About the Event 

Notebooks are great and all, but how do you create a record of your work? Quarto is a fantastic tool which behaves in a similar way to a notebook, but works with an executable script. Executable scripts are more reliable and better for reproducibility. Quarto also creates publication quality output in many formats, for example html (websites), pdf, Word docs, epub and more. Quarto is easy to use and combines text written in Markdown, with code chunks written in popular languages like Python and R. Come to this talk to learn how you can get started and take your work to the next level with ease.

Our Speaker 

The talk will be delivered by Dr Mike Spencer. Mike leads the research data science team at Smart Data Foundry and has a background in climate, the environment, economics and social science. His previous work has included agriculture, supply chains, rural economy, hydrology, digital skills and social services. He has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in snow hydrology and a BSc in Environmental Science from Lancaster University. Mike is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a member of the Society of Research Software Engineers and a convener of the EdinbR R user group.

When & Where   

The talk will take place online via Zoom on Wednesday 19 March, from 13:30 to 14:30 (UK time), followed by a 30-minute Q&A session with the speaker. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions before or during the talk, to be answered in the Q&A session. The talk will be recorded and later made available on the SSI website and YouTube channel.

Necessary Software

While not required, it is advisable to have access to either an R or Python coding environment, an IDE like RStudio, VSCode or Positron, and Quarto. 

Who can attend

We are happy to invite all researchers working within the social sciences accross the UK, as well as all those interested in bettering their research management skills.

Further Questions

Please contact Andrzej Romaniuk (andrzej.romaniuk@ed.ac.uk) for any questions related to this and upcoming workshops.