Workshops¶

Carpentries Workshops¶

The Carpentries (https://carpentries.org) is a global organisation that teaches foundational coding and data science skills to researchers world-wide. University of Otago is a member organisation of the Carpentries and uses the Software and Data Carpentry curriculums for workshops. Each year we also train new instructors through instructor training workshops.

Software Carpentry¶

A Software Carpentry (https://software-carpentry.org) workshop is a hands-on training that covers the core skills needed to be productive in a small research team. Short tutorials alternate with practical exercises, and all instruction is done via live coding.

A Software Carpentry workshop is taught by at least one trained and badged instructor. Over the course of the workshop, instructors teach our three core topics: the Unix shell, version control with Git, and a programming language (Python or R).

Building Better Research Software (pilot)¶

This short course teaches tools and practices for producing and sharing quality, sustainable and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) research software to support open and reproducible research.

The content of the workshop can be found at https://carpentries-incubator.github.io/better-research-software/index.html

Target Audience¶

Post-graduate students, early career researchers or junior Research Software Engineers (RSEs) who are starting their research or software projects, have foundational knowledge of Python, version control and using software tools from command line shell, and want to develop software to support their research using established best practices
Researchers or scientists who had foundational software training before but wish to refresh, reinforce or improve their skills and practices in the wider context of FAIR scientific practice and sharing and writing software for open and reproducible research

Prerequisites¶

Foundational knowledge of the following is required to be able to understand code examples used in the course:

Python used to write scientific code
Version control with Git
Working in a command line interface (shell)
Attending a Software Carpentry workshop or a similar course will help you gain the skills and experience needed.

4 - 5 November¶

10am - 4pm, daily

Register

Introduction to Git¶

This online, hands-on Carpentries Version Control with Git workshop will introduce you to the fundamentals of version control and collaborative workflows using Git. You’ll learn by doing, with guided exercises and live support from certified instructors.

What you’ll learn By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

Understand what version control is and why it matters
Track and manage changes in your files using Git
Revert to previous versions of your work
Collaborate with others without overwriting each other’s contributions
Use Git to support reproducible and transparent research

Level: Novice/Beginner

29 Oct 2026¶

9:30am - 1pm online

Register

Programming and Plotting in Python¶

Python is a versatile programming language widely used in the research community for tasks such as pre-/post-processing simulation results, data visualization, data science, machine learning, and task automation.

In this hands-on, virtual workshop, you will learn essential Python programming skills. We will focus on understanding basic Python syntax, writing simple code, and navigating third-party package documentation. Topics covered include:

Python fundamentals: variables, strings, arrays, and dictionaries
Reading, summarizing, and plotting tabular data
Repeating actions with loops
Creating functions

Level: Novice/Beginner

Not currently scheduled. Please email rtis.training@otago.ac.nz

Intoduction to the UNIX Shell (BASH)¶

This is a free online workshop which aims to teach beginners how to use the command line to manipulate files and data.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

Navigate files and directories using the Unix shell
Create, copy, move, and remove files and folders
Use powerful command-line tools to search and manipulate data
Combine commands to automate repetitive tasks
Understand how the shell supports reproducible research workflows

Level: Novice/Beginner

15 October 2026¶

10am - 3pm online

Register

Data Carpentry¶

Data Carpentry's (https://datacarpentry.org) focus is on the introductory computational skills needed for data management and analysis in all domains of research. Our lessons are domain-specific, and build on the existing knowledge of learners to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. Our initial target audience is learners who have little to no prior computational experience. We create a friendly environment for learning to empower researchers and enable data driven discovery.

R for Data Analysis and Visualisation¶

This is a free workshop introducing researchers to basics of R programming language and RStudio before moving on to data exploration, visualisation, data cleaning, and data manipulation workflows commonly used in ecological research. This workshop does not teach statistics.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

Introduction to R and RStudio
Importing and exploring ecological datasets in R
Creating effective data visualisations using ggplot2
Working with data frames, vectors, and factors.
Cleaning, filtering, selecting, and transforming data using modern R workflows

Level: Novice/Beginner

Not currently scheduled. Please email rtis.training@otago.ac.nz