recognition & Rewards

    The Digital Competence Centre (DCC) and the Open Science Community Twente (OSCT) invite you to the second joint OSCT-DCC event on "Recognition & Rewards". Sander Bosch, Open Science coordinator at the VU Amsterdam, will be our guest speaker to give more insights on the Recognition & Rewards. This event will take place online.

    Date: Thursday 30 April 2023
    Time: 14.00 -15.00 hrs.
    Location: Online

    Add to calender and click to join the event.

    Recap: Shaping Open Science

    On the 23rd of February, the Open Science Community Twente and the Digital Competence Centre hosted their first joint event of 2023, “Shaping Open Science”. Open Science will play an even more important role in education and research and will inevitably impact the way we teach and do research. The Shaping Open Science event aimed to highlight the national Open Science movement, as well as how Open Science will shape the landscape of research and education.

    During the event, Raúl Zurita Milla, Wendy van Ginkel, Michiel de Boer, and Maria Cruz shared their valuable insights on Open Science from different perspectives!

    If you missed out on this event, don't worry: you can view the recording of the presentation session underneath.

    Recording presentation session

    Open science survey - We want to hear from you

    The Open Science Community Twente (OSCT) and the Digital Competence Centre (DCC) have teamed up to conduct a survey on Open Science, and we need your input! Our survey aims to gather your thoughts and experiences on the transition towards Open Science: a more open and participatory science culture, where research outputs are made freely available as early as possible. 

    By taking just 5 minutes to fill out the survey, you can help shape the future of science. We value your privacy, and no personal information will be collected. Your feedback will be shared and discussed within the UT community, so your voice can really make a difference. Don't miss out on the opportunity to share your opinion and be part of the Open Science movement.

    Thank you for your participation! 

    Go to survey.

    Networking and exchange meeting on citizen science

    Please mark your calendar and save the 6th of April to attend the University of Twente’s first Networking and Exchange meeting on Citizen Science, organized by the Citizen Science Hub Twente, which was launched on 1 January this year. 

    During the first hour of this meeting the Citizen Science Hub Twente will be presented, and they will share stories on how researchers, support staff, students and citizens are creating societal impact with their Citizen Science projects. The second hour will be reserved for networking opportunities.

    Date: Thursday 6 April 2023
    Time: 15.00 - 17.00 hrs.
    Location: DesignLab, University of Twente (Hengelosestraat 500, Enschede, Overijssel)

    Register here.

    Workshop: Intro to geospatial raster and vector data with Python

    Are you interested in the world of geospatial data analysis? Join both the ITC Faculty and the Netherlands eScience Center during their collaborate workshop and discover how Python, one of the most popular programming languages for data science and analytics, can help you in the field of Earth and Space Sciences. ITC experts will guide you through a hands-on experience with geospatial raster and vector data analysis and show you how to use powerful Python tools to carry out practical tasks. Don't miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge and skills in geospatial data analysis with Python!

    Date: 30 and 31 March 2023 (one and a half day training)
    Location: ITC Building, Room 2-133 (Hengelosestraat 99, 7514 AE Enschede)

    Register here.

    Recap: P-NUT day & RDM bingo workshop

    On the 24th of February, the Design lab was the venue for the P-NUT Day: A day filled with thought-provoking keynote talks, engaging discussions, and workshops designed to elevate the skills of doctoral candidates.

    The engaging discussions and hands-on workshops were an excellent opportunity for participants to learn new skills and develop strategies to enhance their research work. The Digital Competence Centre was also present to host their second RDM Bingo workshop, which provided excellent opportunity for attendees to test their knowledge on Research Data Management and win cool prizes doing so! RDM Bingo stimulated participants to discuss the latest trends in RDM and exchange insights.

    Visit the website to learn more about P-Nut and their upcomming events.

  • February 2023

    This is the first newsletter of DCC in 2023!

    In this newsletter, you will find the upcoming events and workshops in 2023 along with the important highlights of January 2023!

    In 2023, we will gladly help you again with managing your data and making your research outputs more open to other scientists and society. 

    Save the Date: “Shaping Open Science” and the First Open Science Networking Drinks of the Year 

    Hosted by the Open Science Community Twente (OSCT) and the UT Digital Competence Centre (DCC)

    Location: Amphitheater, Vrijhof
    Date: 23 February 2023, 15.00 - 17.00 hrs 

    In the coming years, Open Science will play an even more important role in education and research and thus will inevitably impact the way we teach and do research in the future. Among other universities in the Netherlands and as a member of 4TU, the University of Twente (UT) is actively involved in furthering and shaping Open Science at the UT.

    Therefore, it is now the perfect time to join us in this shared journey.

    Sign up for "Shaping Open Science" 

    Online Software Carpentry Workshop: May 30th - June 2nd .

    This online four-half-day workshop covers the core basic skills you need to work with reproducible code. The workshop covers task automation with Unix shell, version control with Git, basic concepts of data management, and an introduction to Python programming.

    The workshop is interesting for researchers who have little to no prior programming experience. Software Carpentry workshops are organized at the University of Twente by 4TU.ResearchData in collaboration with UT Library, the Data Stewards, and the UT Digital Competence Centre (DCC).

    Click here for more information about the Software Carpentry workshop. 

    Register for the workshop

    We are Looking for Helpers for the Software Carpentry Workshop to be Held on May 30th, 31st, June 1st & 2nd

    During the workshop, we will need a few people to help out in case learners run into problems or get stuck. Helpers answer questions and help learners work through things like installation problems, error messages, and unexpected output. You do not need to be an expert in the tools we are covering, just to have used one or more of them and be comfortable helping people troubleshoot.

    At this workshop, we are planning on covering Unix shell, Git/Github and Python. If you are interested, you can see the materials for Unix Shell, Git, Python , and the rest of the curricular materials here

    For more information on the course schedule: Course finder CTD: UT courses for employees | University of Twente (utwente.nl)

    For helpers it is possible to help on all dates or it is possible to choose one of these dates. 

    Helpers from PhD candidates will receive ECTS credits from TGS!

    Interested? Want to know more, please contact Zafer Öztürk 

    4TU.ResearchDataFAIR Data Fund Autumn Call 2022: Meet the Grantees!

    We are happy to share with you all that Assistant Professor Menno Bokdam (TNW-CCP), PhD researcher Simon Langener (EEMCS-HMI), and Prof. Dr. Raúl Zurita Milla (ITC-GIP) were awarded the 4TU.ResearchData FAIR Data Fund (Autumn Call) and many congratulations to the three UT grantees!

    You can read more on their projects here! 

    Spring 2023 BDSi Data Science Week March 6th-13th

    Over the course of two weeks BDSi, the  Behavioural Data Science Incubator will organize a datathon and a series of workshops and seminars. Everyone related to the University of Twente and their friends and family can join.

