Hello everyone,
Thank you for the introduction and for the invitation. I ́m speaking to youfrom the R-Ladies Bergen chapter in Western Norway. The wonderfulimage behind me is actually a cake prepared for the 20th anniversary ofthe R-Consortium held Feb. 2020 in Copenhagen, Denmark. 20 years ago,the R-Consortium was organized under an open-source model which wasan amazing initiative. Today, there are more than 2 million R-usersworldwide representing a wide range of fields, as you will see during theJuly conference.
It's exciting for me to be here tonight to represent diversity in the R-community. 20 years ago, I image that this R-Consortium cake wouldhave been eaten by a homogenous select group. At that time, the firstwomen using R in their work had many stories to share of their differentchallenges. Their efforts, however, have opened doors for other women toenter. Today the #rstats community is moving in a promising directionthat allows room for all voices. I'd like to read a R-Consortiumannouncement from June 2018.
An explicit goal of the R Consortium is to help create a welcomingspace for everyone, no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, socio-economic status,nationality, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, ability, or age.Diversity and inclusion are essential to foster true collaboration,move ideas forward, and create long-term sustainablecommunity.
It’s a clear message, but still, it takes dedicated action towards initiativespromoting inclusion.
I come from a clinical background in psychiatry, traditionally not one youwould associate with R. How did I go from direct patient contact to usingR in the analysis of medication effects in genetic data? I was very concerned about my clinical role in handing out medications to patientsand curious to understand the scientific literature. In order to understandresearch results, I tried to learn how the analyses were done. And I chose R because it was easily available, and much easier to learn within theRStudio interface with Tidyverse. I was also motivated by the question: can I learn this and have some fun along the way? Oh, yes!
I have been inspired by R-Ladies on many levels. This is a communitywhere you needn ́t hold back if you think you don't know enough. Truly, R-Ladies welcomes you. I was so fortunate in the spring of 2013 to showup in a coffee shop in San Francisco and meet the founder, Gabriela de Quiroz. It was her second R-Ladies Meetup and she welcomed threeattendees with great warmth and encouragement. I believe her attitudeof openness and generosity with her talents, is the philosophy that hassuper charged R-Ladies Global.
Just last weekend I attended an R-Ladies session where a medical doctorshared the R-package he developed for a national health-care registry. It was truly an example of using R for social good and I could see that the R-Lady leading the session was deeply moved by his initiative. I think if welook around us, we can find projects that invite us to use our #rstats skills,at whatever level they may be, to contribute to the wellbeing of our virtualand local communities.
My message for the people attending the useR!2021 virtual conference:Diversity is our super-power! I have no doubt that the next cake to beprepared for the next R-Consortium anniversary will have plates and forksfor all.