Monday, February 10, 10:00–12:00pm, Murray Library room 161, USask only, capacity 28 

This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to building qualitative data visualizations such as word trees, heat maps and sunbursts in NVivo and Excel, as well as infographics in Canva. Delivered by colleagues from the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research (CHASR).   

Meet the speakers:

Marla Rogers has worked for CHASR and its predecessor the Social Sciences Research Laboratories in several capacities since 2016. In her role as mixed methods research manager and specialist, Marla supports University of Saskatchewan (USask)-based and external researchers and clients with projects that incorporate qualitative and quantitative components, whether the results are integrated or stand-alone. Marla holds an MPA from USask’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy and a BA (Hons) in psychology from USask. 

Melanie Kaczur joined CHASR as the assistant mixed methods research manager in 2023. In 2024 she was promoted to qualitative research manager and specialist and currently oversees and coordinates qualitative research projects, collects and analyzes qualitative data, and manages transcription services at CHASR. Melanie holds an MA in applied social psychology and a BA (Hons) in psychology from USask. 

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Monday, February 10, 1:00–2:30pm, online 

Join Dr. Robert Henry (PhD), Dr. Cassandra Opikokew Wajuntah (PhD) and Dr. Karla Williamson (PhD) to learn about their experiences and perspectives fostering Indigenous Data Sovereignty in their work. This session will highlight nuances within and among First Nations, Métis and Inuit approaches to data in research and will include short presentations followed by a discussion and Q&A.

Meet the speakers:

Dr. Robert Henry (PhD) is an associate professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and holds a Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Health and Wellbeing. He is the principal investigator on the SK-IMN advisory team and completed his degrees at USask.

Dr. Cassandra Opikokew Wajuntah (PhD) is a member of Canoe Lake First Nation and grew up in Meadow Lake, SK. She is an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology in the College of Medicine at USask. Previously, Opikokew Wajuntah was the director of the Indigenous Peoples' Health Research Centre (IPHRC) at the First Nations University of Canada and Co-Chair of the Research Ethics Board at the University of Regina. 

Dr. Karla Jessen Williamson (PhD) is a kalaaleq – born and grown up in West coast of Greenland. An assistant professor of Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan, she is the first Inuk to be tenured at Canadian university. Doctoral degree from University of Aberdeen, UK. Specializes on Indigenous epistemology and experiences of the colonial systems and well appreciated locally, nationally and internationally. She has two adult children and three Inuktitut speaking grandchildren.

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Tuesday, February 11, 9:00–10:00am, online 

Learn about how the Health Research Data Platform – Saskatchewan (HDRP-SK) streamlines the process for researchers to access health data in Saskatchewan. As we celebrate our first anniversary, join us to learn how HRDP-SK continues to evolve to meet the needs of the health research community. 

Meet the speakers:

Malori Keller is the director of HRDP-SK and is based out of the University of Saskatchewan (USask) in Saskatoon. As director, Keller has operational oversight for HRDP-SK. She has a strong passion for improving health and healthcare and is a keen advocate for quality improvement and health research.  

Cristina Diego is data access coordinator at HRDP-SK. In her role, she oversees the management of data request workflows and guides research teams throughout the data access process. She holds an MA in sociology from USask, where her research focused on health and the ethical challenges of using artificial intelligence in Canadian healthcare. Diego previously worked at the Clinical Trial Support Unit in USask's College of Medicine where she supported the planning, implementation and coordination of clinical research studies. 

Victoria Martinez is the training and capacity building lead for HRDP-SK. She has a MA in economics from USask, during the which her work focused on using administrative data to answer questions in education and labour. She has previously worked on behavioural interventions to drive take-up of employment programs in low-income populations with the Behavioural Public Policy Laboratory and serves on the Quint Development Corporation board. 

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Tuesday, February 11, 11:00am–12:00pm, online 

Join Murall Bird, Director of Information Governance and First Nations Data Governance Strategy (FNDGS) implementation lead at the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and Darryl Bazylak, Director of Education  and Deputy Chief of Programs and Services at Métis Nation–Saskatchewan (MN–S) to learn about their unique perspectives and approaches to Indigenous Data Sovereignty and its connection to research. Both will give a presentation on this topic followed by a discussion and Q&A session.

Meet the speakers:

Murall Bird is the Director of Information Governance and the implementation lead of the FNDGS at FSIN. Bird’s previous roles include researcher analyst in the Health and Social Development Secretariat at FSIN, program manager and education and training coordinator with Inroads to Agriculture, and as an educator for Saskatoon Public Schools and various First Nations in Saskatchewan. The Information Governance unit is mandated to build capacity and promote sovereignty through data for First Nations in the region, as the Nations continue to assert their inherent and treaty rights to self-determination. 

