HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Summer School 2025

The Summer School aims to empower participants with practical knowledge, build digital skills, and help inspire new research outcomes within the humanities, arts, social sciences, and Indigenous fields of study. Participants will collaborate in an interactive group setting while networking with like-minded researchers and subject matter experts.

Over 3 days, participants will be involved in interactive workshops, discussions, mentoring, networking and formal presentations to:

• learn skills to use digital research tools
• discover frameworks and workflows for impactful digital research
• understand Indigenous Data Governance and data management
• build networks for future collaborative projects using HASS and Indigenous RDC infrastructure.

The Summer School is free of charge for researchers and Indigenous data custodians based in Australia thanks to the support of the ARDC HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons. Lunch and morning and afternoon tea are provided each day. Travel and accommodation must be covered by the participants. A limited number of travel bursaries are available, with applications closing on 15 January 2025 - see below for more information.

Who should attend?

Researchers, including, higher degree researchers (HDRs) and early to mid- career researchers (EMCRs), in humanities, arts, social sciences and Indigenous research areas.

Data custodians working with Indigenous data from:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations
• universities and research organisations
• the galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) sector
• all levels of government
• the private sector, including not-for-profits.

Agenda

Download the Agenda for the HASS and Indigenous RDC Summer School 2025. This may change closer to the event.

Register for Indigenous Data Governance Masterclass 3 February 2025

You are also invited to join the ARDC Indigenous Data Governance Masterclass at Summer School on 3 February, 10am - 5pm, at the State Library of Queensland. It is aimed at a wider audience, including all custodians of Indigenous data and researchers of all disciplines. Please register separately for the ARDC Indigenous Data Governance Masterclass. It is not included in the Summer School registration.

What to expect at Summer School 2025 webinar

View the webinar - What to Expect at the ARDC HASS and Indigenous Summer School 2025 to hear from a previous attendee about their experience, and 2025 workshop presenters outlining what they will cover.

What will participants do?

• Participate in networking, mentoring and plenary sessions, including a Data Solutions Exchange.
• Learn key concepts such as Indigenous Data Governance, FAIR and CARE data and using administrative data at short 101 Foundational sessions.
• Hear case studies about the Yirrkala digitisation project, the Writing Disability in Australia dataset and using the Time Layered Cultural Maps.
• Attend 4 hands-on workshops in a research stream over 3 days.
• Share your expertise or request topics led by fellow participants at optional Explore and Expand sessions.

What is in the workshop streams?

Streams run concurrently over 3 days. You will select one stream when you register for your ticket. Use the links below to find out more about each workshop.

Stream A: Indigenous Data Governance

A practical introduction to the key tools, frameworks, and principles essential for mobilising Indigenous data governance in research and beyond.

Led by Levi Murray (University of Melbourne), Nic Car (KurrawongAI)

• Workshop A1 Onboarding and Indigenous Data, FAIR and CARE
• Workshop A2 Introduction to metadata
• Workshop A3 Creating and applying metadata
• Workshop A4 Contributing to the Indigenous Data Network catalogue

Stream B: Organising HASS and Indigenous data

A practical introduction to managing HASS data based on principles which respect the cultural heritage value of the material.

Led by Ben Foley, Simon Musgrave, Moises Sacal Bonequi (University of Queensland)

• Workshop B1 Onboarding and Data management for sustainability
• Workshop B2 Metadata
• Workshop B3 The importance of licences
• Workshop B4 Using Crate-O to describe data and build a crate

Stream C: Computational techniques for obtaining and analysing HASS and Indigenous data

Demonstrates computational methods and tools to obtain and analyse data.

Led by Sam Hames (University of Queensland), Dan Angus (QUT), Robert Fleet (QUT)

• Workshop C1 Onboarding and using Jupyter notebooks
• Workshop C2 Data donation methods and tools for online platforms and social data
• Workshop C3 Computational methods with textual data
• Workshop C4 Network visualisation of social media data

Stream D: Administrative data analysis in R: An introduction

A hands-on introduction to working with and analysing government administrative data using R, with a focus on answering social science research questions.

