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The motivation behind: addressing unmet data-skills needs |
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Life sciences research, in particular ‘omics technologies needed for analysis of genomes and cellular components that generate ‘big data’ sets, has moved at an astonishing speed. In just eight years, the fraction of data-rich science in research grant applications to BBSRC has grown from 20% to over 50%, according to the BBSRC Review Data-Intensive Bioscience (chaired by Prof A Millar, Nov 2020), which made bioscience data training its Recommendation. This reflects that many researchers across all career stages continue to feel poorly equipped to analyze, interpret, manage, visualize, integrate, store, source and share the resulting ‘big data’ sets. This need for enhanced biosciences data skills was reported in 2015, when the BBSRC and MRC Joint Review of Vulnerable Skills and Capabilities (updated 2017) identified Mathematics, Statistics and Computational Biology as priority areas for further investment and development, with data analytics and bioinformatics especially vulnerable. The NERC Environmental Omics: A Community Vision report (2019) also highlighted the need for bioinformatics training to maximize the uses of new genomics technologies to solve major environmental issues. This is not just a UK challenge: A recent OECD report noted: “The COVID-19 pandemic ... has underscored the critical importance of data-intensive science and the need for strategic approaches to strengthening the digital capacity and skills of the scientific enterprise as a whole.” Demand for digital training far outstrips supply.