Research Platform Services Blog

At a typical academic conference keynote presenters will talk about their research. While that’s all well and good, what you don’t get to hear so much about is their story. How did they get to where they are today? Why are they so passionate about what they do? We’ve picked three of the most interesting people we know in academia and have asked them to present a “keystory” instead. Here’s a little about each of them:

Monday 

Dr Jee Hyun Kim
@About_Memory

Head, Developmental Psychobiology, The Florey, The University of Melbourne
“Thriving under pressure: Harvest diversity"

Jee is a self-proclaimed queen of nerds whose PhD completion in Psychology at the University of New South Wales was slowed down by her dedication to saving Azeroth 2005-2008. Following a postdoctoral training at Michigan University, she moved to Melbourne to become the youngest laboratory head at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. Her work focuses on the neuroscience of good and bad memories underlying anxiety and addiction in childhood and adolescence using rodent models.

She has received various awards and major grants including the University Medal in Psychology and the Australian Psychological Society early career research award. Since returning to Australia in 2011, she has won grants totalling 3 million dollars as the Chief Investigator A including Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, ARC Discovery Project Grant, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grants, and NHMRC Career Development Fellowship. In 2014 she received the Victorian Young Tall Poppy Science Award.

She strongly believes in the importance of treating mental disorders early in life, a topic she shared at TEDxMelbourne. She features regularly on radio and television to discuss memory and forgetting, and lists Beyonce, Kerrigan, and Ronda Rousey as her inspirations. She believes recruiting a diverse group of people in her laboratory as key in her success in the most difficult period of transitioning from early to mid-career scientist.

Tuesday

Angus Hervey
@angushervey 

Co-Founder of Future Crunch, Manager of Random Hacks of Kindness

“What happens when you finish your PhD? Lessons from the frontline (from someone that almost didn’t make it)”

Angus is a science communicator, with a background in environmental economics and international political economy. Using a combination of evolutionary psychology, history and political economy and he analyses science and technology trends and what they mean for business and society.

After an early career in Cape Town as a successful entrepreneur and lecturer, he moved to London where he managed Global Policy, a leading international publication whose advisory board included Nobel Prize winners such as Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen and legendary innovators such as Muhammad Yunus and George Soros. This was an introduction to politics and economics at the highest level, and gave him an insider’s view on issues such as financial regulation, environmental management and international development.

In 2012, following the completion of his PhD as the Ralph Miliband Scholar at the London School of Economics, he moved to Melbourne. Frustrated by the lack of intelligent discussion around future trends in Australia, he co-founded Future Crunch, a forum for critical debate on the transition from the industrial to the digital era. He is also the Australian manager of Random Hacks of Kindness, a global initiative started in 2009 by Google, IBM, Microsoft, NASA and Yahoo which connects technologists with social changemakers.

Today more than ever, he combines a global perspective with the belief that change comes from small groups of people motivated by fairness, optimism and a belief in the transformative power of science and technology.

Wednesday

Alberto Pepe 
@AlbertoPepe 

Co-founder of Authorea, data consultant, Research Associate at Harvard University.
“On leaving academia, without ever saying goodbye”
Loosely based on, https://www.authorea.com/users/3/articles/5287/_show_article

Alberto Pepe is the co-founder of Authorea, an online place to write research together. He is a “recovering academic” with previous Ph.D. and Postdoc work in Astrophysics and Information Science. He holds degrees and fellowships from Harvard, UCLA, CERN, and University College London. He was born and raised in the wine-making town of Manduria, in Puglia, Southern Italy.

Let’s face it - we all have a nerd somewhere within us. Sometimes we just need a little help bringing it out (as if a research tools training conference isn’t enough).  Welcome….

Nerd Nite is an informal gathering at which nerds and non-nerds alike gather to meet, drink, and learn something new. Nerd Nite Melbourne joined the other chapters around the world exactly a year ago and has been a huge success in our city.  Many of our own ResComs have even taken the floor!

At ResBaz, we’ll host the first Nerd Nite of the year on Tuesday night with some of the most popular speakers Nerd Nite has ever seen!  To see who’s coming, head over to Nerd Nite Melbourne’s website and check them out!  You can also follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

Nerd Nite #10 is open to everyone (including the general public) and there is NO cover. BYO drinks or cash bar available on site. 

