Open Call: Kickstarting Carpentries Workshops

Appli­ca­tions are now open to host one of four fund­ed pilot Car­pen­tries work­shops in 2027 under the Build­ing dig­i­tal skills train­ing and les­son devel­op­ment capac­i­ty in the Nether­lands NES domain (DC4NES) project, fund­ed by TDCC-NES and led by 4TU.ResearchData. Select­ed appli­cants receive a bud­get of up to EUR 4,000 per work­shop, cov­er­ing venue, cater­ing and trav­el costs for instruc­tors. They also receive sup­port from the DC4NES team to plan and run the work­shop.

The call opens on 14 Octo­ber 2026 and clos­es on 15 Jan­u­ary 2027. Appli­ca­tions will be reviewed in Jan­u­ary 2027, and appli­cants will be noti­fied in Feb­ru­ary 2027. Pilot work­shops take place between March and Decem­ber 2027, with finan­cial sup­port and guid­ance from the DC4NES team through­out.

What is a Car­pen­tries work­shop?

A Car­pen­tries work­shop is a short, hands-on train­ing event, usu­al­ly two days long, that teach­es researchers foun­da­tion­al cod­ing and data skills. Work­shops run under the umbrel­la of The Car­pen­tries, an inter­na­tion­al non-prof­it, and are taught by cer­ti­fied Car­pen­tries Instruc­tors. They use exist­ing Car­pen­tries lessons, which can be mixed and matched, or lessons from the Car­pen­tries Incu­ba­tor.

Why apply?

Through these pilot work­shops, we want to encour­age insti­tu­tions to start organ­is­ing dig­i­tal skills train­ing togeth­er as Train­ing Hubs. A Train­ing Hub is two or more insti­tu­tions that are close in loca­tion, dis­ci­pline and/or tar­get audi­ence and that organ­ise in-per­son or online work­shops togeth­er. They share the organ­i­sa­tion­al work, instruc­tors, helpers and par­tic­i­pants. Work­ing as a hub allows insti­tu­tions to:

• offer mul­ti­ple work­shops per year to meet demand
• reach a larg­er, shared pool of researchers
• share instruc­tors and helpers to reduce work­load
• rotate organ­i­sa­tion­al tasks to low­er over­head
• build a cross-insti­tu­tion­al learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty
• reuse high-qual­i­ty, com­mu­ni­ty-devel­oped train­ing mate­ri­als

The pilot work­shop is a sup­port­ed first step. Our goal is that hubs con­tin­ue offer­ing work­shops togeth­er after the project ends. Instruc­tors trained through DC4NES will be con­nect­ed to these hubs, as well as to the Research Soft­ware Train­ing NL (RST-NL) net­work.

Look­ing for a part­ner? Join our match­mak­ing ses­sion

You don’t need a part­ner insti­tu­tion to apply, although col­lab­o­ra­tive appli­ca­tions are giv­en pri­or­i­ty if the call is over­sub­scribed. To help you find one, we are organ­is­ing an online match­mak­ing ses­sion on 9 Decem­ber 2026. You can meet oth­er insti­tu­tions inter­est­ed in host­ing a work­shop and explore form­ing a hub togeth­er. [Reg­is­ter by email­ing Iri­na Motoc at i.motoc@tudelft.nl]

Who can apply

The call is open to staff at uni­ver­si­ties and research insti­tutes in the King­dom of the Nether­lands, includ­ing train­ing coor­di­na­tors, librar­i­ans, data stew­ards, soft­ware sup­port staff and research sup­port units. Your insti­tu­tion is eli­gi­ble if any of the fol­low­ing applies:

1. It does not yet offer Car­pen­tries work­shops.
2. It offers Car­pen­tries work­shops, but on its own rather than togeth­er with oth­er insti­tu­tions.
3. It already col­lab­o­rates with oth­er insti­tu­tions on dig­i­tal skills train­ing, but that col­lab­o­ra­tion does not yet include Car­pen­tries work­shops.

Insti­tu­tions that already organ­ise Car­pen­tries work­shops in col­lab­o­ra­tion with oth­er insti­tu­tions are not eli­gi­ble under this call.

Your appli­ca­tion must include at least one cer­ti­fied Car­pen­tries Instruc­tor, who must com­plete instruc­tor train­ing by Feb­ru­ary 2027. It must also pro­pose a work­shop based on exist­ing Car­pen­tries or Car­pen­tries Incu­ba­tor lessons, held in 2027.

Don’t have an instruc­tor yet? Our Open Call for Car­pen­tries Instruc­tor Train­ing Seats is still open.

How to apply

Please read the doc­u­ments below care­ful­ly before apply­ing:

• Eli­gi­bil­i­ty Cri­te­ria: Kick­start­ing Car­pen­tries Work­shops Call
• Selec­tion Cri­te­ria: Kick­start­ing Car­pen­tries Work­shops Call
• Selec­tion Process: Kick­start­ing Car­pen­tries Work­shops Call

Once you have con­firmed you meet the eli­gi­bil­i­ty cri­te­ria, sub­mit your appli­ca­tion via the Appli­ca­tion Form: Kick­start­ing Car­pen­tries Work­shops Call by 15 Jan­u­ary 2027. You’ll be asked for:

• your insti­tu­tion and depart­ment
• any part­ner insti­tu­tions, if you’re apply­ing as a col­lab­o­ra­tion
• the pro­posed audi­ence, pre­ferred work­shop top­ics and time­frame

You’ll also be asked to briefly describe local demand for the work­shop, whether it reach­es new or under­served research com­mu­ni­ties, and how you plan to con­tin­ue train­ing after the pilot.

Ques­tions?

For any ques­tions about the project or the appli­ca­tion process, please con­tact Iri­na Motoc (Project Coor­di­na­tor, 4TU.ResearchData) at i.motoc@tudelft.nl.