    In the datathon, you will compete with other teams of behavioural data scientists to solve a real data science case. BDSi staff will organise seminars and workshops throughout the first week to introduce the various steps involved in data science. These activities are meant to support the datathon, but are open to all students and staff. Coaches will be available throughout both weeks to guide you when you run into problems.

    After one week, the teams with the best solutions and most interesting approaches to the data science problem will present their work, and be presented with a suitable prize.

    Register here

    Best Practices & Interviews

    In these interviews, you read in what ways DCC specialists have helped UT researchers to make their research data FAIR and/ or open, or with questions about Open Science, Open Access or ICT for Research. Learn how our experts can help you and do not hesitate to ask your questions.

     Open Science Community Twente Advocates ‘Slow and Solid Science’

    Professor Raúl Zurita-Milla, one of the founders of the Open Science Community Twente (OSCT), believes that ‘science should move from fast to slow and solid science.’ In 2023 the OSCT and UT’s Digital Competence Centre will jointly organize a new series of monthly Open Science meetings. ‘For the first one in February we plan to sketch the national Open Science landscape and will continue inviting UT colleagues to tell us what OS-practices they want to learn about.’

     Read the article!

     Open Science Teaching for UT Health Care Technology & Management Students: Why and How?

    The call for open and transparent research is getting louder, but researchers have often not been trained to do open research, says Assistant Professor Xavier Pouwels. 'In my field, health economics, we use simulation models to calculate the costs and benefits of medical technology. The outcomes contribute to the development of healthcare policy. It is important that those models are described transparently.' Pouwels wants to teach students, the future researchers and professionals, an Open Science Mindset and Skills. How does he go about that? 

    Read the article!

    The Many Benefits of UT-Jupyterlab for your Research and Teaching

    Using UT-JupyterLab for your research and teaching has many benefits, says Associate Professor of Data Science Maurice van Keulen. ‘The platform offers considerable computing power and saves me a lot of time, as many programming languages, such as Python and R, as well as applications have already been installed in it.

    Read the article!

     Curious to read these interesting interviews? 

     

    Questions?

    If you have any suggestions and/or questions, you can contact us through dcc@utwente.nl

    Please share it in your network and to subscribe to DCC newsletter, you can use Stay up to date with the monthly DCC newsletter (utwente.nl)

2022

  • December 2022

    This is the last newsletter of DCC in 2022.We will keep you informing in 2023, during which we will gladly help you again with managing your data and making your research outputs more open to other scientists and society.

    This newsletter contains important highlights of the DCC in 2022 and information about our tools and services, as well as information on how our DCC specialists can help you. We will also inform you about upcoming workshops and events in 2023.

    We wish you happy holidays!

    Open Science Week of UT

    In June 2022, the University of Twente’s first Open Science week was organized by the DCC in collaboration with OSCT and PNUT!

    Many thanks to all the speakers for their wonderful and inspiring lectures and to all attendants for joining us! Have a look at the presentations of Open Science week.

    View presentations

    The Advantage of Publishing Your Articles in Immediate Open Access

    97% of all peer-reviewed articles written by UT scientists were published in open access in 2021. This is much more than in 2020, when 69% of UT academic publications were freely accessible. The UT is very proud of this achievement! However, there still is room for improvement because 26% of the articles were not immediately published Open Access. These articles became Open Access automatically after six months in Twente Research Information via the so called ‘green route’ (Pure).  The disadvantage of opening publications after six months is that there is no license for re-use. So, we encourage everyone to publish OA immediately with a license for reuse.

    There are a great many high-quality journals in which UT authors can publish OA immediately with a license for re-use and at no cost.

    • There are almost 12000 high-quality OA journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) that don’t charge Article Processing Costs.
    • There are almost 10000 high-quality journals that let submitting UT authors publish OA at a 100% discount, thanks to agreements between the Universities of The Netherlands and publishers.

    These 22000 peer-reviewed journals are of high quality. If you have questions or need support with publishing your article Open Access immediately do not hesitate to ask your faculty’s information specialist or the central Open Access team for help.

     Check the UT Journal Browser to find out about APC discounts 

    Read how UT’s Open Access Team can help you 

    How your Faculty’s Data Steward can help you – Watch the Video!

    In 2022, data stewards of your faculty have been supporting you with your data management related questions and our data stewards team will be there to support you further in 2023!

    At the UT, all faculties have a dedicated discipline specific data steward to help researchers with research data management. In this video, you can see why good data management is important and how the data stewards can help you. Do you need advice or support with your data management? Our data stewards will be glad to help you.

    Want to know who is your faculty's data steward? Check Consult a specialist | Digital Competence Centre (DCC network) (utwente.nl) 

    Watch the video to find out how they can help you. 

    Use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE)

    Are you a UT researcher and are you looking for flexible, efficient and scalable computing infrastructure to perform simulations / calculations? Then use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE)! VRE has been developed by LISA service department.

    Watch this video on VRE to find out what VRE offers and to hear the experiences of the UT researchers that have already used VRE.

    Discover more about VRE through 

    Use UT-JupyterLab for Your Research, Prototyping or Education

    UT researchers and lecturers can now use UT-JupyterLab. This interactive development environment offers you various programming languages such as Python, and web applications such as Matlab and Orange Data Mining. UT-JupyterLab mainly uses the interactive web application Jupyter notebooks.

    As a UT employee or UT student you can use UT-JupyterLab for free.

    Cannot wait to start?

     Find out how Jupytarlab works 

     UT Publishes a Diamond Open Access Journal ‘In-House’

    The first edition of the 'Journal of Human-Technology Relations' will be published by UT in 2023. This journal will be a Diamond Open Access journal, meaning researchers and students can publish articles for free and everyone can read it free of charge.

     Want to know what steps you need to take for creating and publishing a diamond OA journal?

    Read our interview with distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Human-Technology Relations Peter-Paul Verbeek and Society & Technology Project Manager Michelle de Boer!

    Read the interview and learn about Diamond OA Publishing 

    Have a Look at the Recordings and Presentations of the Previous Thematic Sessions

    Besides Open Science Week 2022, DCC hosted two thematic sessions in 2022.

     

    Software Carpentry Workshop 2022

    The DCC looks back on informative software carpentry workshops in 2022! As we learn from previous experience, the format for next year’s workshops will be reviewed and improved.

    Why it is Important to Make Your Research Data FAIR: Watch the Video

    Good, FAIR data management is very important for UT's network data scientist Doina Bucur. Her data describes indigenous astronomies from all over the world. It has a historical and cultural nature. She has collected data objects that describe the way different people saw constellations in the sky, for example.

     

    FAIR Data Fund

    Bucur obtained a FAIR Data Fund from 4TU.ResearchData in 2022 to support the release of a scholarly dataset describing constellation line figures (spatial networks in celestial coordinates) from the ethnography of many traditional astronomies around the world.