Darryl Bazylak is Director of Education and Deputy Chief of Programs and Services for MN-S, with program oversight of Education, Child and Family Services, Economic Development, Women, Gender, Youth and Sport. In the past, Bazylak served in many roles including Director of Education for Prairie Spirit School Division and Superintendent of Education for Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division with 31 years of experience across a variety of portfolios including First Nations and Métis Education, Learning, Facilities, Human Resources and Technology. He serves on community and education boards including the Saskatchewan Research Network Board and Emmanuel Health Catholic Health Board.  

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Tuesday, February 11, 1:00–2:30pm, Murray Library room 145, USask only, capacity 30 

The Canadian Tri-agency is beginning to require that researchers submit a data management plan (DMP) when submitting their funding applications to demonstrate how they plan to collect, organize, analyze, store, preserve and share (when applicable) their data over the course of a project. DMPs are rapidly becoming foundational to research excellence, and it is crucial that researchers learn to implement data management planning into their research workflows. Join Kevin Read, Research Data Management Librarian, for a workshop where attendees will learn about DMPs and develop a draft outline of a DMP for their own research project.  

Meet the speakers:

Kevin Read is a faculty member in the University Library and the research data management and open science librarian at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). For over a decade, Read has been supporting researchers in planning, organizing, preserving and sharing their research data. His research focuses on improving the discovery and accessibility of research data in Canada and integrating data management education into undergraduate and graduate curricula. Kevin has a master’s of library and information science and a master’s of archival science from the University of British Columbia.    

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Wednesday, February 12, 9:00–10:00am, online

Join us for an insightful presentation on high performance computing (HPC) and how it is powering advances in science at USask. Learn more about the resources available to you and hear from the experts on how to use HPC, storage and other computational tools and techniques to securely advance your research.

Meet the speakers:

John Costa’s IT career spans more than 25 years, including 12 years dedicated to research computing. After earning a master's degree in artificial intelligence, he collaborated with cardiologists to create image processing software for coronary angiograms, aiding in the detection of cardiomyopathies. Costa spent time in the private sector supporting start-ups, and most recently using machine learning for diagnostics. Currently he leads the core services team, supporting Linux, scientific software, storage and many other services that drive discovery.   

Karim Panjvani has close to a decade of experience in research and related fields, specializing as an electronics and software engineer in autonomous vehicle algorithm design and plant phenotyping research, with a focus on computer vision. Currently, Karim serves as a research IT security coordinator at USask, focusing on cybersecurity and helping researchers across campus secure their valuable work. 

Brook Byrns has 13 years of experience in research and research-related fields at USask, beginning in bioinformatics for the Department of Agriculture and Bioresources and transitioning to a role as an advanced research computing support analyst for Information Communications and Technology. In this position, Brook provides data management support and assists researchers in leveraging HPC resources to optimize data analysis and computational workflows. 

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Wednesday, February 12, 11:00am–12:30pm, Education Building room 1004, capacity 70 

Please join us for an in-person presentation exploring the 2022 iteration of the Indigenous Peoples Survey (IPS) and its most recent data releases, with a focus on Saskatchewan. The IPS is a national survey of First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit living in Canada, and in 2022 focused on social and economic outcomes related to education, employment, health and access to services. This session will be presented by the Saskatchewan advisor to Statistics Canada’s Indigenous Liaison Program, joined by an analyst from Statistics Canada’s Centre for Indigenous Statistics and Partnerships division. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. 

Meet the speakers:

Helen Hunter-Tootoosis is an Advisor for Statistics Canada's Indigenous Liaison Program for Saskatchewan.Her homelands are Treaty Six territory, and she and her ancestors are from Poundmaker Cree Nation.  

Henry Robertson has been an analyst at Statistics Canada’s Centre for Indigenous Partnerships and Statistics since 2017. Prior to this he worked in National Accounts, with responsibility for calculating quarterly GDP. His research spans a wide range of topics including Indigeous languages, labour market outcomes and shifts in how Indigenous identity is reported in the Canadian Census.  

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Wednesday, February 12, 1:00–2:00pm, online

In this presentation, attendees will gain an understanding of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC)’s Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR). Presenters will provide an overview of FRDR, discuss its curation and preservation services and outline the support researchers will receive when using FRDR. The presentation will also highlight the University of Saskatchewan (USask)’s use and support of FRDR. 

Meet the speakers:

Tamanna Moharana is the data curation officer for the DRAC where she provides ongoing curation support for new dataset submissions to the FRDR. She also works towards streamlining internal curation workflows and developing quality assurance workflows and resources to support good data management practices. She is actively involved in and collaborates with the national curation community to support and facilitate a curation community of practice. 

