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.
🔗 Tentative Program timeline
The table below outlines a draft timeline for year one of the Champions Program. As this is a pilot year, there may be minor changes to this.
| Date | Event | Detail | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2023 | Kick-off event | Learn about the program, review the program expectations, and address questions. Meet mentors. | 1.5 h |
| February 2023 | Training | How to plan and facilitate engaging and inclusive workshops to support participants’ success (by CSCCE) | 1.5 h |
| February 2023 | Training | Knowledge of various channels through which new members can engage in and contribute to rOpenSci and R projects (by rOpenSci) | 1.5 h |
| February 2023 | Training | One of two:Technical skills in software development, or, Technical skills in software review. (by rOpenSci) | 1.5 h |
| March 2023 | Cohort meeting: Presentation of projects | Champions' 5 minutes presentations of their project (package review or development) and get feedback. | 1.5 h |
| March-July 2023 | Develop project. Meeting with mentors | Go through the review process as an author, or as a reviewer, or build the package of their choice | |
| Jun 2023 | Cohort meeting: Reflections on projects | Champions will be invited to share takeaways from their projects with the cohort. | 1.5 h |
| August - November 2023 | Champions outreach: host events, deliver talk, write about their experiences. | Champion’s host: a workshop on good practices to build packages or good practices in software peer review or deliver a talk on a conference/event and one community event to gather feedback to improve rOpenSci’s projects | 1 to 3 h |
| September 2023 | Cohort meeting: Reflections on events | Champions will be invited to share takeaways from their events with the cohort. | 1.5 h |
| December 2023 | 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 |
| February 2024 | End of term | Close cohort and define new roles for Champions. | 1 h |
🔗 How to apply
The 2022 calls for Champions and mentors have closed.
Consider getting involved in 2023!
The 2023 calls will be announced in August or September 2023, on this page, in our newsletter and our social networks.
🔗 Do you have any questions?
Please, contact our Community Manager by email.
You can also check our resources about the program in English and Spanish.
