The ever-increasing volume and variety of data being generated impacts academia and the private sector. Contemporary research and evidence-based decision making cannot be done effectively without a range of data-related skills, such as, but not limited to, the principles and practice of Open Science, research data management and curation, data platforms and infrastructures implementation, data analysis, statistics, visualisation and modelling techniques, software development, and annotation. We define ‘Research Data Science’ as the ensemble of these skills.

While the international, collective ability to create, share, and analyse vast quantities of data is profound, there remains a shortage of individuals skilled in Research Data Science worldwide, which limits this transformative effect. With the appropriate data training however, the ‘Data Revolution’ offers great opportunities for students and professionals with modern data skills, such as when entering a job market where these skills are in demand or conducting research.

The CODATA-RDA School for Research Data Science brings these concepts and tools to communities that may not have been introduced to the wide range of open resources currently available.