    Watch the video

    Best Practices and Interviews

    In these interviews, you read in what ways DCC specialists have helped UT researchers to make their research data FAIR and/ or open, or with questions about Open Science, Open Access or ICT for Research. Learn how our experts can help you and do not hesitate to ask your questions.

    Curious to read these interesting interviews? 

    Questions?

    If you have any suggestions and/or questions, you can contact us through dcc@utwente.nl

     Please share it in your network and to subscribe to DCC newsletter, you can use Stay up to date with the monthly DCC newsletter (utwente.nl)

  • October 2022

    Apply for the 4TU.ResearchData FAIR Data Fund

    The FAIR Data Fund offers researchers a budget (up to €3.500) to cover the costs of making their data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (The FAIR principles).

    Researchers and research projects from TU Delft and the University of Twente are eligible to apply for the fund. The Autumn call for applications opens on Tuesday 4th October and ends on Tuesday 15th November 2022. Applicants will be notified of the outcomes by Monday the 5th of December.

    Please contact FAIRdatafund(at)4tu.nl and/or for more information on how to apply, contact Zafer Öztürk, Data Steward, FAIR Data.  

    More information about the FAIR Data Fund     

     Have a look at September’s DCC Thematic Session: How to Handle Personal Data?

    On 27th of September, there has been a DCC thematic session hold on handling personal data in research. The recording and the presentations are available online if you missed it!

    How to Handle Personal Data?       

    We are Looking for Helpers for the Software Carpentry Workshop to be Held in November 14-17th!

    During the workshop, we will need a few people to help out in case learners run into problems or get stuck. Helpers answer questions and help learners work through things like installation problems, error messages, and unexpected output. You do not need to be an expert in the tools we are covering, just to have used one or more of them and be comfortable helping people troubleshoot.

    At this workshop, we are planning on covering Unix shell, Git/Github and Python. If you are interested, you can see the materials for Unix Shell, Git, Python , and the rest of the curricular materials here

    For more information on the course schedule: Course finder CTD: UT courses for employees | University of Twente (utwente.nl)

    For helpers it is possible to help on all dates or it is possible to choose one of these dates. 

    Helpers from PhD candidates will receive ECTS credits from TGS!

    Interested? Want to know more, please contact Zafer Öztürk     

    New guide: How to estimate Research Data Management costs for your research proposal

    When writing a research proposal for grant programs from funders such as NWO, ZonMw or ERC you are often required or encouraged to include a RDM Costs Estimation. To help you with the costs estimation UT’s Digital Competence Centre has made two checklists to help UT researchers.

    You can find the checklists in UT’s Research Support portal.

    Need help with RDM Costs estimation for your research proposal? 

    Ask your faculty's Data Steward or ICT Account Manager. 

    ‘Research data should be open, so researchers can build upon each other’s work’

    ‘Research data should be findable, understandable and open for others to use for new research’, says Mostafa Daoud, who is a PhD candidate in the Water Resources department at ITC. When his Master’s thesis was published as an article he published the underlying data in the national DANS data repository. The data can now be found, verified and downloaded by others. ITC Data Steward, Alice Nikuze, advised Daoud during the preparations and did a final check before he uploaded the data to DANS. What were the lessons learnt?

    The topic of Daoud’s Master’s thesis project at ITC was ‘surface - groundwater interactions in a hard rock system water-limited environment in Spain.’ ‘We used and combined new methods and introduced a new concept model to simulate surface - groundwater interactions.’

    Read the interview 

    Use UT-JupyterLab for your Research, Prototyping or Education

    UT researchers and lecturers can now use UT-JupyterLab. This interactive development environment offers you various programming languages, such as Python, and web applications such as Matlab and Orange Data Mining. UT-JupyterLab mainly uses the interactive web application Jupyter notebooks.

    As a UT employee or UT student you can use UT-JupyterLab for free.

    Cannot wait to start?

    FIND OUT HOW JUPYERLAB WORKS

    NWO Webinar Open Science: Facilitating the Sharing and Reuse of Qualitative Data

    Qualitative data, which frequently appears in narrative form, is used in many fields of research, but its sharing and reuse is limited due to privacy, confidentiality and ethical reasons. This webinar will highlight two projects that facilitate the sharing and reuse of qualitative data.

    Free automated multi-language text anonymization for open science (FAMTAFOS) uses machine learning and natural language processing methods to replace sensitive information from text data automatically and render them anonymous. CaRe & DaRe develops a procedure that will enable reuse by making qualitative case study data FAIR without making data openly available.

    Date and time:

    Thursday, 17 November 2022, 15:00 - 16:00 CET

    Register NWO | Webinar Open Science: Facilitating the sharing and reuse of qualitative data          

    The Research Software Directory: Increasing the Visibility and Impact of Research Software

    Research software plays a crucial role in academic research and has become a key output of many research projects, yet, its visibility and reuse are still limited. That's why the Netherlands eScience Center has developed the Research Software Directory, an online platform that showcases research software, and promotes its visibility, reuse and impact. Over the course of 2022, Netherlands eScience Center have developed the Research Software Directory as a service with the help of several collaborating organizations: Utrecht University, Leiden University, Amsterdam UMC and the Helmholtz Association (Germany’s largest research organization).

    Netherlands eScience Center would like to invite you to join in launching the service for use by other research organizations on 22 November 2022, with an online event where research software takes center stage. During this event the importance of research software as part of academic research and open science will be discussed, and the Research Software Directory, including talks from collaborators who are already using it will be presented. There will also be an optional hands-on session at the end for those interested in getting started with the Research Software Directory for their organization or research group.

    When: Tuesday, 22 November 2022, 14:00-16:30 CET

    Where: online

    Who: Researchers, research software engineers, IT staff, research support staff, open science advisers, and policy makers with an interest in research software.

    You can register via the Eventbrite page.        

    Use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE)

    Are you an UT researcher and are you looking for flexible, efficient and scalable computing infrastructure to perform simulations / calculations? Then use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE)! VRE has been developed by LISA service department.

    Watch this video on VRE to find out what VRE offers and to hear the experiences of the UT researchers that have already used VRE.

    Discover more about VRE through Research support: Virtual Research Environment | VRE | Virtual Machine | Cloud computing | Service Portal | University of Twente (utwente.nl)

    STARTING BUDGET FOR THE FIRST 20 APPLICATIONS

    Normally the service is designed according to the UT budget workflow and you only need an Subproject number  to start using it. We would like to know what you think of our portal and what needs to be changed in future releases. Briefly describe your research project and why you want to use the VRE and sent this to feedbackvre@utwente.nl. We provide a starting budget for the first 20 applications.