Led by Matthew Curry, Tomasz Zajac (University of Queensland)

• Workshop D1 Onboarding and Introduction to R, RStudio, and government
• Workshop D2 The basics of data manipulation in R
• Workshop D3 Manipulating data and data sets in R
• Workshop D4 Regression analysis and interpreting results in R

You can see the 101 sessions, case studies and workshops, and where you need to make choices, in this Choose your 2025 Summer School Pathway Interactive PDF

Travel Bursaries

The ARDC is pleased to be offering up to 10 $1,000 travel bursaries for the 2025 HASS and Indigenous RDC Summer School for people based in Australia. The travel bursaries support the attendance and participation of Indigenous, HDR students and EMCRs in the Summer School, being held in Brisbane/Meanjin from 3 to 6 February 2025. Travel bursaries are available for HDRs, EMCRs and Indigenous researchers and stakeholders.

To apply for a travel bursary, please complete the Travel Bursary Application Form by Wednesday 15 January 2025. Apply now.

Applications for travel bursaries will close COB Wednesday 15 January. We aim to notify all applicants of the outcomes by Tuesday 21 January.

Important

Code of Conduct. To make this a welcoming and friendly event for all, participants are expected to be aware of, and follow, the Code of Conduct for ARDC Activities

Bring a laptop. Summer School is an in-person event. Workshops will require laptop computers (PC or Mac). Devices such as mobile phones and tablets will NOT be suitable for the workshops. Please bring your own laptop and charging cords.

Workshop preparation. You will select one stream of 4 workshops that build on each other over 3 days. Each stream starts with an introductory workshop to find out what participants would like to learn, explain key concepts and ensure everyone is set up with any software or logins they need. The Participant Information Sheet for each session outlines what you will learn and any equipment you will need or set up to do beforehand. Please make sure you are prepared for the workshops you will attend.

Food. Light refreshments and lunch will be provided.

Recording. Parts of this event may be recorded and published by the ARDC. This may include your contributions during a session. ARDC respects the privacy of individuals. Information collected is in accordance with the ARDC Privacy Policy

Cancelling/modifying your attendance. We understand that plans change and you may need to cancel or modify your attendance at the Summer School. If you need to make changes, please let us know via contact@ardc.edu.au

Will the session be recorded?

The 101 Foundational sessions on Day 1 and the case studies on Day 2 will be recorded and published online.

Other sessions rely on face-to-face communication and collaboration, so will not be recorded.

About the ARDC

At the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), we’re accelerating Australian research and innovation by driving excellence in the creation, analysis and retention of high-quality data assets. We partner with the research community and industry to build leading-edge digital research infrastructure to provide Australian researchers with competitive advantage through data.

The ARDC is enabled by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).

About the ARDC’s HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons

In collaboration with Indigenous Australians, the research community, industry and government, the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons (HASS and Indigenous RDC) is harnessing research data to enhance Australian social and cultural wellbeing, and help Australia understand and preserve our culture, history and heritage.

New digital platforms and data directories are improving how researchers discover and access Australia’s rich humanities, arts, and social science (HASS) and Indigenous data and innovative analysis tools. The program is also upskilling researchers to use data-driven approaches to HASS research and apply Indigenous data governance principles.

As an engine for research translation, the HASS and Indigenous RDC enables researchers to develop and sustain cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary data collaborations at a national scale through federated models. It integrates the ARDC’s services for compute, storage infrastructure, persistent identifiers and data discovery with analysis platforms and tools that are supported by expertise, standards and best practices.

Learn more about the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons.

Further Resources

• Read about the 2024 Summer School
• HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons
• Resources for HASS and Indigenous research

Have questions?

Email contact@ardc.edu.au

To keep up-to-date on latest digital research news and events, subscribe to the ARDC Connect newsletter. Please note that this event may be recorded and published by the ARDC. This may include your contributions during the session. Attendees are expected to comply with the Code of Conduct for ARDC Activities during this event. ARDC respects the privacy of individuals. Information collected is in accordance with the ARDC Privacy Policy.