UDCC Call for Proposals: Data Visualisation Projects - Autumn 2024

Are you a researcher at Utrecht University looking to create insightful data visualizations to increase the depth and impact of your research? Do you need support with developing interactive visual tools or integrating diverse data sources?

The newly established Utrecht Digital Competence Center (UDCC) serves as a central network connecting all research support teams at Utrecht University. This network exists to traverse borders, increase visibility, and foster a sense of community in collaboratively developing skills and tools for using digital technologies in research. For this first UDCC call, developers from the Research Software Lab (Centre for Digital Humanities) and the Research Engineering team (Information & Technology Services) will combine their expertise to support researchers across Utrecht University. We invite staff from all disciplines with a data visualization challenge to apply.

What kinds of projects can we support?

We are open to projects of both large and more limited scale. We welcome applications for projects that involve multiple data visualization aspects, including but not limited to:

  • Interactive visualizations: Building user-friendly interfaces that allow real-time interaction with datasets;
  • Data integration: Merging and visualizing data from multiple sources, enabling new insights and perspectives;
  • Hosting and maintenance: Ensuring that your visualization platform is securely hosted, and easy to maintain;
  • Custom visualizations: Developing innovative visual representations of data using libraries and frameworks, or custom-built solutions;
  • Visualization-driven research: Applying data visualization to enhance the understanding and communication of complex research findings.

Support you get

We offer engineering support up to 0.5 FTE for one year. You will be matched with developers whose expertise aligns best with your data visualization requirements. We can provide support in:

  • Selecting a suitable and feasible visualization approach;
  • Developing a back-end infrastructure;
  • Developing a front-end interface;
  • Hosting and maintenance of the data visualization;
  • Designing a sustainability plan for your project;
  • Best practices and principles for FAIR data & software.

How to apply

Submit a project proposal on or before 2 February 2025 using the application form. In your proposal, please include:

  • A description of your project and the challenges you are facing: What goals or research questions should the visualization tool help to address?
  • A specification of the target audience of the visualization (e.g., researchers, students, the general public) and describe how it will ideally be utilized.
  • Details on the data involved (e.g., size, format, possible ethical considerations).
  • The specific types of support you are seeking, detailing the scope of your needs to ensure we understand the full range of support required.

Additionally, if you have already considered the following aspects, please include them in your proposal:

  • A description of how the project will contribute to the wider research community, or public understanding.
  • Requirements on specific technologies, platforms, or frameworks the project should use or integrate with.
  • If applicable, a description of existing tools or resources available for the project, including potential solutions that could serve as inspiration, or open-source options that could be reused.
  • An outline of how the visualization tool can be maintained in the future.

Assessment of your application

Your application will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  1. Feasibility in terms of available resources, expertise, time investment, technical requirements and sustainability;
  2. The extent to which the tool or solution can be used or adapted by other researchers or teams;
  3. Innovativeness and impact.
Application form

Contact and information

For more information and questions, you can reach us at dcc@uu.nl.