When: Tuesday, February 17th

Where: Plaza Lawn (see map) - Entry through Gate 6 off Swanston St near Melbourne Uni trap stop or through Sidney Myer Asia Centre (until 8pm).

Time: Doors open 7:30pm, 8pm start

Hope to see all you Nerds there! Be there and be square!

Every researcher knows the importance of food and drinks at conferences (some may say that’s the best part!). 

This post will give you a sneak peak about what you’ll be eating and drinking at ResBaz!

FOOD

Breakfast will be available every morning under the tents on the Plaza Lawn from 7:30-8:30am. Arrive early if you want some brekky (and yoga)!

Lunch will be provided on Monday and Wednesday afternoons only. On Tuesday, you will need to bring your own or purchase something from Union House or another restaurant nearby (just ask a Melbourne Uni student for their recommendations). 

Dinner will be held during the Bazaar on Monday and Tuesday nights. We’ll have a gourmet BBQ on Tuesday night. Don’t worry if you’re a vegan or vegetarian - we’ve got you covered! 

DRINKS

We are encouraging everyone to bring their own alcoholic beverages to share. This could be a local beer from where you’re from, your favorite liquor, or that special bottle of wine you’ve been saving. We’d encourage you to leave your BYO beverages at our funky Pink Flamingo Bar for everyone to try. We’ll slap a sticker with your name on it so that when people try your drink, they can track you down and ask you about it (or at least thank you for sharing!). Drinking turned into networking!

Be sure to bring your own water bottle that you can fill up from the drinking fountains during the day. We won’t have bottled water available.

Morning and afternoon tea/coffee will be served each day between training sessions (we know you’ll need breaks!). If you would like “real” Melbourne coffee, see below for a list of cafés on or near campus where you can pick one up.

Our favorite cafés on or near campus

Shanti Bhagwan Café: Monash Rd (in Alice Hoy building, closest café to the ResBaz Lawn)

House of Cards: Engineering Lane (between Old Metallurgy and Old Engineering)

Carte Crêpes: Behind the John Medley West Building

Lot 6: Gate 6, Swanston St (next to Tsubu Bar, behind 1888 Building)

Dr. Dax Kitchen: Corner Genetics Lane & Royal Parade

The Potter Espresso Bar: Swanston Street (north-east corner of the Ian Potter Museum of Art)

Animal Orchestra: 163 Grattan St

Seven Seeds: 106-114 Berkeley Street

The training classes at the Research Bazaar conference are going to be great, but the real highlight of the event is going to be the afternoon/evening social program (see the timetable here). Hosted under a large tent (i.e. a bazaar/marketplace setup - hence the name of the conference), this part of the conference will be a mix of short informative talks, networking opportunities, fun and games, intellectual debates, interesting exhibitors and great food. Here’s an overview of the organisations and people that will feature:

(More organisations/people will be added in the lead up to the event.)

Authorea (@Authorea)
Authorea is the online platform for writing scientific, academic, and technical documents in collaboration. The co-founders of Authorea (@albertopepe & @nathanjenkins12) will be on hand to answer your questions.

DJ lessons
It turns out that the head of the Research Platforms Department at the University of Melbourne (which runs the Research Bazaar project) is a kick-ass DJ in his spare time. Come along and learn a thing or two from the master!

Filmonik (@FilmonikMelb)
Filmonik is Melbourne’s open-mic short film night, where new and established film-makers share their short films. Video is a powerful way to share a story, explain an idea or document an event. Meet the Filmonik crew, see some fresh short films and learn some tips and tricks for creating a great short film.

Guru talks
There are a lot of very smart and knowledgeable people attending ResBaz, so we’ve asked a bunch of them to give short 15 minute talks on topics that they’re experts in.

Hackathon
Hackathons are all the rage these days. A number of recent Hackathon organisers (e.g. @FCTweedie / GovHack) and award winners (e.g. @sritchie73 / HealthHack) will be attending ResBaz, so come along and chat with them about their experiences, and the value of hackathons to research.

Hacky Hour (#HackyHour)
Hacky Hour (great pun, right?) is a weekly meetup at the University of Melbourne where researchers come and have their programming questions answered by our team of gurus. During the Bazaar, we’ll be running multiple Hacky Hours.

Melbourne Accelerator Program (@MAPUniMelb)
The Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP) supports entrepreneurs of all stages and accelerates the growth of world-class startups. From those who just have an idea, to those who have already raised funding, MAP provides the networks and expertise to accelerate the growth of world-class businesses.

