One of the greatest things about the R community is its diversity. This is largely thanks to organizations like Forwards and R-Ladies, who have been instrumental in welcoming women and other under-represented groups to the world of R. Likewise, conferences in the R community encourage diversity, with open codes of conduct, facilitations like on-site child-care, and by offering scholarships for travel and lodging to encourage attendees from diverse backgrounds.
Here are three upcoming R community events that are offering diversity scholarships:
The rOpenSci Unconference (May 21-22, Seattle) is now accepting self-nominations to participate. You can request travel support as part of the application process, and the organizers "strongly encourage applications from women and other underrepresented genders, people of color, people who are LGBTQ, people with disabilities or any other underrepresented minorities in research". Applications are open now.
The eRum 2018 Conference (May 14-16, Budapest, Hungary) will include a Package Development Workshop for Women presented by Forwards, which is also offering scholarships to attend (thanks to funding from the R Consortium). The deadline to apply is February 25.
The useR! 2018 Conference (July 10-13, Brisbane, Australia) is offering scholarships for those seeking financial aid to attend, and in addition R-Ladies Melbourne is offering two $500 travel scholarships. Applications are open now.
If you're thinking about applying, Forwards offers useful tips for applying for diversity scholarships.
Sad to see that certain groups are deemed to be more worthy than others. Simply racist/sexist.
Posted by: Sad Steven | February 12, 2018 at 21:43
Sad, anonymous Steven: it's pretty clear you don't know what "racist" or "sexist" mean. But more importantly: if you haven't seen the benefits that initiatives like Forwards and R-Ladies have brought to the R Community -- not least by bringing in a new cohort of talented and enthusiastic developers and data scientists to the community -- then it's pretty clear you're not part of the community.
Posted by: David Smith | February 13, 2018 at 06:39
I make no judgement about Forwards and R-Ladies. Ask yourself if you would be fine with a conference giving financial support to only men or asian/white people?
Posted by: Sad Steven | February 13, 2018 at 10:08