News

Below we report on recent advances in the field of data science at the University of Bremen and keep you informed about the activities of the DSC and its members. You will find news about research projects, education and training opportunities, transfer activities, and much more.

As part of the DataNord project, the Data Science Center (DSC) contributed to this year’s WiNoDa Winter School: Sarah Büker led a hands-on workshop on the Galaxy platform, thereby strengthening collaboration between the two data competence centers.

From 24 to 28 November, the online WiNoDa Winter School “Research with Natural Science Collections: Data, Quality, and Methods” brought together researchers and curators working with object-based data. The five-day programme is organised by GFBio – German Federation for Biological Data e.V., the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Vernetzungs- und Kompetenzstelle Open Access Brandenburg (VuK), in cooperation with NFDI4Biodiversity. The Winter School aims to build essential data skills needed to handle collection-based research data effectively and responsibly.

On 27 November, the DSC was represented by Sarah Büker, who gave a two-hour interactive introduction to the Galaxy-Project – an open, FAIR-oriented platform for transparent and reproducible data analysis in the life and environmental sciences.

Her workshop covered:

what Galaxy is and why it matters for researchers working with collection data,
how to conduct FAIR and transparent analyses with Galaxy,
how to run analyses and create visualisations without programming skills,
and how to get started and where to find more training resources.

The workshop drew on materials from the Galaxy Training Network and the European Galaxy Server. Participants from a wide range of disciplines took part, all united by their work with museum and scientific collections – resulting in lively discussions and a highly engaged group.

The DSC’s contribution also demonstrated the value of close collaboration between DataNord, WiNoDa, and the NFDI community. It highlighted the essential role of the DSC’s data competence team in ensuring that the University of Bremen and its DataNord partners are actively represented in national initiatives and able to help shape shared approaches to data skills and infrastructure.