    The first 20 applications will receive a starting budget for VRE; the efficient and flexible computing infrastructure! | Service Portal | University of Twente (utwente.nl)

    Click here to discover more about VRE  

  • September 2022

    Newsletter September 2022

    Welcome to the new academic year in which we will gladly help you again with managing your data and making your research (results) more open to other scientists and society. In this newsletter you find information about our tools, services and read how our DCC specialists can help you. We also informing you about upcoming workshops and events.

    We hope to see you there in person or online!    

    This month's DCC thematic session: How to Handle Personal Data?

    The DCC cordially invites you our next thematic session about ‘How to handle personal data in research’ on Tuesday September 27th, 16:00 - 17:00 hrs.

    Our speakers will be:

    • Meike van de Ven-Davids, Data Protection Officer at the UT, will talk about when and how the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies to scientific research.
    • Petri de Willigen, Privacy Contact Person at EEMCS, will talk about handling personal data in research and will present the new flowchart developed.

    After every talk there will be room for questions and discussion. Do not forget to register.

    View the programme & Register for the thematic session

     

    Online Software Carpentry Workshop: November 14/15/16/17, 2022 

    The DCC cordially invites you to the 4 half days Software Carpentry workshop which will take place online at the UT on November 14, 15, 16 and 17th of 2022.

    This online four-half-day workshop covers the core basic skills you need to work with reproducible code. The workshop covers task automation with Unix shell, version control with Git, basic concepts of data management, and an introduction to Python programming.

    The workshop is interesting for researchers who have little to no prior programming experience. Software Carpentry workshops are organized at the University of Twente by 4TU.ResearchData in collaboration with UT Library, the Data Stewards, and the UT Digital Competence Centre (DCC).

     The Software Carpentry Workshop has been registered to CTD Course.

    Register for the workshop

    We are Looking for Helpers for the Software Carpentry Workshop to be Held in November 14-17th!

    During the workshop, we will need a few people to help out in case learners run into problems or get stuck. Helpers answer questions and help learners work through things like installation problems, error messages, and unexpected output. You do not need to be an expert in the tools we are covering, just to have used one or more of them and be comfortable helping people troubleshoot.

    At this workshop, we are planning on covering Unix shell, Git/Github and Python. If you are interested, you can see the materials for Unix Shell, Git, Python , and the rest of the curricular materials here

    For more information on the course schedule: Course finder CTD: UT courses for employees | University of Twente (utwente.nl)

    For helpers it is possible to help on all dates or it is possible to choose one of these dates. 

    Helpers from PhD candidates will receive ECTS credits from TGS!

    Interested? Want to know more, please contact Zafer Öztürk

    UT Publishes a Diamond Open Access Journal ‘In-House’

    In 2023, the first edition of the 'Journal of Human-Technology Relations' will be published by UT. This journal will be a Diamond Open Access journal, meaning researchers and students can publish articles for free and everyone can read it free of charge.

     Want to know what steps you need to take for creating and publishing a diamond OA journal?

    Read our interview with distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Human-Technology Relations Peter-Paul Verbeek and Society & Technology Project Manager Michelle de Boer!

     read the interview and learn about Diamond OA Publishing

     ‘What the BMS Data Steward Told Me About Making Data FAIR Was Highly Enlightening’

     At the UT all faculties have discipline specific data steward. Do you wonder how they can help you?

    Then read how Assistant Professor Le Anh Long was helped by BMS Data Steward Qian Zhang. Le Anh Long works with human subjects and sensitive data in quite a number of her research projects. When she was preparing a NWO research proposal she asked Qian Zhang for advice on the Data Management paragraph and plan. Zhang has been a great help to her.

    See who is your faculty’s data steward.

    Read how the data steward helped and what Long learnt

     

    The Advantage of Publishing Your Articles in Immediate Open Access

    In 2021, out of all peer-reviewed articles written by UT scientists, 97% were published in open access. This is much more than in 2020, when 69% of UT academic publications were freely accessible. The UT is very proud of this achievement! However, there still is room for improvement because 26% of the articles were not immediately published Open Access. These articles became Open Access automatically after six months in Twente Research Information (Pure).  The disadvantage of opening publications after six months is that there is no license for re-use. So, we encourage everyone to publish OA immediately with a license for reuse.

    There are a great many high-quality journals in which UT authors can publish OA immediately with a license for re-use and at no cost.

    • There are almost 12000 high-quality OA journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) that don’t charge Article Processing Costs.
    • There are almost 10000 high-quality journals that let submitting UT authors publish OA at a 100% discount, thanks to agreements between the Universities of The Netherlands and publishers.

    These 22000 peer-reviewed journals are of high quality. If you have questions or need support with publishing your article Open Access immediately do not hesitate to ask your faculty’s information specialist or the central Open Access team for help.

     Check the UT Journal Browser to find out about APC discounts

    Read how UT’s Open Access Team can help you

    Open Science Week June 2022 Presentations

    We from the DCC look back with great pleasure at the Open Science Week that we organized together with PhD Network University of Twente and The Open Science Community Twente in June 2022.

    Many thanks to all the speakers for their wonderful and inspiring lectures and to all attendants for joining us! Have you not been able to visit the Open Science week?


     Then have a look at the presentations about Open Science; Citizen Science, Open Access and FAIR Data!

    View the presentations

    New Data Steward for TNW Faculty

    In July Simone van Lin has started working as a data steward at TNW Faculty next to Iris Schutte.

     

    How your Faculty’s Data Steward can help you – Watch the Video!

     At the UT all faculties have a dedicated discipline specific data steward to help researchers with research data management. In this video you learn why good data management is important and how the data stewards can help you. Do you need advice or support for your data management? Our data stewards will be glad to help you.

    Watch the video to find out how they can help you.  

    Want to know who is your faculty's data steward? Check Consult a specialist | Digital Competence Centre (DCC network) (utwente.nl) or have a look below.

    Nominate a FAIR Data Set for the Dutch Data Prize

    Have you made your research dataset FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable? Or do you know someone that has done so? Then nominate yourself or a colleague for the Dutch Data Prize 2022. The winners of this prize receive € 3.500, - to be used to make their dataset(s) even more FAIR. For example, by making the data accessible online.

    The deadline for nominating is 30 September 2022.

    The winners will be announced on 29 November 2022.

    Check the criteria and submit a dataset here!

    Choosing the Right Computing System for Your Data Analysis

    Do you need to perform computer calculations for data analysis for your research - and are you unable to run these on your own system? Then there are a number of possibilities. Have a look at the information about Computing Services in the UT Research Support portal: https://edu.nl/vbw8m The decision tree below will help you choose the right system

    Find out what is the right computing system for you

    Join the 3rd BDSi Data Science Week September 19th-27th

    Over the course of two weeks BDSi, the  Behavioural Data Science Incubator will organize a datathon and a series of workshops and seminars. Everyone related to the University of Twente and their friends and family can join.