Amanda Tomé is the preservation coordinator for the DRAC where she is responsible for preservation services associated with the FRDR. She spends her time crafting digital preservation workflows, developing appraisal and data retention methodologies, preservation planning, and investigating interesting and new file formats. Tomé collaborates and participates in various national and international committees. 

Dr. Daniel Manrique-Castaño (PhD) obtained his PhD in neuroscience from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Bochum, Germany) and completed postdoctoral training at Université Laval (Québec, Canada). Passionate about data management and analysis, Manrique-Castaño currently works as a research data curation officer at the FRDR and develops resources to increase the curation capacity in Canada. 

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Thursday, February 13, 10:00–11:00am, online

As journals and funders increasingly require researchers to share their research data to publish or receive funding, the research community must be prepared to navigate this new data sharing landscape. Where do you start? What risks are involved in sharing your data? Where should you share it? Are you ethically and/or legally permitted to share? What do you gain by sharing? This presentation will guide you through the data sharing process to answer these questions and provide you with a strategy that you can use to navigate sharing your own research data.

Meet the speakers:

Kevin Read is a faculty member in the University Library and the research data management and open science librarian at the University of Saskatchewan (USask). For over a decade, Read has been supporting researchers in planning, organizing, preserving and sharing their research data. His research focuses on improving the discovery and accessibility of research data in Canada and integrating data management education into undergraduate and graduate curricula. Kevin has a master’s of library and information science and a master’s of archival science from the University of British Columbia.

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Thursday, February 13, 11:00am–12:00pm, online 

The purpose of the Safeguarding Science workshop is to raise awareness within Canada’s scientific and academic communities about research-security related issues. The primary objective of this workshop is to explain the potential for misuse of dual-use research, technology and materials, along with possible risk indicators and mitigation tools to protect Canadian research assets. 

Meet the speakers:

Erin Dorgan is the regional advisor for the Prairies in the Government of Canada’s recently established Research Security Centre. In this role, she helps ensure universities and researchers have access to research security awareness, guidance and resources. 

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Thursday, February 13, 1:00–2:30pm, online 

Join us to explore the practice of data sharing from disciplinary perspectives across the Tri-Agency funding spectrum. Drs. Christy Morrissey (PhD), Jim Clifford (PhD) and Daniel Fuller (PhD) will each discuss experiences, challenges and opportunities related to data sharing, with a discussion and Q & A to follow. 

Meet the speakers:

Dr. Christy Morrissey (PhD) is a professor in the Department Biology in the University of Saskatchewan (USask)’s College of Arts and Science who conducts research on the ecotoxicology of birds and aquatic ecosystems and tackles sustainability challenges in the agricultural sector through collaborative research. She has co-authored more than 90 publications and secured over $15 million in external grant funding during her career as PI or co-PI and holds multiple grants including large collaborative NSERC and CFI awards. These require collections and management of large, complex and sensitive data, partnerships between researchers within and across institutions and engagement of the private and public sector, local landowners and Indigenous communities. 

Dr. Jim Clifford (PhD) is a professor in the Department of History in USask’s College of Arts and Science. Dr. Clifford is an environmental and digital historian of the British World during the nineteenth-century and co-editor of the journal Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History. Working with a team of students in the Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) Lab, Clifford has created and shared large datasets including spatial data of London's factories and British imports. He has also worked on the community-engaged Remember Rebuild Saskatchewan project to record and share oral history interviews focused on living through COVID 19 our province. He has published a book with the University of British Columbia press and articles in the Journal of Historical Geography, Environment and History and Historical Methods. 

Dr. Daniel Fuller (PhD) is an associate professor in Community Health and Epidemiology at in the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine. His interdisciplinary research is focused on using wearable technologies to study physical activity, transportation interventions, and equity in urban spaces. He has an M.Sc in kinesiology from USask and a PhD in public health from Université de Montréal. Fuller is a principal investigator on the INTERventions, Research, and Action in Cities (INTERACT) team, the CapaCITY/É initiative, and is involved in Artificial Intelligence for Public Health (AI4PH) training initiatives.

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Friday, February 14, 10:00–11:00am, online

Discover how SKY-RDC empowers research at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) through secure access to a vast and growing collection of Statistics Canada and administrative microdata. This presentation will give participants an introduction to SKY-RDC and the Canadian Research Data Centre Network including use cases, data holdings and linkages and considerations for prospective users. It will also share exciting updates on the future of RDC research at USask and nationally.

Meet the speakers:

Sarah Rutley is the academic director at SKY-RDC and a faculty member in the University Library at USask, where she supports students and researchers across disciplines as USask’s data, GIS & maps librarian. Her research focuses on data discovery, access and management in academic, government and community contexts.  

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