Champions Program
Research software should serve everyone in our communities, which means it needs to be sustainable, open, and built by and for all groups. Currently, however, there is a dismaying lack of diversity in open source communities in general and the R / research software community in particular. Developers in the R community are overwhelmingly white, male, and from a handful of countries. That disappointing lack of diversity is potentially detrimental to the sustainability, utility and productivity of projects.
The rOpenSci Champions Program is for people from historically and systematically excluded groups who are interested in contributing to rOpenSci and the broader open source and open science communities.
The rOpenSci Champion Program is part of a series of activities and projects we are carrying out to ensure our research software serves everyone in our communities and is supported through a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
🔗 Program 2023-2024 timeline
Our second cohort started this January! This is the tentative timeline for 2024.
| Date | Event | Detail | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2024 | Kick-off event | Learn about the program, review the program expectations, and address questions. Meet mentors. | 1.5 h |
| February - April 2024 | Training | Knowledge of various channels through which new members can engage in and contribute to rOpenSci and R projects (by rOpenSci). | 1 h |
| February - April 2024 | Training | Technical skills in software development (by rOpenSci). | 2 h |
| February - April 2024 | Training | Technical skills in software review (by rOpenSci). | 2 h |
| March-July 2024 | Develop project; Meet with mentor | Go through the review process as an author, or as a reviewer, or build a package. | |
| May 2024 | Cohort meeting: Project Presentations | Champions give 5 min presentations of their projects (package review or development) and receive feedback. | 1.5 h |
| July 2024 | Cohort meeting: Project Reflections | Champions will be invited to share takeaways from their projects with the cohort. | 1.5 h |
| August - September 2024 | Training | How to plan and facilitate engaging and inclusive workshops to support participants’ success (by CSCCE). | 2 h |
| August - October 2024 | Champions outreach: Host events, deliver talks, write about their experiences. | Champions host a workshop on good practices to build packages or good practices in software peer review; or deliver a talk at a conference/event and at one community event to gather feedback to improve rOpenSci’s projects. | 1 to 3 h |
| September 2024 | Cohort meeting: Reflections on events | Champions will be invited to share takeaways from their events with the cohort. | 1.5 h |
| October 2024 | Cohort meeting: Reflections on program | Champions will be invited to share takeaways from the program with the cohort and start to define future roles for Champions. | 1.5 h |
| November 2024 | End of term | Close cohort and define new roles for Champions and Mentors. | 1 h |
🔗 How to Apply ?
2023-2024 applications are closed. We will announce when we open a new call for champions and mentors. In the meanwhile, follow the progress of this cohort and the last through rOpenSci Blog posts.
🔗 Do you have any questions?
Please, check our frequentely asked question for champions and for mentors. You can also contact our Community Manager by email and check our resources about the program in English and Spanish.
