We are launching a new, self‑paced Training Certificate for all members of the CSAFS community: HQPs, ICTs, Genome Canada, Genome Centres, and partners. Build practical knowledge and skills with flexible learning that fits your schedule to support your climate-smart research!
The Climate-Smart Data Collaboration Centre (CS-DCC) creates and curates training opportunities, learning materials, and other resources, with a focus on promoting FAIR data practices throughout the data lifecycle. We put an emphasis on (meta)data governance and harmonization, as well as research data management and data analytics.
The CS-DCC will be creating and hosting training opportunities, including workshops and a regular webinar series with a variety of data-related topics. These webinars will be available to attend live, but will also be recorded and available on-demand on our YouTube channel.
Keep an eye on this space for upcoming workshops, webinar videos, and other learning materials, which will be posted here as soon as they are available. For questions about CS-DCC training opportunities, contact Luba Vasiluk: cs.dcc@climatesmartagrifood.ca
Decentralizing Data for Climate-Smart Research: Policy, Infrastructure, and Trust (Webinar)
Recorded 08 Apr, 2026, available on the CSPC YouTube channel.
Case Study of Layering Ontology onto a Dataset Field (Focus Group Session)
Recorded 18 Mar, 2026, available on YouTube.
The Dirty Business of Data Harmonization (Focus Group Session)
Recorded 17 Mar, 2026, available on YouTube.
The 5 Ws and 1 H of the CS-DCC (Presentation)
Recorded 12 Mar, 2026, available on YouTube.
Data Security, Privacy, and Protection (Webinar)
Recorded 10 Feb, 2026, available on YouTube.
GitHub Training and Resources (Webinar)
Recorded 23 Sep 2025, available on YouTube.
CBW/CS-DCC Microbiome Analysis Workshop
This workshop, hosted by the Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops, is happening September 15-18, 2026, at the University of Guelph. It is open to everyone, but members of our CSAFS network will be given priority access and are eligible for a reduced rate.
Experience with UNIX and R/Python programming languages is required for this workshop. If this isn’t something you’re familiar with, the workshop includes a virtual pre-session on August 26-28, 2026, hosted by the Carpentries, that covers this prerequisite.
CS-DCC Data Processing and Analytics Scholarship
The CS-DCC supports collaboration between the CSAFS portfolio and our wider research network. Our scholarship program funds trainees (undergraduates, Masters, PhD, and postdocs) to work on projects related to the portfolio’s objectives. We aim to promote engagement of trainees in data science, help develop their careers, and ultimately strengthen Canada’s position in the data processing and analytics research community. To learn more about our scholarship opportunities, email cs.dcc@climatesmartagrifood.ca.
CSAFS Training Certificate Program
CS-DCC and AG-ACt have launched a self-paced training certificate for members of the CSAFS community: HQPs, ICTs, Genome Canada, Genome Centres, and partners. Learn more here.
This section highlights workshops, conferences, and events in the bioinformatics and data spheres. For more general food, environmental, and agriculture events, see our Events page.
If you have an event you’d like us to add to this list, email us at cs.dcc@climatesmartagrifood.ca.
Mar 17, 2026 CS-DCC Focus Group: Tools and Best Practices for Developing Data Standards (Online, open to members of the CSAFS portfolio including ICTs, Hubs, and Genome Centres)
Mar 18, 2026 CS-DCC Focus Group: Layering Ontology onto a Dataset Field (Online, open to members of the CSAFS portfolio including ICTs, Hubs, and Genome Centres)
Apr 22-23, 2026 Machine Learning Workshop – Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops (Edmonton, AB, Canada AND Vancouver, BC, Canada)
May 12-13, 2026 Pathway and Network Analysis Workshop – Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops (Calgary, AB, Canada AND Saskatoon, SK, Canada)
May 27, 2026 Reproducible Research: Essentials for Managing Your Data – Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops (Toronto, ON, Canada)
May 27-29, 2026 Canadian Bioinformatics Hub Conference (Toronto, ON, Canada)
Oct 26-27, 2026 Cultivating Resilience Summit (Calgary, AB, Canada)
This section provides resources for several on-demand and recurring workshops and courses in the food, agriculture, bioinformatics, and data spheres. If there’s a resource you think is missing that you’d like us to add to this list, email us at cs.dcc@climatesmartagrifood.ca.
Bioinformatics.ca hosts a variety of bioinformatics workshops for various skill levels, both in-person and virtually, held across Canada throughout the year. Visit their website for upcoming workshop opportunities, and for more information.
Statistics Canada offers several data literacy training courses, including both paid teacher-led training and free online self-paced courses.
Calcul Québec offers a wide range of computer-related training courses, including programming, analysis and supercomputer use. Visit their training webpage to find out more about their training courses.
