Software Carpentry (SWC) and Data Carpentry (DC) are international organisations that teach researchers computing skills. DTL/ELIXIR-NL, the Netherlands eScience Center, and SURFsara are actively aligning the Dutch SWC/DC initiatives.
- Check the DTL Course Overview for upcoming SWC/DC courses.
- Check the Events list for SWC/DC events (past & future).
- Get involved in this community-led project: subscribe to the Carpentries-nl mailing list or contact Mateusz Kuzak.
The Software Carpentry Foundation and its sister organisation Data Carpentry are world-renowned for their efforts. Software Carpentry focuses on helping researchers develop foundational computational skills; Data Carpentry focuses on teaching researchers to work effectively with their data through the research data lifecycle. They have built up a curriculum, to which people worldwide contribute and help improve. This curriculum is openly accessible on Github. Last but not least, they are building capacity worldwide, i.e., they train people to become certified instructors that can teach SWC/DC workshops. You can read more background about SWC/DC in the sections at the bottom of this page.

Certified trainers
Several DTL partners are very active in SWC/DC and are home to certified trainers (e.g., NLeSC, Surfsara, Erasmus MC, and UMC Utrecht). NLeSC, the DTL Learning programme, and ELIXIR-NL Training have joined forces to align the Dutch SWC/DC initiatives and to make sure they are aligned with the European SWC/DC activities. The sustainability of SWC/DC training efforts depends on the availability of active local instructors. At the moment, there are nine certified instructors in the Netherlands. In the recent instructor training event in Utrecht, 17 new instructors have been trained and are now undergoing the certification process. At the beginning of the year 2018, up to 33 more instructors will be taught.
Examples of activities
The list below contains some examples of past DTL/ELIXIR-NL activities related to SWC/DC. Please consult the section at the bottom of this page for a more complete overview.
- ELIXIR-NL was involved in the Pilot action, which aimed to train researchers in IT skills and introduce SWC/DC workshops across the ELIXIR nodes. Read more.
- In 2017, DTL/ELIXIR-NL, the Netherlands eScience Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, and SURFsara organised one of the first Data Carpentry Genomics workshops in Europe. Read more.
- In 2016, the first edition of the SURFacademy workshop ‘Essential skills in data-intensive research’ took place. It was collaborative effort of the Netherlands eScience Center, SURFsara, DTL, VU University Amsterdam, and the Software and Data Carpentry foundation. Read more.
- In 2015, UMC Utrecht (Philip Lijnzaad) hosted two SWC/DC events (a hackathon and a workshop) in the context of an ELIXIR Pilot. You can find a report about these events here.
The content of this page is in part based on Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry and Training pages.