Posted by n.chuehong on 9 January 2014 - 3:15pm

Can you present complex data to tell a compelling story that anyone will be able to understand?

The British Library Science Team and Cottage Labs are running a challenge sponsored by the BBSRC and AHRC to visualise the data now avalable about publicly-funded research in the UK. Entry forms are available from 27 January 2014 and deadline for submissions is on 21 March 2014.

Every year the seven Research Councils, funded by UK tax payers, spend around £3 billion on research that improves lives and the world around us. Research Council funds are awarded on the basis of applications made by researchers, which are subject to independent, expert peer review. Applications are judged by considering a combination of factors, including their scientific excellence, timeliness and promise, strategic relevance, economic and social impacts, industrial and stakeholder relevance, value for money and staff training potential.

Key data from the seven Research Councils are now available from one place - Gateway to Research - enabling anyone to interrogate grants awarded, publications, people and organisations.

The purpose of this challenge is to develop visualisations of the Gateway to Research data that can be easily understood by the public. Displaying these data in an accessible way will also have benefits for a range of sectors, stakeholders including policy makers, other funding bodies and the media.

We are inviting designers, graphic artists, software developers, programmers and anyone with an interest in data visualisation to produce images that will show how this public funding contributes to research in the UK.

For more details, please visit the challenge webpage.