30 May - 1 June, 2018, O'Brien Centre for Science
University College, Dublin
CarpentryCon 2018
Building Locally, Connecting Globally
Find Out More

About CarpentryCon 2018

  • What is CarpentryCon?

    CarpentryCon 2018 is the key community-building and networking event in The Carpentries' annual calendar of activities. This event will bring together newer and more experienced community members to share knowledge, to network, to develop new skills, and to develop strategies for building strong local communities. The theme of the conference is "Building Locally, Connecting Globally". See the A-Z of CarpentryCon and the logistics etherpad.

  • When and where will it be held?


    CarpentryCon 2018 will be held from 30 May – 1 June, 2018, at University College Dublin, Ireland. The conference location is the O'Brien Centre for Science at UCD. The O’Brien Centre for Science (East) is numbered 67 on the map]. It is a short walk from the main UCD entrance on the N11. The main conference sessions will be held in the George Moore Auditorium (E0.08) on the Ground Floor of the building, on the left-hand side of the main foyer, beside the elevators. Coffee breaks and lunch will take place in the Ground Floor Atrium, beside the George Moore Auditorium.

    We are very grateful for the generous support of University College Dublin in hosting this event. To help make this a truly international event, we are offering travel support to facilitate attendance from as wide a group as possible. Apply here.

  • Who is speaking there?

    We have four great keynote speakers: Valerie Aurora, a software engineer turned diversity and inclusion consultant, Anelda van der Walt, our 2017 Community Service Award winner, Greg Wilson, founder of Software Carpentry, and Professor Desmond Higgins, a bioinformatician who developed the Clustal package for multiple sequence alignment.

  • Who is organizing it?

    The conference is being organized by the CarpentryCon Task Force, on behalf of The Carpentries (Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry). The Task Force acknowledge the very generous assistance of the host site, University College Dublin, and our other sponsors. The Carpentries (a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives) teach foundational computational and data science skills to researchers.

  • How can I contribute?


    Register to attend. Submit an abstract for a lightning talk or poster. We are also seeking volunteers to chair sessions, help with marshalling and registration, as well as many other tasks. Email us if you can help. Sign up for conference news and announcements.

  • Will I fit in?

    We are working hard to ensure that everyone feels welcome at CarpentryCon. Attendees must be prepared to abide by our Code of Conduct. We are providing travel assistance to facilitate attendance from as wide a group as possible. You can give us full details of your childcare and mobility needs and dietary preferences when you register. We are providing low cost, on-campus accommodation options as well as hotels with special rates.

  • What about my special needs?

    We want to make CarpentryCon 2018 as accessible as possible. At the ticketing stage, there is plenty of space for you to tell us about any special needs we need to accommodate, whether they be around childcare, mobility, dietary preferences, or anything else that you need us to take into account to make CarpentryCon work for you.

  • Contact us

    See the complete contact list here.

  • Registrations are now open!

Conference Format

See the UCD map.

Workshops

We will offer a series of practical, hands-on skill-ups, workshops and breakout sessions to teach essential skills around coding, leading projects, community organization, curriculum development and other professional development 'must-haves'.
Check out the draft program. You can register to attend.
Submit an abstract for a lightning talk or poster. You can ask for travel assistance here.

Networking Events

There will be a series of social and other events, including a poster reception and a dinner, and other events to foster networking, especially among Instructors who might want to share workshop and teaching tips. Attendees will have lots of opportunities to come together informally to share stories about challenges and successes.

Community Building

Member organizations, local Champions, Carpentries' advocates, and staff will talk about ways to build communities all around the world. Hear from local Champions about tried and tested methods for building strong local communities. Pitch your own community building ideas for discussion in CarpentryCon's 'unconference' section.

Our Keynote Speakers

The Carpentries are excited to announce that we have four fantastic keynote speakers lined up for you in Dublin.

Valerie Aurora

Valerie Aurora

Valerie Aurora is a software engineer turned diversity and inclusion consultant. She is the founder of Frame Shift Consulting, which helps technology organizations build in-house expertise and leadership in diversity and inclusion. As lead author and a facilitator of the Ally Skills Workshop, she has taught thousands of people ally skills: simple, everyday ways for people who have more power and influence to support people with less. She co-founded the Ada Initiative and Double Union, non-profits supporting women in technology and the arts. Prior to that, she worked as a Linux kernel and file systems developer for more than 10 years at Red Hat, IBM, Intel, and other technology companies.

Desmond Higgins

Des Higgins

Des Higgins is Professor of Bioinformatics in University College Dublin, Ireland where his lab works on "omics" data analysis and sequence alignment algorithms. He has a PhD in Zoology from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His group maintains and develops the Clustal package for multiple sequence alignment in collaboration with groups in France, Germany and the UK. Des wrote the first version of Clustal in Dublin in 1988 and then moved to the EMBL Data Library group, in Heidelberg, in 1990 as a post-doc and later, staff scientist. In 1994, he moved to the EBI, Hinxton with the Data Library and stayed there for two years.This coincided with the release of Clustal W, and later, Clustal X which became extremely widely used and cited. Currently he has run out of letters and works on Clustal Omega which is designed for making extremely large protein alignments.

Anelda van der Walt

Anelda van der Walt

Anelda van der Walt works with various organisations to improve computational and digital literacy and the establishment of communities of practice amongst African researchers, students, and support staff. The infectious vibe of collaboration and community experienced at her first Carpentry workshop in 2014 in Cape Town, made her realise there was a massive need for more such events locally. She founded Talarify in order to help drive change through sharing knowledge and is doing this by creating awareness of, and improving access to, reusable online materials, open communities, and free and/or open source tools. She was voted the 2017 Carpentries Community Service Award winner.

Greg Wilson

Greg Wilson

Greg Wilson has worked for 30 years in both industry and academia, and is the author or editor of several books on computing and two for children. He co-founded Software Carpentry, and is now Head of Instructor Training for DataCamp.

Our Sponsors and Donors

The Carpentries would like to acknowledge the very generous support of the following organisations and individuals, who are helping to make CarpentryCon 2018 possible. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities at CarpentryCon, please see our Sponsorship page.

Leading Sponsor

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Supporting Sponsors

Mozilla     Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Venue Sponsor

University College Dublin

Travel Sponsors

Failte Ireland     Software Sustainability Institute     Python Software Foundation    

Travel Scholarship Donor

Christina Koch

Gift Sponsors

Overleaf

Prize Sponsors

RStudio     The Jackson Laboratory

CarpentryCon Sponsorship

CarpentryCon 2018 planning is now well underway. We have chosen a venue and a date, identified keynote speakers, and roughed out a program, but we are still missing one vital piece:

MORE SPONSORS!

CarpentryCon 2018 will only be possible with the generous support of businesses and foundations who support our mission of teaching foundational computational and data science skills to researchers to safeguard the future of sound, open, reproducible science.

Why sponsor CarpentryCon?

Without the support of sponsors who share our vision, we will not be able to deliver the event our community needs.

  • Help us keep registration costs low so people aren't priced out of attending
  • Help us maximise participation by people from diverse geographies and communities, including the global South
  • Help us provide travel scholarships to allow as wide an audience as possible to attend

By supporting us, you will help skill up the next generation of research leaders, people who will attend CarpentryCon to develop the skills needed to lead 21st century research, whether that be in academia or industry.

This is a perfect opportunity to promote your products and services to these research leaders of the future.

In return for your support, we can promise you a number of benefits.

Marketing

Your name, your product, your service can all be part of our event marketing. Get your logo on our website, our T-shirt, our poster, our conference slides, and on all our promotional materials, including social media and email channels. Leading sponsors will get conference time to air their messages, and will be able to send targeted emails to all delegates.

Expo

We will provide exhibition space to allow you to showcase your offerings and network with delegates during the three days of CarpentryCon. You can demo products or services, give away swag, and start some great conversations.

Our audience

CarpentryCon's diverse audience will include graduate students, early career researchers, senior academics, lab and project leaders, software engineers, people in the tech industry, and more. We expect people to come from all round the world to attend this signature event.

Finding people to join your company

Many graduate student and early career researchers make the jump from academia to industry. What better place to find your next staffer than at CarpentryCon where people have come along to grow and sharpen a diverse range of skills?

Meeting your needs

Not sure any of our packages work for you? We will tailor a sponsorship package that exactly fits your needs. All you have to do is ask!

Contact Belinda Weaver or SherAaron Hurt to discuss your options, or use this form to express interest.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Hosted at University College, Dublin from 30 May - 1 June, 2018, CarpentryCon 2018 will be the key networking and community-building event in the Carpentries' annual calendar. Some of the brightest and most promising researchers and data scientists from around the world will meet to network, to learn about digital research tools, and the practice of reproducible, open science, and to further develop the coding, communication and project management skills research and industry are crying out for.

There are many ways to support CarpentryCon 2018! We are seeking:
Leading Sponsors to support the whole event |  Supporting Sponsors to cover the many costs entailed |  Travel Sponsors to make it diverse, global, and accessible.

Express your interest in sponsoring CarpentryCon 2018 or Download the Sponsorship flyer

Sponsorship Tiers Available


Tier Amount What's included
     
Leading Sponsor $25,000
  • Top-level placement of organization's logo on conference website and title slides, and on giveaways produced (e.g. t-shirt)
  • Opportunity to address the full conference for up to 5 minutes
  • Opportunity to have two communications of up to 150 words included in emails sent to conference participants
  • Statement of thanks at the opening of the conference (logos displayed)
  • Table and space provided for organization's marketing material throughout the conference
  • Free conference registrations for up to 3 people from sponsor's organization
     
Supporting Sponsors $12,500
  • Prominent placement of organization's logo on conference homepage and on giveaways produced (e.g. t-shirt)
  • Opportunity to address the assembled participants for up to 5 minutes during the conference
  • Opportunity to have one communication of up to 150 words included in an email sent to all conference participants
  • Statement of thanks at the opening of the conference (logos displayed)
  • Table and space provided for organization's marketing material throughout the conference
  • Free conference registrations for up to 2 people from sponsor's organization
     
Donors - Organizations or Individuals $5,000 / negotiable
  • Placement of organization's logo/individual name on conference homepage as donor
  • Statement of thanks to donors at the closing of the conference (logos/names displayed)
     
Travel Sponsors From $2,500
  • Sponsor one (or more) attendees to attend the conference with a full scholarship that covers travel, accommodation, conference registration, and visa processing fees.
  • Placement of organization's logo on a dedicated portion of the conference website
  • Statement of thanks to sponsoring organizations at the opening of the conference (logos displayed)
     
Prize Sponsors From $1,000
  • Placement of organization's logo on conference homepage as prize sponsor
  • Statement of thanks at the closing of the conference (logos displayed)

CarpentryCon 2018 Program

Our program - follow links for session abstracts
Downloadable program | Printable program

Wednesday, 30 May

Day Time Event Location
Wednesday 8:15-9:00 am Registration Foyer
Wednesday 9:00-9:10 am Welcome to Conference
CarpentryCon Task Force
George Moore Auditorium
Wednesday 9:15-10:25 am

Keynote Valerie Aurora


Focus on Allies
Includes question time
George Moore Auditorium
Wednesday 10:25-10:45 am Story Circle Icebreaker Foyer
Wednesday 10:45-11:30 am Morning break and networking Foyer
Wednesday 11:30-12:30 am Skill-Up 1 Project Leadership
Fotis Psomopoulos /community contributions
Room 1 (Active learning)
Skill-Up 2 Speaking Effectively
Belinda Weaver
Room 2 (Active learning)
Skill-Up 3 Contributing on GitHub
Raniere Silva, François Michonneau
Room 3 (Classroom)
Wednesday 12:30-1:30 pm Lunch TBA
Wednesday 1:30-2:35 pm

Keynote Greg Wilson


Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Ike Quebec
Includes question time
George Moore Auditorium
Wednesday 2:35-3:35 pm Breakout 1: Carpentry Methods in University Courses
Elizabeth Wickes, Lex Nederbragt
Room 1
Breakout 2: Chasing Funding for Workshops
SherAaron Hurt
Room 2
Breakout 3: Lesson Infrastructure: how can we make it easier to develop and contribute to lessons?
François Michonneau
Room 3
Wednesday 3:35-4:05 pm Break TBA
Wednesday 4:05-4:30 pm Lightning Talks 1 Room 1
Lightning Talks 2 Room 2
Lightning Talks 3 Room 3
Wednesday 4:30-5:30 pm Breakout 4 Incubating a Carpentry: Library Carpentry
Tim Dennis, Belinda Weaver, Mark Laufersweiler
Room 3
Breakout 5 Making the Case for Membership
Jonah Duckles, Elizabeth Williams
Room 1
Breakout 6 Diversity and Inclusion
Malvika Sharan, Kari Jordan
Room 2
Wednesday 6:00-8:00 pm

Poster Reception


Includes The State of the Carpentries address
by Tracy Teal, Executive Director, The Carpentries
Followed by Poster Session
Auditorium
Foyer

Thursday, 31 May

Day Time Event Location
Thursday 8:30-9:00 am Coffee and networking Foyer
Thursday 9:15-10:20 am

Keynote Professor Desmond Higgins


The Clustal Package Since the Late 1980s: Carpentry with Duct Tape and Six Inch Nails
Includes question time
George Moore Auditorium
Thursday 10:20-10.50 am Break Foyer
Thursday 11:00 am-12:00 noon Skill-Up 4: Leading a Research Lab
Kate Hertweck
Room 1
Skill-Up 5: Creating and Registering a Carpentry Event Website
Elizabeth Wickes, Aleksandra Nenadic
Room 2
Skill-Up 6: Shell Tips and Tricks
Open Mic Session - Bring Your Ideas
Room 3
Thursday 12:00-12:30 pm Workshop Pitches
Open Mic Session - Bring your Ideas to be Voted On
Room 3
Q&A on The State of the Carpentries address Auditorium
Thursday 12:30-1:30 pm Lunch TBA
Thursday 1:30-2:35 pm

Keynote Anelda van der Walt


It Takes a Village
Includes question time
George Moore Auditorium
Thursday 2:35-3:35 pm Breakout 7 Community Building: "You Belong in the Carpentries"
Belinda Weaver (lead), Malvika Sharan (facilitator), community discussion
Room 1
Breakout 8 HPC Carpentry
Daniel Smith, Alan O'Cais
Room 3
Breakout 9 Open Mic Session
Open - bring your ideas
Room 12
Thursday 3:35-4:05 pm Break TBA
Thursday 4:05-4:30 pm Lightning Talks 4 Room 1
Lightning Talks 5 Room 2
Lightning Talk 6 Room 3
Thursday 4:30-5:30 pm Breakout 10 Voted Session Room 3
Breakout 11 Fostering FAIR Data and Sustainable Software Practices
Berenice Batut, Katrin Leinweber
Room 1
Breakout 12 Mentoring
Kari Jordan, Toby Hodges
Room 2
Thursday 6:30-10:00 pm

Conference Dinner at Dada

TBA

Friday, 1 June

Day Time Event Location
Friday 9:00 am-12:30 pm Workshop 1 Bring and Build Your Own Lesson 'Carpentries-style'
Raniere Silva
Room 3
Workshop 2 Lesson Hack-a-Thon/Voted Session from Pitches/Sponsored Workshop Room 1
Workshop 3 Ally Workshop (Numbers capped at 30 participants)
Valerie Aurora
Room 2
Birds of A Feather
Open sessions - find people to discuss your issue - rooms available
TBA
Friday 12:30 pm-1:30 pm Lunch TBA
Friday 1:30 pm-4:30pm Workshop 4: Next Steps in R (Numbers capped at 40 participants)
Danielle Quinn, François Michonneau
Room 2
Workshop 5: HPC Carpentry (Numbers capped at 30 participants)
Peter Steinbach, Christina Koch
Room 1
Workshop 6: Library Carpentry Onboarding
Tim Dennis, Belinda Weaver, Mark Laufersweiler, Chris Erdmann
Room 3
Birds of A Feather
Open sessions - find people to discuss your issue - rooms available
TBA
Friday 4:30 pm-5:00pm

Conference Close and Feedback Session

Auditorium

Conference Registration

There are a range of registration types, including Early Bird. We will try to support lower fees (or waive fees altogether) for people who can make a good case for assistance. Use this form to apply for financial support, incuding fee and travel support. While we hope to support travel costs for a number of attendees, this support can only be a top-up, and will not cover the full cost of travel.

Type What's included Closing date Cost
Early Bird Registration Full registration
  • Access to all conference sessions
  • Access to all workshops
  • Access to all social events
16 March, 2018 $200 (~ €163)
Full-Time Student Registration 15 May, 2018 $100 (~ €82)
Regular Registration $250 (~ €204)
Last Minute Registration After 15 May, 2018 $275 (~ €224)
Partner/Friend Dinner Ticket Conference Dinner only 15 May, 2018 $45 (~ €37)
Buy tickets

Accommodation Options for CarpentryCon 2018

University College Dublin (UCD) has a special offer for CarpentryCon 2018 participants on campus. There are a limited number of single ensuite rooms available for €69 per night for the period of the event.

Additionally, we are providing three hotel options for you. All hotels are offering us a special CarpentryCon rate. See the UCD map to help you choose.

The special rates will be valid for the period of the event and available until the specified cut-off dates; anyone looking to book after that date will be offered the best available rate at the time.

Accomodation Map Booking info Reservation code Cutoff date for booking Price Per Night Availability
"Summer at UCD", Belfield Book online NA NA €69 (Single ensuite) NA
Clayton Hotel, Ballsbridge Book online or by calling the hotel +353 1 668 1111 CARP300518 18 April €169 (includes bed & full Irish breakfast) 29/05/2018 to 01/06/2018
Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Book online or by calling the hotel +353 1 200 1800 CARPCON18 18 April €139 Twin/Double or €149 Triple (both rates include breakfast) 29/05/2018 to 01/06/2018 (latest checkout on June 1st)
Radisson Blu St. Helen's Hotel Book online or by calling the hotel +353 1 218 6000 CarpentryCon 2018 / 2333156 28 March €215.00 Twin/Double or €230.00 Family (rates based on minimum 2 nights stay) 29/05/2018 to 01/06/2018 (minimum two nights)

University College Dublin

The University College Dublin campus is situated in Belfield, located just 4km south of Dublin city centre. The campus can be easily accessed by public transport. For suggested routes please refer to the interactive map which can be found here.
The conference venue is UCD O'Brien Centre for Science, UCD Science Centre (East).

University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Contact numbers

  • University College Number: +353 1 716 7777
  • UCD Unicare emergency line (Campus security): +353 1 716 7999
  • 999 or 112
  • Donnybrook Garda Station (Police): +353 1 666 9200

Contact Us

CarpentryCon 2018 TaskForce members

The following Task Force members are responsible for organizing different aspects of CarpentryCon 2018. Please contact the relevant person for your issue. In an emergency, when you need a quick answer, use this email address: carpentrycon@carpentries.org

  • Fotis Psomopoulos (Co-chair): Visa support, accommodation, childcare
  • Malvika Sharan (Co-chair): Visa support, travel scholarships, on-campus accommodation, diversity and inclusion
  • Belinda Weaver (The Carpentries): Website, sponsorship, abstract submissions, news and announcements
  • SherAaron Hurt (The Carpentries): Travel scholarships, sponsorship, childcare, diversity and inclusion, registration
  • Mark Laufersweiler: on-site speaker/facilitator organizer, where needed
  • Danielle Quinn: Social media
  • Ivo Arrey: on site volunteer coordination
  • General email: carpentrycon@carpentries.org

Local contacts

  • Dr. Norman Davey: local contact and location sponsor (Email: norman.davey@ucd.ie)
  • Ms. Mary-Beth Jennings: Venue manager (Phone. +353 1 716 7777)

    Additional CarpentryCon contributors

    • Erin Becker, Kari Jordan, Elizabeth Williams (The Carpentries): Travel scholarships, diversity and inclusion
    • Tracy Teal, Greg Wilson, Mateusz Kuzak, Alix Keener, Jason Williams, Jonah Duckles, Jamie Hadwin, Rayna Harris, Maneesha Sane (past Task Force contributors)