Training and Community

Training

Check out recordings and slides of past Research Data Management webinars here. You can watch webinars covering:

Best Practices for Managing Data in Your Research is now also available as an online asynchronous module with interactive quizzes which should take approximately 1-2 hours: https://scds.github.io/rdm-best-practices/

If there is a topic you'd be interested in learning more about, please get in touch with us at rdm@mcmaster.ca

Community of Practice

Our Community of Practice sessions runs every last Thursday of the month from 11AM - 12 PM throughout the Fall and Winter semesters. These monthly roundtables are a peer space to learn together about research data management as researchers and research support staff across all levels of expertise—to discuss examples and share challenges.

Past topics have included Data Management Plans for individuals and groups, large research group data management, REDCap setup and streamlining, data sharing across disciplines, and more.

Learn more and join our community on Teams, add the event series to your calendar, or register for events at the link below.

Upcoming Events

Data Management for Ethics

Nov 25, 2024

10:30 am TO 11:30 am

Are you applying for research ethics? Are you unsure what your responsibilities are for managing it or trying to figure out what a good way to manage it is?

In this workshop, we will discuss the foundations of working with sensitive data including how to protect your data, your research participants, and yourself. We’ll take about how and when to de-identify sensitive data, and how to share sensitive data.

Presentation by Isaac Pratt, Research Data Management Specialist. Book an appointment with Isaac or another member of the Sherman Centre Team.

Details: This virtual workshop will be recorded. The recording will be posted to the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue.

Facilitator Bio:

Isaac Pratt (he/him) is a research scientist by training and has a PhD in Anatomy & Cell Biology. He leverages nearly a decade of interdisciplinary research experience to help support students, staff, and faculty. His expertise lies in questions surrounding data storage, security, planning, archival, and sharing. Isaac also provides support and curation services for McMaster Dataverse. His other interests include reproducible research methods, open science, and data science.

Certificate Eligibility: This workshop is eligible for the Sherman Centre's certificate program. For more information, visit scds.ca/certificate-program. It is also eligible for the Canadian Certificate for Digital Humanities. To learn more, visit ccdhhn.ca or contact scds@mcmaster.ca.

Sharepoint Workflows for Research Data: Research Data Management Community of Practice

Nov 28, 2024

11:00 am TO 12:00 pm

Data management for a research group can add additional complexity. Not only are you managing data, you need to keep things organized accross multiple people, make sure everyone has access to the data they need, and make sure everyone's data is collected and backed up so that nothing is lost. There are many potential tools out there that can help with this, and this month we're turning a spotlight on Microsoft SharePoint. SharePoint is a secure place to store, organize, share, and access information from almost any device and all major web browsers. McMaster provides free access to SharePoint for staff, students, and faculty. Join us Thursday, November 28 at 11 AM for a great discussion between researchers and IT professionals!

Manish Katakam is a Senior Systems Administrator at McMaster University Technology Services. In this role, he oversees the administration of SharePoint and the Power Platform, ensuring efficient and secure data management for staff and faculty. With over five years of extensive experience in Business Analysis, Quality Assurance, and Business Process Re-engineering, Manish has a diverse background that spans the Finance, Insurance, and Banking industries. In his career, Manish has held positions at Morgan Stanley, Red River Mutual Insurance, and HSBC Bank, where he honed his expertise in Agile and Waterfall SDLC methodologies, project management, and quality control. He holds certifications such as Certified associate in project management (CAPM) and is an Associate Member of the Canadian Institute of Management.

At McMaster University, Manish has been pivotal in implementing SharePoint and leading various migration projects, including the transition from network drives to SharePoint Online for multiple departments. His proactive approach and technical expertise have significantly improved the university’s data management practices.

Dr. John McAndrews is the managing director of the Digital Society Lab at McMaster University, where he also holds an appointment as an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Political Science. His current research projects examine public support for – and trust in – the use of new technologies such as AI; the automated detection of inaccurate information in social networks; and big-data approaches to better understanding political behaviour. He is also interested in questions about the quality of democratic representation and decision-making among politicians and citizens alike.

Dr. Gabriel (Naiqi) Xiao is an Assistant Professor (tenure track) in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior at McMaster University (Canada). Prior to this appointment in 2020, Dr. Xiao received his Ph.D. degree at the University of Toronto (Canada) in 2016 and worked as a post-doctoral associate at Princeton University (USA) from 2017 to 2019.

Dr. Xiao is a leading researcher with an established international reputation in early perceptual-social development. His research aims to understand how real-world experiences shape cognitive abilities in the early stages of life. A key aspect of human development is our ability to adapt to the environment. This adaptation enables infants to explore the world and lay the groundwork for language and social skills that will emerge later in life. It is vital to understand these processes both theoretically and practically, as they have important implications for detecting and treating developmental disorders. To achieve these research goals, Dr. Xiao’s lab uses various research methods such as infant-friendly behavioral tasks, eye-tracking, computational modeling, and neonate/infant-friendly neuroimaging techniques (functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, fNIRS). Besides using classical research paradigms to study cognitive development, his lab has also pioneered innovations in research methodology by developing several research software.

Here is the meeting link. Learn more and join the RDM community!

Best Practices for Managing Data in your Research

Jan 15, 2025

10:30 am TO 11:30 am

TIFU by losing a ton of data for my research - Have you ever seen a description like this on Reddit? Are your desktop and downloads folders a jumble of files named Data-finalFINAL-USETHISONE? Is all of your lab's data stored on a single drive? Join research data management services and learn how investing a small amount of time in organizing your data now can save you a lot of time and prevent future headaches. In this introductory workshop, learn about research data management best practices. We will go over best practices for data planning, storage, organization, preservation, and sharing.