    In the datathon, you will compete with other teams of behavioural data scientists to solve a real data science case. BDSi staff will organise seminars and workshops throughout the first week to introduce the various steps involved in data science. These activities are meant to support the datathon, but are open to all BMS students and staff. Coaches will be available throughout both weeks to guide you when you run into problems.

    After one week, the teams with the best solutions and most interesting approaches to the data science problem will present their work, and be presented with a suitable prize.

    Register here: https://bdsi.bms.utwente.nl/data-science-week/

    Register here

    Questions?

    If you have any suggestions and/or questions, you can contact us through dcc@utwente.nl

    Please share it in your network and to subscribe to DCC newsletter, you can use Stay up to date with the monthly DCC newsletter (utwente.nl)

    The Digital Competence Center (DCC) is an innovative university-wide network of expertise on: Open Science, Research Data Management, ICT for Research (infrastructure, tools, software) & Digitalization of Science.

    UT DCC’s mission is to translate the needs of researchers into innovative ICT & RDM support services in their shared journey towards Open Science and Science 2.0.

  • March 2022

    Thematic Session: Curious to know why AREDA is the archive that you would like to use?

    March 31, 2022, 16.00-17.00 hrs.

    This thematic session is co-organized with the Open Science Community Twente, & 4TU.ResearchData. In 2022, the University of Twente’s Digital Competence Center (UT DCC), the Open Science Community Twente (OSCT) and 4TU.ResearchData are joining forces to co-organise events and thematic sessions for researchers, lecturers, and support staff in their shared journey towards open science. 

    AREDA is the University of Twente archive for the long-term storage of static data collected, generated or used in UT research projects. But archiving is more than just storing data. Metadata must be added, so datasets can be findable, whereas proper documentation is needed for interpretation and verification, as well as interoperability and reuse of the data. Therefore Areda is linked to the UT research information system (Pure), for adding metadata, while documentation can be included in a README file.

    All files are durably stored on ISO 27001 and NEN 7510 certified servers at the University of Twente. The back-up facility is hosted by Surf, which data centers are located in Utrecht and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Default, preservation and availability is for a period of 10 years. In the near future, other preservation periods are possible.

    Areda offers research groups their own ‘bucket’ where (zipped) files can be uploaded and shared among the group members in accordance with the group’s data policy and guidelines.

    Apply for the 4TU.ResearchData FAIR Data Fund

    Until Thursday 31st March 2022 UT researchers can apply for financial aid from the FAIR Data Fund to cover the costs of making datasets FAIR. This fund is for data that has already been created. It is intended for situations where there are no other resources available to make the data FAIR. The fund offers researchers a budget (up to €3.500) to cover the costs of making their data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.

    Researchers and research projects from the University of Twente, TU Delft, and TU/Eindhoven are eligible to apply for the fund. The Spring call ends on Thursday 31st March 2022. Applicants will be notified of the outcomes by Friday 6th May. 4TU.ResearchData believes in the added value and benefit of making data FAIR.

    Join the Software Carpentry Workshop, May 16-19, 2022

    The UT DCC is happy to host its third Software Carpentry workshop to be held on May 16th till 19th . Software Carpentry workshops are organized at the University of Twente by 4TU.ResearchData in collaboration with UT Library, the Data Stewards, and the UT Digital Competence Centre (DCC).

    A Software Carpentry is a hands-on, four-half-day workshop (online) that covers the core basic skills needed to work with reproducible code. The workshop covers task automation with Unix shell, version control with Git, basic concepts of data management, and an introduction to Python programming. This is an introductory course aimed at researchers who have little to no prior programming experience.

    What can UT’s FAIR Data Steward do for UT researchers?

    Zafer Öztürk

    Read more

    Open Science in Practice Webinar Series | NWO

    This webinar series showcases the projects awarded an Open Science Fund grant and will cover a wide variety of open science topics.

    The NWO Open Science Fund provides financial support to the leaders and pioneers who are putting open science into practice. The projects funded in the 2020-2021 round of the programme cover a broad range of open science practices, from developing open source tools and platforms for open science, to FAIR sharing of research data and software, and to bringing about the necessary culture change.

    Your research data are a valuable asset to yourself and to other scientists, society, citizens and entrepreneurs. Therefore, the University of Twente, and a growing number of journals and funders require you to make your data FAIR and if possible open. Your data are ‘FAIR’ if they are easily Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable. At the same time, you must comply with privacy legislation. Thus, making your data FAIR can sometimes be complex. In that case, you can ask UT’s FAIR Data Steward, Zafer Öztürk, for advice and support. Find out how he can help.

    Check the upcoming dates and the schedule

    P-NUT Speed Networking Event March 10th 2022

    #BreakTheBias in the International Women's Day 2022.

    This event is organized by the working group on female doctorate candidates EQUITY from P-NUT.

    The goal of the event is to get in contact with people from all kinds of positions at the UT and get to know each other in a creative and less-formal way, as we all have been lacking human interaction in the previous years. However, since Covid is still a threat even with lifted regulations - there is the possibility to join the event in either online or on-campus form. 

    Join this networking event where you can connect with other doctoral candidates, professors, students, everyone is invited!

    This event will be held in a hybrid format. We will meet on campus (DesignLab room INFORM) and online (via glimpse).

    Have a look at February’s Thematic Session: A repository service and community for FAIR data

    On 24th February, 4TU.ResearchData presented an overview of their repository services and community for FAIR data. Part one of the presentation, delivered by Madeleine de Smaele (repository manager) and Kees den Heijer (software developer) provided detailed information about the technical infrastructure to support FAIR data. Part two, delivered by Connie Clare (community manger) provided information about the community (human infrastructure) around the data repository.

    Watch the recording and download the slides


    Missed it? No worries: you find the recording and the presentations on the DCC-website.

  • January 2022

    In this newsletter, we inform you about new tools, guides, and services the DCC has recently developed for UT researchers. Do you have questions or want to co-create with us? Do not hesitate to contact us.

    Thematic Session: February 24, 2022, at 16.00 hrs.

    ‘4TU.ResearchData: A repository service and community for FAIR data’

    4TU.ResearchData will present an overview of their repository services and community for FAIR data. Part one of the presentation provides more detailed information about the technical infrastructure to support FAIR data. Part two provides information about the community (human infrastructure) around the data repository.

    Co-organizing with the Open Science Community Twente, & 4TU.ResearchData

    In 2022, the University of Twente’s Digital Competence Center (UT DCC), the Open Science Community Twente (OSCT) and 4TU.ResearchData are joining forces to co-organise events and Thematic Sessions for researchers, lecturers, and support staff in their shared journey towards open science. 

    Read more about ‘Stronger together’ and upcomingThematic Sessions:

    DCC website updated: find out how we can help you

    The DCC website has been updated. We have also added information about new tools and what we offer in the field of ICT for Research and Digitalization of Science.

      

    Check the new DCC website to find out what we can offer you as a UT researcher and who you can turn to with which questions.

    How to Publish Open Access in High-Quality Journals at no cost to you

    As a UT author, you can publish open access (OA) in many high-quality journals at no cost to you. To help you, the University Library has made the flowchart ‘Publishing articles open access as a UT author’. Are you planning to publish an article? Follow the steps in the flowchart and you will easily see all your options.

    Moreover, you will no longer miss opportunities to publish OA at a 100% discount.

    The flowchart guides you along all your options as a UT author. It is based on the UT Journal Browser that presents almost 40.000 scholarly journals. It lets you search for journals in your field and select journals in which you can publish OA at no cost as a submitting UT author.

    UT AREDA archive for long-term archiving of your research data

    UT researchers can now safely archive their research data in Areda. This is the UT archive for long-term archiving of data after finishing a UT research project. Each UT research group has its own section in Areda – to which only researchers of that group have access. Before archiving data, you must provide documentation. In this way it will be easier for your research group colleagues (and yourself) to re-use the data. Safe and secure archiving ensures verification and correct interpretation of your research (data). UT researchers can use Areda free of costs: it is paid from the central budget. 

    Find out how to archive your data in Areda & how your faculty’s data steward can help you
    Click here

    Use UT-JupyterLab for your research, prototyping or education

    UT researchers and lecturers can now use UT-JupyterLab. This interactive development environment offers you various programming languages, such as Python, and web applications such as Matlab and Orange Data Mining. UT-JupyterLab mainly uses the interactive web application Jupyter notebooks.

    As a UT employee or UT student you can use UT-JupyterLab for free.

    Cannot wait to start?

    Use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE)

    Are you an UT researcher and are you looking for flexible, efficient and scalable computing infrastructure to perform simulations / calculations? Then use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE)! VRE has been developed by LISA service department.

    Watch this video on VRE to find out what VRE offers and to hear the experiences of the UT researchers that have already used VRE.

    Discover more about VRE through:

    Practical guide on preprints published

    The Dutch consortium of university libraries and the National library of the Netherlands (UKB) together with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO), has published a practical guide on preprints. Nicole R. Loorbach, open access coordinator of University of Twente, co-authored the practical guide together with the open access specialists of other Dutch universities.

    But then what are preprints? And to what extent do they differ from articles published in an academic journal? How to post a preprint yourself and by, which preprint archive? How to interpret the research results published through preprints?

    You can download the guide here (with a CC-BY 4.0 License) to learn more how you can practically use preprints during your research!

    Missed the Thematic Sessions in 2021? Watch the recordings!

    UT DCC organized five thematic sessions in 2021 to assist researchers on several different research topics ranging from FAIR Data & Good Practice of Science to Cloud Computing! If you have missed these thematic sessions, don’t worry! You can watch the recordings at the DCC website.


    Questions?

    If you have any suggestions and/or questions, you can contact us through dcc@utwente.nl

    Please share this newsletter.

    Do you know colleagues for whom this newsletter is of interest? Please send it to them, so they can subscribe.

    Please, click the register button below.

2021

  • November 2021

    DCC has the mission to translate needs of researchers into innovative ICT & RDM support services in their shared journey towards Open Science – from Science 1.0 to Science 2.0. DCC is the hub for expertise on open science- especially FAIR data and open access, digitalization of science and research ICT facilities.

    Read more about the DCC on our website

    DCC Thematic Session October: Research Life Cycle, ICT & Support

    The DCC thematic sessions will be organized on Tuesdays -16:00-17:00 - every last week of the month starting from October 2021.

    For October’s theme, we hosted a thematic session titled “Research Life Cycle, ICT & Support”. ICT Account Manager, Hendri Hondorp, talked about the role of ICT during the Research Life Cycle and how ICT Account Managers support researchers during this journey starting from the preparation to the long-term preservation and archiving. The tools and services that they developed to make this a pleasant researcher-oriented journey in the different stages of the Research Life Cycle was another interesting subject for the participants.

    The tools and services covered during the thematic session are Data Management Plan (DMP) tool, Decision Tree tool (where can I store/share, or how can I transfer data during my research), Content Collaboration Platform (CCP), and last but not least AREDA (Achieve REsearch DAta).

    For the video presentation and the presentation, click here.

    We would be happy to hear from you about this thematic session, therefore we would like to kindly ask you to fill out this short survey. Thanks in advance for doing this, your feedback really helps to allow us to continue to improve our future sessions.

    DCC Thematic Session November: Open Access Opportunities for Research(ers) 

    The DCC is happy to announce its last thematic session of 2021 to you! On Tuesday November 30th, from 16:00-17:00, the next DCC thematic session will take place. The theme of this month is dedicated to open access and open science communities and is titled “Open Access Opportunities for Research(ers)”.

    We hope to see all of you on the 30th! 

    Visit our website for more information and program.

    Register via our events page, to make sure you won’t miss it!

    The JupyterFAIR project

    Serkan Girgin, Head of Center of Expertise in Big Geodata Science (CRIB) and Assistant Professor at Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) at University of Twente has been awarded a research funding grant in Round 1 of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) 2021 Open Science Fund.

    Girgin’s successful project proposal, written collaboratively with 4TU.ResearchData Community Manager, Connie Clare, and TU Delft Digital Competence Centre Research Software Engineers, José Carlos Urra Llanusa and Manuel Garcia Alvarez, aims to integrate researchers’ analysis and computation workflows with research data repository workflows to facilitate the process of data sharing. 

    Along with 25 other projects, NWO’s funding of JupyterFAIR is a significant recognition of the project’s potential contribution to open science goals through the development of an innovative method for sharing FAIR research data

    The new webpage of UKB has been launched

    UKB is a partnership of Dutch University Libraries and The Royal Library of the Netherlands and we are glad to announce that the new webpage of UKB has been launched. In the new webpage, you can also find interesting news, activities and vacancies in the shared network.

     Further information and the mission & mission on the UKB

    You can read more on this news on UKB launched new website | Service Portal | University of Twente (utwente.nl).

    Virtual Research Environment (VRE)

    Are you an UT researcher and are you looking for flexible, efficient, and scalable computing infrastructure to perform simulations / calculations? Then use the Virtual Research Environment (VRE). VRE has been developed by LISA service department and to get a better understanding and hear the experiences of the UT researchers, you can watch this introduction video on VRE.

    Many congrats to the team for making this impactful video!

    Practical Guide on Preprints Published

    The Dutch consortium of university libraries and the National library of the Netherlands (UKB) together with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and the Dutch Research Council (NWO), has published a practical guide on preprints.

    Nicole R. Loorbach, open access specialist of University of Twente, co-authored the practical guide together with the open access specialists of other Dutch universities.

