The Non-Clinical Tomography Users Research Network (NoCTURN) held its annual hybrid conference at the University of Florida, Gainesville, from May 8th to 10th, 2024. 61 Network members attended in-person and nine attended virtually. This event brought together researchers, industry professionals, and data scientists to discuss advancements across the Network over the last six months. The major conference theme emphasized identifying Working Group, Community, and Committee deliverables and developing a plan to produce those deliverables in the upcoming year. The secondary theme focused on fleshing out the vision for NoCTURN to become a part of ToScANA (Tomography for Scientific Advancement North America) at grant’s end.
Day 1: Setting the Stage
The conference began with a welcome to Gainesville and an overview of recent activities from Communities and Committees. A keynote address by Mikala Narlock, Director of the Data Curation Network, highlighted the importance of data curation and reuse—and set the tone for a number of subsequent discussions through the rest of the meeting. Afternoon sessions covered the progress of the FAIR Working Groups. We had earned our downtime when we broke for an evening reception at the Harn Museum of Art.
Day 2: Collaborative Efforts
The second day featured updates on key projects like MorphoSource and the Digital Rocks Portal. Discussions focused on advancing data collaboration and instrument compatibility. Participants engaged in cross-cutting breakout groups to develop career infographics, education kits, and other resources. The afternoon was dedicated to FAIROS working groups, followed by a poster session with tours of the Nanoscale Research Facility, then a social gathering at First Magnitude Brewery.
Day 3: Planning for the Future
The final day included additional breakout sessions to draft an open science manuscript, enhance the repository section of the website, and create a data decision tree. Further dedicated sessions of the FAIROS working groups focused on Open Science, Basic and Applied Research, Interoperability, and Reuse. The conference concluded with discussions on persistent identifiers, short-term and long-term plans for NoCTURN, and closing remarks. One last chance to gather at Cypress & Grove Brewing Company provided the perfect wrap-up.
We’re thrilled with how the meeting went, and we want to give a huge thanks to the site team at the University of Florida – Ed Stanley, Brent Gila, Gary Scheiffele, Jaimi Gray, and Brittany Snipes – for their hard work to make it a success! We also extend our appreciation to NSF and The Company of Biologists for helping to bring us all together.
Days to Come: Deliverables
The conference set the stage for a year focused on tangible deliverables. Now, we ask each of the Working Group, Community, and Committee Chairs to develop a ranked list of their subgroup’s priority deliverables. The Coordination Committee will collect these to help with organizing deliverables teams and sub-teams. Our goal is to be the most efficient and productive version of NoCTURN possible over the coming months to see our best ideas turned into reality.