By the end of the session participants will be empowered to: Produce a plan for their data, organize and document their data consistently, store and back-up their data securely, and select an appropriate data repository for archival and sharing.

Details: This virtual workshop will be recorded. The recording will be posted to the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue.

Facilitator Bio:

Danica Evering holds expansive experience with research support, education, project management, advocacy, and knowledge translation; with fluency in social practice art, healthcare, community research, data, and systems development. Danica supports students, postdocs, faculty, and staff with RDM through the data lifecycle—Data Management Plans, storage and backup, data security, data sharing. With an MA in Media Studies from Concordia, they are interested in fostering RDM within curious scholars and disciplines.

Streamline Your Research Materials Photos

Jan 29, 2025

1:00 pm TO 2:00 pm

You've been there--getting home from an incredible research trip to an archive, maps collection, or gallery only to face a folder with thousands of photos all labelled "IMG50293.png." Join Research Data Management Specialist Danica Evering and Data Analysis and Visualization Librarian Subhanya Sivajothy for an overview of Tropy: an open-source solution to explore and manage research photos. Instead of a folder crammed full of a jumble of nameless files, Tropy lets you work closely with your research materials. Starting with an overview of all your images, you can zoom into details and annotate points of interest as you start to uncover your research. It also lets you find patterns and contexts through systematized tagging and metadata. Developed alongside sister softwares Zotero, a reference manager, and Omeka, a digital exhibits system, at George Mason University, it integrates smoothly with its siblings. After introducing Tropy as a tool, this webinar will discuss how to create item records in Zotero, and then how to transform your research into a digital exhibition using the Tropy-Omeka integration.

No prior knowledge of Tropy will be required but please come with a version of the software downloaded for the demo!

Learning Outcomes: Use Tropy to organize, annotate, analyze and manage large research image collections. Select appropriate metadata and implement documentation and tagging systems. Integrate Tropy with Zotero and Omeka to cite archival sources and enhance the impact of your research and digital exhibitions.

Details: Any preparatory work for the session can be found on its information page. This virtual workshop will be recorded and shared on the same page, and discoverable via the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue.

Facilitator Bio:

Danica Evering holds broad experience with research support, education, project management, advocacy, and knowledge translation; with fluency in social practice art, healthcare, community research, data, and systems development. Danica supports students, postdocs, faculty, and staff with RDM through the data lifecycle—Data Management Plans, storage and backup, data security, data sharing. With an MA in Media Studies from Concordia, they are interested in fostering RDM within curious scholars and disciplines.

Subhanya (she/her) brings a background of research in data justice, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities. She is currently thinking through participatory data design which allow for visualizations that are empowering for the end user.

Sensitive Data Management

Feb 12, 2025

10:30 am TO 11:30 am

Are you working with environmental, commercial, health, personal, or other sensitive data? Are you unsure whether your data is sensitive and unclear on your responsibilities for managing it?

Presentation by Isaac Pratt, Research Data Management Specialist. Book an appointment with Isaac or another member of the Sherman Centre Team.

Details: This virtual workshop will be recorded. The recording will be posted to the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue.

Facilitator Bio:

Data Management Plan Bootcamp

May 13, 2025

1:00 pm TO 4:00 pm

Data Management Plans (DMPs) are both incredibly helpful research tools and increasingly required for grants but it can hard to know how to complete a Data Management Plan if it’s your first time. If you're in the process of creating a DMP, either for a grant application or for your own research, join RDM Services for this afternoon session. By the end of the session, you’ll understand what the major components of a DMP are and walk away with a potentially completed plan for your own research!

This session is especially relevant if you’re in the beginning stages of a research project or streamlining best practices for your research team. Come on your own, send your research staff, or bring your whole research group. This 3-hour session will briefly introduce the different sections of a DMP and all the important things to consider as you build it. The RDM services team will provide tailored guidance as you write your plan on site, and we'll have some light snacks and refreshments to keep you going. Come away with a clear path forward or even a finished DMP!

Let us know if you're solo or joining as a research team - we'll make sure you space to work together.

Learning Outcomes: Identify a strong data management plan compared to a weak response, section by section. Produce a solid outline of their own DMP.

Details: This workshop will not be recorded.

Facilitator Bio:

Data Deposit Bootcamp

May 20, 2025

1:00 pm TO 4:00 pm

Data deposit and data sharing are increasingly recognized as best practice to support open research, reproducibility, research integrity, collaboration, and more. Disciplines, funders, and journals are increasingly requiring researchers to share or deposit data. But how do you get your dataset ready for sharing? What's the best repository to share it in? If you have a dataset that's ready for deposit or that you'd like to get deposit ready, join RDM Services for this workshop.

By the end of this 3-hour session, you will be able to:

• Identify a target data repository

• Organize and create documentation for your dataset,

• Define your metadata, and

• (Potentially) begin the deposit process.

If you have a dataset ready to submit, bring it along! No dataset, no problems--we have a sample dataset you can use to go through the process and learn how to deposit data.

With light snacks and refreshments to sustain you and specialists on-hand to answer any questions, you'll end this session with ready-to-submit data...or submitted or even published data! Graduate Students who have finished their thesis work are encouraged to attend!

Learning Outcomes: Outline documentation and metadata best practices and identify the appropriate repository for their dataset. Develop a README file that thoroughly describes the dataset being deposited. Organize datasets in preperation for data deposit, including metadata entry.

Details: This workshop will not be recorded.

Facilitator Bio: