Building R packages for maintaining data

by Alexios Tamparopoulos

Friday 6 Nov 2026, 10:00 → 11:30 Europe/Zurich

Online

Do you remember that time when you opened a data folder and didn't know which dataset was the final one? Or the other time when you used a dataset, only to find out afterwards that your colleague had created an updated version that you didn't have? Or the frustration of looking at variables in a dataset and having no idea what they are?

Datasets are dynamic, and maintaining them is an ongoing process. Documenting data should be an integral part of data maintenance, not an afterthought. As a researcher, you should also be able to validate your data, track changes, and showcase how they're used. More importantly, you should have a way to share your data with the world, including with your future self.

Good practices in maintaining and sharing data can solve most of these problems, but R packages also provide the machinery to support them. So, if you already use R for your work, building R packages to store your data can be a game changer.

In this session, we'll walk through the process of documenting a dataset and building an R package. You should then be able to replicate the process with your own data.

Format

90 min online workshop

Prerequisites:

Basic R knowledge

Why am I teaching this course?

Because good practices around data maintenance can save a lot of time and effort, and should be accessible to everyone.

Who am I?

I am a quantitative researcher, and former Marie-Curie Fellow, with a background in Mathematics, Engineering, and Risk Analysis.  

 

The Turing Way Community, & Scriberia. (2020, March 3). Illustrations from the Turing Way book dashes. Zenodo. The Turing Way Community & Scriberia (2024).