The QCBS R Workshop Series went through several major changes in 2020-2021: we implemented remote workshops for the first time ever, due to the impossibility of offering in-person workshops at universities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and welcomed a new coordination cohort!

The switch to a remote setting could never have been possible without the hard work of our developers, and the flexibility of our (very patient!) instructors, who navigated the difficult and unpredictable transition with us. Each of our 10 workshops were adapted in French and English to a new, shorter workshop length, with exercises tailored to the virtual setting. That means a total of 20 workshop presentations went through major changes, on top of the continuous improvements we strive to apply annually according to participant and instructor feedback. That’s a lot of changes to apply!

The coordination team also went through a major transition in the midst of these changes: we said goodbye to Marie-Hélène Brice (Ph.D., Université de Montréal) after 3 years of coordination and Alexis Carteron (Ph.D., Université de Montréal) after 1 year of coordination. Thank you both for your contributions to the series! Pedro Henrique P. Braga stayed on as coordinator, and was joined by Linley Sherin (M.Sc., McGill), Esteban Gongora (Ph.D. McGill), and Katherine Hébert (Ph.D., Université de Sherbrooke) in Fall 2020.

Though managing these transitions was difficult, it was also rewarding: we were able to offer all 10 workshops in French and in English in a way that was equally accessible to all QCBS members, regardless of their host institution. We also received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees about our instructors' capabilities and the quality of the materials. More than 100 people (!) participated in the workshop series this year, from 14 different universities and research institutes from within the QCBS community and beyond. Most participants who responded to our surveys reported that they felt that their knowledge and skills in R improved, thanks to community engagement in the R Workshop Series!

We would like to thank our 19 instructors, our 18 developers, and our 101 participants for your patience and willingness to participate, instruct, and/or develop these workshops with us, as we navigated this exceptionally difficult year:

Thank you to our 2020-2021 instructor team:

Andrew Macdonald (UdeS), Benjamin Larue (UdeS), Daniel Schöenig (UQAM), David Hunt (McGill), Dominique Caron (McGill), Francis Banville (UdeM), Gabriel Muñoz (Concordia), Jake Lawlor (McGill), Laurie Maynard (UdeMoncton), Linley Sherin (McGill), Marc-Olivier Beausoleil (McGill), Mathieu Vaillancourt (ULaval), Maxime Fraser Franco (UQAM), Mi Lin (McGill), Pedro Henrique P. Braga (Concordia), Poliana Mendes (ULaval), Simon Morvan (UdeM), Sylvain Christin (UdeMoncton), Victor Cameron (UdeS).

Thank you to our 2020-2021 developer team:

Alexandre Arkilanian (McGill), Benjamin Larue (UdeS), Daniel Schöenig (UQAM), Dominique Caron (McGill), Gabriel Muñoz (Concordia), Hassen Allegue (UQAM), Jake Lawlor (McGill), Kate Sheridan (McGill), Katherine Hébert (UdeS), Laurie Maynard (UdeMoncton), Linley Sherin (McGill), Marc-Olivier Beausoleil (McGill), Marie-Hélène Brice (UdeM), Mathieu Vaillancourt (ULaval), Maxime Fraser Franco (UQAM), Mi Lin (McGill), Parnian Pourtaherian (Concordia), and Pedro Henrique P. Braga (Concordia).

We hope to see you at next year’s workshops, or to work with you again soon!

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of the summer,

The QCBS R Workshop Series coordination team