    But then what are preprints? And to what extent do they differ from articles published in an academic journal? How to post a preprint yourself and by, which preprint archive? How to interpret the research results published through preprints?

    Well then, this guide aims to support both researchers and members of the general public (journalists, patients, healthcare workers, etc.) from, but not limited to, the Netherlands answering these and other questions through sharply defined chapters and frequently asked questions. You can download the guide here (with a CC-BY 4.0 License).

    Preprints are (academic) manuscripts that have not been peer-reviewed or published in a traditional publishing venue. In Open Science and academic publishing, the preprint increasingly appears on the radar as an important element in academic communication. By posting preprints, academics can rapidly share their findings and build upon each other’s work.

    PhD & PDEng Day 2021 

    This year's edition of the PhD & PDEng Day focuses on the role of science in a post-fact society. Topics of discussion include evidence-informed policy-making, young scientists' role and perspectives, and the importance of science for innovation. The P-NUT PhD & PDEng Day will cover interesting keynote talks, discussions, and parallel workshops.

    We -UT DCC- are very glad to announce our participation to this event with two workshops on research data management. Our data steward, FAIR data, Zafer Öztürk and 4TU.ResearchData Community  Manager, Connie Clare are organizing and hosting the workshops. The workshop is titled as “RDM Bingo! How much do you know about research data management?”

     We are looking forward to collaborating more in the future PNUT!

    Research Support Team of Faculty of Engineering launched its new webpage

    What can the Research Support Team of the Faculty of Engineering Technology do for you?

    Did you know that the Research Support Team offers various services to support your work as a researcher?

    The RST can support you with the following topics:

    • Grants support
    • Library support
    • Personal Branding
    • PhD/PDEng support
    • Ethics
    • Research Data Management
    • Research IT
    • etc.

    The RST has developed a brand new research support service website, in which the various support options will be further explained. Please feel free to take a few minutes to explore the brand new website: www.utwente.nl/researchsupport/et

    On this website, you can find the services we offer as a research support team, as well as the team members and a short description of their tasks.

    Take a look or contact the RST and find out what the RST can do for you!

    Software Carpentry Workshop 2022 (May 16th-19th)

    The UT DCC is happy to announce that the third Software Carpentry workshop at UT DCC to be held on May 16th till 19th, 2022. Software Carpentry workshops are organized at the University of Twente by 4TU.ResearchData in collaboration with UT Library, the Data Stewards, and the UT Digital Competence Centre (DCC).

    A Software Carpentry is a hands-on, four-half-day workshop (online) that covers the core basic skills needed to work with reproducible code. The workshop covers task automation with Unix shell, version control with Git, basic concepts of data management, and an introduction to Python programming. This is an introductory course aimed at researchers who have little to no prior programming experience.

    The registration is open for the third edition of Software Carpentries to be held in 2022. If you are interested in joining use this link to sign up for the waiting list. Stay tuned and more information will follow!

    News from DCC

    Welcome to the UT-DCC

    We are glad to share with you that

    Anneke de Maat joined our team as a Communication Advisor starting from October 15th.

    Iris Schutte started on 15th of November as a Data Steward for ET & TNW Faculties.

    Alice Nikuze will be starting on the 1st of December as a Data Steward for ITC Faculty.

    Upcoming events

    AI & BIG DATA EVENT

    Amsterdam [23 november 2021]

  • October 2021

    THE HUB FOR EXPERTISE ON OPEN SCIENCE - ESPECIALLY FAIR DATA AND OPEN ACCESS-, DIGITALIZATION OF SCIENCE AND RESEARCH ICT FACILITIES

    Read more about the DCC on our website

    After a nice summer break, the University of Twente’s DCC thematic sessions are back with full energy and with new interesting topics. For September’s theme, we hosted a thematic session which was about Digital Competence Center (DCC) itself.

    The session aimed to create more awareness on DCC and what kind of support services are available in there for the researchers. DCC has the mission to translate needs of researchers into innovative ICT & RDM support services in their shared journey towards Open Science – from Science 1.0 to Science 2.0. DCC is the hub for expertise on open science- especially FAIR data and open access, digitalization of science and research ICT facilities.

    The interactive part of the thematic session took place through a poll where researchers voted their topic of interests from a list of questions that our data stewards prepared among the RDM related questions they receive regularly. These questions were ranging from how to handle personal data to data management in grants, how to document data to what to do with the data after research. Last part of the session was dedicated to ICT support services such as CCP (Content Collaboration Platform), AREDA (Archive REsearch DAta), and IoT (Internet of Things). In case you’ve missed the session, or want to take another look at the presentations, here are the links

    The link to the recording of the session

    The link to the presenations of the session

    We would be happy to hear from you about this thematic session, therefore we would like to kindly ask you to fill out this short survey. Thanks in advance for doing this, your feedback really helps to allow us to continue to improve our future sessions.

  • Juni 2021

    THE HUB FOR EXPERTISE ON OPEN SCIENCE - ESPECIALLY FAIR DATA AND OPEN ACCESS-, DIGITALIZATION OF SCIENCE AND RESEARCH ICT FACILITIES

    In January 2021 the University of Twente Digital Competence Center (UT-DCC) was started. Every university and university medical center in the Netherlands is expected to organize a Digital Competence Centre (DCC) within the organization, with the support of a stimulation fund of the Dutch Research Council.

    An important goal of the DCC is to be a hub within the university. As a partner, we want to support UT researchers and connect them with expertise and services elsewhere, inside and outside our university. We work closely with researchers on optimal solutions with a focus on innovation. To inform our researchers on these topics, we organize a monthly thematic session, send out a monthly newsletter and provide background information via our website. 

    Read more about the DCC on our website

    Thematic session on: 'What to do with the data after your research?

    A lot of information about this month’s theme: ‘What to do with the data after your research’ was shared during our thematic session yesterday afternoon. In case you’ve missed it, or want to watch the demo that you didn’t attend, here are the links to the recordings and presentations:

    The first part of the session and 4TU demo

    The DANS demo

    For the presentation slides by Simone, visit our DCC theme page

    For those of you who weren’t able to make it to the session yesterday, this was what it was about:

    First, one of our data stewards: Simone Fricke, told us more about the benefits of preserving your data. Next, she interviewed Kostas Nizamis, assistant professor in multidisciplinary design, about how he handled the research data after his research. After that, there was time to ask questions to Simone and Kostas during a Q&A. In the second part of the session, we had the chance to follow a demo from one of two data repositories: DANS and 4TU.researchdata. Qian Zhang, BMS and ITC data steward, gave a demo about the DANS repository, and Connie Clare, community manager of 4TU.researchdata, showed us how to deposit a dataset in that repository. Both speakers are available for a follow up session about those repositories, in case you want to organize one for your own research group or research. If you are interested, contact them via dcc@utwente.nl

    We would be happy to hear from you about this thematic session, therefore we would like to kindly ask you to fill out this short survey. Thanks in advance for doing this, your feedback really helps to allow us to continue to improve our future sessions! 