Mozilla Science Lab (@MozillaScience)
The Mozilla Science Lab is helping a global network of researchers, tool developers, librarians and publishers collaborate to further science on the web. Their Director (@kaythaney) and Community Manager (@billdoesphysics) will be around to chat with ResBaz attendees.

OpenGLAM
OpenGLAM is an initiative that promotes free and open access to digital cultural heritage held by Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums. We’ll be talking about the joys and challenges of working with cultural collections with the  Ian Potter Museum’s Heather Gaunt.

Research tool consultations
With so many digital research tools out there it can be hard to figure out which ones are best for you. At this session we’ll have a bunch of computing gurus on hand to help you make sense of the options. You describe your research, and they’ll hook you up with the tools you need.

ResBaz TV (@ResPlat)
The Research Bazaar project has a very active YouTube channel, which features interviews and recordings from the various events and researchers that we’re involved with. Come along and chat with Dejan (@heyDejan) and Marcella (@marcellapurnama) - they promise they won’t bite!

Software Sustainability Institute (@SoftwareSaved)
The Software Sustainability Institute supports better research by helping researchers to build and use better software. Come along and chat with their Deputy Director, Simon Hettrick.

Technological liberalism
Our Research Community Coordinator for the Humanities (@interrogator) will lead a discussion on technological liberalism.

Telescope
Some of the astronomers from Telescopes in Schools are bringing a telescope to view the night sky! If the weather is clear, we should be able to see the Orion nebular, Jupiter, and maybe even Mars and Venus!

The Conversation (@ConversationEDU)
The Conversation is a collaboration between editors and academics to provide informed news analysis and commentary that’s free to read and republish. Their staff will be on hand to answer any questions you might have about publishing with them, or simply about communicating your research to the public.

3D printing (#digismith)
Our digital blacksmith training courses have been hugely popular, so come along to see cool 3D printed objects and hear from our 2014 grant winners.

We’ve got a jam packed schedule lined up for the Research Bazaar conference!

The mornings and early afternoons are filled with training classes in a wide range of digital research tools,

while the late afternoons and evenings have been set aside for social, networking and learning opportunities under the big tent (i.e. a bazaar/marketplace setup - hence the name of the conference!).

Attendees have all been allocated to a specific stream of training classes, however once that stream is finished people are free to attend whichever elective classes they like.

If you’re lost/confused, these links might come in handy:

• Map of the conference venues
• Profiles of the Key-Story speakers
  
• Detailed description of all training classes
• Detailed description of everything happening at the Bazaar
• Nerd Nite explainer

By Damien Irving

A typical academic conference involves a procession of verbal and poster presentations showcasing the latest research findings. Such conferences are obviously vitally important for the advancement of knowledge in a given research discipline, however what rarely gets discussed is the tools and data processing workflows used to produce that latest research.

This omission is partly due to the fact that researchers simply don’t have the time and/or space to include such detail in a conference presentation/poster, but it’s also true that many (or most) researchers are a little ashamed to talk about such things. Modern day meteorologists, biologists and kinesiologists, for instance, spend a lot of time writing code to analyse data. The vast majority don’t have a computer programming background, which means they’re a little self-conscious when it comes to discussing the details of their personal workflow.   

Just put the finishing touches on my poster for #ResBaz. Not long now! @ResPlat pic.twitter.com/ycNzsTGI4d

— Damien Irving (@DrClimate)

January 14, 2015

To address this problem, the Research Bazaar conference isn’t so concerned with what your research is about, but rather how you actually do that research. In order to get the conversation stated, all attendees are required to produce a poster that describes the tools in their digital research toolbox. It turns out that many (even fairly unrelated) research disciplines require similar tools, so we think attendees will learn a lot from one another! 

To make this exercise as painless as possible, we’ve prepared a Google Slides document that contains a poster template and a few examples. All participants are asked to add their poster to the Google Slides document by no later than Friday 6 February, so that we can print them up and put them on display during the tea breaks at the Bazaar. There’s a separate Google Slides document for each stream at ResBaz, so simply click on the link corresponding to the stream you’re enrolled in to get started!

• Programming and data analysis using Python
• Programming and data analysis using R
  
• Programming and data analysis using MATLAB
• Natural language processing using Python
  
• Drawing and printing 3D objects using AutoDesk Inventor
• Research maps using CartoDB and TileMill