Course detail

Description: This course provides participants with an understanding of modern standards for scientific software development. In the course we will learn about the key considerations you should have, when developing software in a research setting. While it is not a programming course, we explore best practices for before, during and after project execution.  

Course topics will include: 

• Working with cloud platforms 
• Git for version control, collaboration and code documentation. 
• Data and software management 
• Licensing, publishing and archiving 
  
  

Who is this course for?

If you in your daily work do any of these:

• Process data on a computer
• Adapt code and scripts from colleagues or peers
• Write code/scripts used by you, your colleagues or peers

then this course is for you. However, this is not a programming course.

Objectives: In this course you will learn the practical skills and craftsmanship to increase your day-to-day research productivity and be able to use and/or produce scientific software with a high degree of compliance to modern research standards. After the completion of the course you should

• have knowledge and understanding of collaboration practices in writing program code and managing data to ensure high quality scientific research and development
• be able to with confidence assess and utilize IT work environments for scientific research and development projects
• be able to apply current software development principles in development of program code and computational scripts for the use in scientific research

In more common terms you will learn to e.g.:

• apply the widely used commandline interface/shell bash in your daily work.
• apply the widely used version control system Git in your daily work.
• understand concepts related to computational reproducibility and data management.

Format: Hands-on interactive three-day event with participatory live-coding, demos and presentations. The participants are encouraged to follow and run the same examples as shown during the course. The workshop will contain several smaller practical 5-10 minutes exercises and breaks.

Prerequisites

• You will need to bring a laptop with Windows / OS X / Linux. 
• You know the basics of a least one programming language.
• You can navigate your computer, locate files etc.
• Read Wilson et. al. “Good enough practices in scientific computing” and start thinking about the presented ideas and to what extent it can be adapted in your work.

We expect that:

• You actively participate and work on the examples and exercises.
• You talk to your neighbors and help each other. 
• Ask for help if both you and your neighbors are stuck.

Course project: The course project will contain several elements from the course. Participants are presented with a default project, or can take on a project based on their existing work if they find this option suitable. The project will require additional work following the three course days.

ECTS: 2 (Participants attending at least 80% of the course and submitting an acceptable course project receive credits)

Lecturers: Sighvatur Sveinn Davidsson and Freya Vamberg Delfs 

Dates: 5., 6. & 9. October 2026

Location: Aalborg University

City: Aalborg

Zip Code: 9220

Number of seats: 30

Open for enrolment: 5. June 2026
Deadline for enrolment: 14. September 2026

Important information concerning PhD courses: There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

For external PhD students: This course is a general course and is prioritized for PhD Students enrolled at Aalborg University. If there are available seats, PhD students from other universities will be accepted. You will be notified shortly after the deadline if you have been accepted.

To attend courses at the Doctoral School in Medicine, Biomedical Science and Technology you must be enrolled as a PhD student.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course.

You may find more information in our FAQ: https://phd.moodle.aau.dk/local/page/faq 

For inquiries not described in the FAQ, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk. When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.