The US National Institutes of Health is seeking comments for its the Big Data to Knowledge initiative, Sally Rockey, the deputy director for extramural research at NIH, writes at her Rock Talk blog. The BD2K initiative, she says, aims to find effective ways to use and manage the large datasets coming out of new biomedical studies.
One part of the initiative is to focus on honing the skills of researchers so that they can work with such data, and that, Rockey says, is what NIH wants to hear about. "NIH asks for your input on both the short and long-term training needs of individuals who work with biomedical data, seeks examples of programs or strategies to cross-train scientists at all career levels, and also requests comments on evaluating workforce skills and knowledge and developing a diverse research workforce," she writes.
The comment period ends March 15.