    News from the DCC

    Next to organizing interactive sessions and monthly themes, the DCC is also working on other projects, we’d like to share some of them with you via this newsletter.

    Virtual Research Environment

    In last month’s thematic session, we’ve learned a lot about cloud computing and two platforms, CRIB and the VRE. We were happy to see so much interest in these platforms and this has led to many new users, great news! For new users of the VRE, we have made starting budget available for researchers who want to evaluate the VRE us. There has been a lot of interest in this and all the starting budget has been allocated. The evaluation will provide us with useful feedback to improve the VRE platform in the near future. LISA is currently working on a new version of the VRE that we want to release in the first half of June. This new version will also support Linux systems and other types of hardware, hardware with GPU's, meeting the needs of our researchers.

     News from Australia

    We received an interesting email from Ivana Ivanova from Curtin University Australia with a request for community feedback. Especially from all interested in data quality of spatial data. She writes us: since September 2020, 22 international interdisciplinary domain experts have been working voluntarily towards developing community guidelines for making quality information findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). Result of this community effort are the ‘draft International Community Guidelines for Sharing and Reusing Quality Information of Individual Earth Science Datasets’. This draft document is now open for community review at: https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/xsu4p. We, the co-authors of this draft, invite all with an interest in spatial data quality to provide feedback. Input of spatial data community is essential to include variety of perspectives and understanding of what spatial data quality means, and how and in what essential amount it should be represented to minimize misunderstanding of spatial data, information, service and products among users.

    We would encourage you to engage in this interesting project by providing them with your feedback.

    Vacancy DCC coordinator

    Are you as enthusiastic about the DCC as we are, or do you know someone who is? Maybe applying for our vacancy for DCC coordinator is the next best move for you! Visit this link for more information, we would be happy to welcome new people in our team!

    Next month

    We are not done with data yet! Next month we will continue with this topic, but than we will focus more on FAIR data. Our Data Steward FAIR, Zafer Öztürk, will organize an inspiring session about this topic. Keep an eye on our Twitter and website to stay updated about next month’s theme and make sure to register for the next thematic session. We are looking forward to meeting all of you there next month!

    Upcoming Events

    CAPACITY BUILDING AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING THROUGH NASA SERVIR'S TENSORFLOW WORKING GROUP

    Online [8 June 2021]

  • April 2021

    THE HUB FOR EXPERTISE ON OPEN SCIENCE - ESPECIALLY FAIR DATA AND OPEN ACCESS-, DIGITALIZATION OF SCIENCE AND RESEARCH ICT FACILITIES

    In January 2021 the University of Twente Digital Competence Center (UT-DCC) was started. Every university and university medical center in the Netherlands is expected to organize a Digital Competence Centre (DCC) within the organization, with the support of a stimulation fund of the Dutch Research Council.

    An important goal of the DCC is to be a hub within the university. As a partner, we want to support UT researchers and connect them with expertise and services elsewhere, inside and outside our university. We work closely with researchers on optimal solutions with a focus on innovation.

    You receive this email because you registered for our first thematic session. A link to the recording and presentations can be found later on in this newsletter. If you want to stay updated about the UT-DCC, make sure to register for our monthly newsletter. We are looking forward to getting in touch with you!

    Read more about the DCC on our website

     Theme of the Month: Cloud Computing

    In this newsletter, we'd like to introduce two cloud computing platforms available for UT researchers: CRIB and VRE. Read and learn more about these interesting developments at the UT.

    CRIB

    Center of Expertise in Big Geodata Science (CRIB) is a horizontal facility that supports the better use of big geodata technology in education, research, and institutional strengthening activities. Based on the user needs assessment, Serkan Girgin from ITC, designed and implemented a computing infrastructure to serve high-priority activities related to big geodata, including exploratory research, prototyping, and self-learning. Feel free to use it also for other geospatial computing needs!

    Cloud computing provides wonderful opportunities for education, research, and capacity development activities. However, it is a rapidly evolving technology and it is quite challenging to follow the progress. We want to help you with this and keep you informed about the recent developments in cloud computing technology, especially at UT. For more information and registering for the CRIB newsletter, visit their website

     VRE

    Cloud service providers are racing to add more features to their platforms, which become more and more extensive, but complex at the same time. Especially if you are a new user, it is really challenging to set up  your computing environment, and some support is required at the beginning.

    Considering this need, LISA started a new service: the Virtual Research Environment (VRE). VRE provides an easy-to-use interface that makes it easier to acquire, set up, and manage digital workspaces for research in Microsoft Azure. For more information, visit the VRE website.

     

    Thematic session

    On Monday April 19th, the first online thematic session organized by the Digital Competence Center was scheduled! The theme for this month was cloud computing. At first, we invited Serkan Girgin to give a presentation about ITC’s cloud computing platform CRIB. Secondly, Ralph Mettinkhof from LISA has presented the new Virtual Research Environment (VRE) that was developed recently. Over 100 people registered for this first session and we were very happy with that! During the session, multiple presentations were given, many questions were asked and answered via the chat, and we've learned a lot about cloud computing and the different platforms. 

    The recording and presentations can be found via our website

    Our next theme session will be held on May 31st from 15:30 to 16:30. The theme for that session will be 'Archiving and Publishing Research Data'. Registrations will open soon, we will inform you about that in our next newsletter and via our website, so stay tuned!

     

    In the spotlight - Research Support Champion

    Good research supporters form a bridge between researchers and research IT. Vital work, but often invisible.

    The SURF Research Support Champion awards put in the spotlight those who have made remarkable efforts to support research within their institution. The winners of this first edition were announced during SURF Research Week 2021. We are very proud to announce that our DCC colleague Maria Kamp from the faculty of ET was nominated and won this contest!

    Maria Kamp, Coordinator Research Support at University of Twente 

    “Puts herself in the shoes of the researchers”

    The jury report says: Maria was nominated by no fewer than 5 colleagues. She inspires others with her decisive approach and collaborative mentality. Maria puts herself in the shoes of the researchers, which really helps her to support them. She takes all kinds of administrative work off their hands, so that the researchers can focus on their primary task, and always comply with data management and ethics requirements.

     

    Upcoming Events

    OPEN SCIENCE KITCHEN ON DIAMOND OA PUBLISHING

    Online [29 April 2021]

    DCC SOFTWARE CARPENTRIES (WE ARE LOOKING FOR HELPERS)

    Online [31 May 2021]

    MONTHLY THEMATIC DCC SESSION ON ARCHIVING AND PUBLISHING RESEARCH DATA

    Teams event [1 June 2021]

    More events

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