University of Guelph Library hosts a Data Skills Workshop Series each semester, designed to support all levels of researchers at every stage of the research data lifecycle. Self-paced asynchronous and live instructor-led workshops are available. For additional resources from the University of Guelph Library, contact Lucia Costanzo: lcostanz@uoguelph.ca
University of Waterloo offers courses and programs for data science, data analytics, and AI.
University of Toronto Library offer periodic workshops on data management, data science, AI, and more.
University of British Columbia hosts regular workshops on a wide variety of data-related topics, including advanced research computing (ARC), data visualization, data repositories, application programming interfaces (APIs), file naming/formatting, and more. Filter by events offered at UBC Vancouver Library, UBC Okanagan Library, UBC Advanced Research Computing, and Virtual options.
Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC) offers training resources on research data management and navigating data repositories. Check out their Training Modules webpage and their Explora events page (new) for more details.
Global Research Alliance (GRA) on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases has an e-learning program containing three 60-90 min online courses, designed for anyone with an interest in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Visit their e-learning page to learn more and take the courses.
Physalia Courses is hosting several courses and workshops on coding in R, Python and other coding languages, data management and analyses for various data types. Visit their website for information on registration and the dates that courses and workshops are being offered.
Government of Canada has updated their website pertaining to Research Data Management. Look through the webpage to see updates on Research Data Management policy, funding opportunities and FAQ.
Athabasca University is hosting an Intro to Research Data Management course. The course is FREE, but due to platform/website limitations it will prompt you to pay/buy the course – just enter the coupon code ‘researchfree’ to bypass payment.
We are developing and curating tools and workflows for (meta)data governance, harmonization, and management, as well as data repositories and other resources. You can find information about how to access and use each of these tools/workflows below.
Semantic Engine: The Semantic Engine, created by CS-DCC researchers from Agri-food Data Canada at the University of Guelph, helps you write more effective metadata by creating a schema that is easily readable by humans and machines. A schema is a type of metadata that describes the data’s underlying structure and can include useful information such as the units of the data, the data’s format, and more detailed descriptions. It also helps make your data more FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
DataHarmonizer: The DataHarmonizer, created by CS-DCC researchers from the Centre for Infectious Disease Genomics and One Health (CIDGOH) at Simon Fraser University, is an open-source tool for faster data harmonization, validation, aggregation, and analysis of genomics contextual information. It is a standardized browser-based spreadsheet editor and validator that can be run offline and locally.
Tripal: Tripal is an open-source toolkit for constructions of genomic, genetic, breeding, and biological databases.
Bento: Bento is a collection of free and open-source microservices used to construct data-focused platforms, developed by the Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics. By adhering to existing and anticipated standardized APIs, it facilitates interactions between various -omic science global communities. Its reusable and interoperable components reduce the complexity and overhead of constructing data distribution portals.
Gen3: Gen3 is a data platform for building data commons and data meshes. It consists of open-source software services that support the emergence of healthy data ecosystems by enabling the interoperation and creation of cloud-based data resources.
Agri-food Data Canada: Agri-food Data Canada (ADC) is hosted at the University of Guelph and works with participants of the research data ecosystem to help create tools and training that will increase the value of research data. Their website includes training videos and resources for how to properly format and curate data files up to 5GB onto Borealis (see below).
Borealis: Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository, is a bilingual, multidisciplinary, secure, Canadian research data repository, supported by academic libraries and research institutions across Canada. It is a great resource for institutional ingestion of data and licencing, as well as for data storage and curation (5GB or less).
Federal Research Data Repository: The Federal Research Data Repository (FRDR) is a bilingual publishing platform for sharing and preserving Canadian research data. It is a curated, general-purpose repository, custom-built for large datasets (>5GB) and is not limited to academic institutions.
Digital Research Alliance of Canada: The Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC) serves Canadian researchers, with the objective of advancing Canada’s position as a leader in the knowledge economy on the international stage. By integrating, championing, and funding the infrastructure and activities required for advanced research computing (ARC), research data management (RDM) and research software (RS), they provide the platform for the research community to access tools and services faster than ever before. DRAC is a non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada. For additional resources at DRAC, contact Catherine Di Vita: divita@alliancecan.ca
We are developing and curating tools and workflows for data processing, analysis, and visualization. You can find information about how to access and use each of these tools and workflows below.
Keep an eye on this space for tools and workflows, which will be posted as they are created and released.
Join our Discourse Forum and GitHub communities to join in on the conversation. We have hubs dedicated to all aspects of the data lifecycle, from data schema creation to data collection, management, analysis, security, and long-term storage.
Be the first to hear about new resources, events, and tools to help you bridge research, policy, and practice.
