A two day face-to-face conference on data sharing and secondary data analysis in child and youth wellbeing research will be held on 9th and 10th December 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia, along with a one-day statistical course on how to access and compare data from different sources on 11th December 2024. 

We invite researchers, policy practitioners, data analysts, curators and archivists from academic, government and NGO sectors who are working on topics related to child and youth wellbeing to participate in the conference and attend the course. The conference will provide an opportunity to present participants’ own work, exchange experiences, learn about secondary data analysis, and understand how to safely share data. The course will demonstrate how existing data can be accessed and will showcase procedures for combining and visualising data from different sources.

Both events are free of charge. Additionally, travel and accommodation costs may be reimbursed up to an amount of 700 EUR per person (see eligibility criteria below).

Application process

Please apply for the events using the following Application form. Applications will remain open until 25th October 2024. 

Conference overview

The main objective of the conference is to showcase existing efforts in secondary data analysis for research and policy development, and to discuss the benefits and challenges of data-sharing practices in the field of child and youth wellbeing. Selected project results aimed at facilitating access to existing data, such as the Child Wellbeing Variable Database, Harmonisation Toolbox, Catalogue of Research Data on Child Wellbeing, and Data Sharing Guidelines for researchers, will be presented.

The conference will feature oral presentations and panel discussions covering the following topics:

• Secondary data analysis for research or policy development
• Research datasets with potential for secondary use
• Data sharing infrastructures.

Statistical course overview

The one-day, hands-on statistical course will equip participants with essential skills for accessing, combining, comparing, and visualising data from different sources. These skills are especially useful in the context of informing public policies related to child and youth wellbeing. Participants will learn practical techniques for obtaining secondary datasets efficiently. The Microsoft Power Query tool, along with Excel, will be used for transforming and merging data from various sources. Creating and publicly sharing data visualisations will be demonstrated using Tableau Public.

Eligibility and selection criteria for cost reimbursements

To be eligible for cost reimbursement, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Their interests must align with the aims of the COORDINATE project, particularly in child and youth wellbeing.
• They must have a contract or affiliation with a recognised academic or public institution, or a not-for-profit organisation based in an EU member state or an associated country.
• Applicants from outside the EU or associated countries can apply to attend but are not eligible for financial support.
• PhD students are eligible to apply; however, master’s or bachelor’s students are not.

Priority in funding will be given to applicants:

• Who apply for both the conference and the course, as well as those who submit a proposal for an oral presentation (although attending only the conference is not disqualifying, as more seats are available for the conference than for the course).
• Who have not previously received support from any COORDINATE project activities.
• From countries with less developed research data infrastructures for the social sciences, especially in Southeast Europe, and those affiliated with or partnering with CESSDA.
• Gender balance will be considered during the selection process.

Researchers from COORDINATE partner institutions who are not directly involved in the project are eligible to apply. However, as the project’s objective is to widen the network of researchers using child wellbeing data, a limited number of places will be awarded to applicants from partner institutions.

Organiser

The events are organised by CROSSDA –  the Croatian Social Science Data Archive.

If you have questions about the events, please write at data.archive@ffzg.hr.