Scaling up access to data skills training in ecology

Complex and pressing environmental issues demand integrative and reproducible analysis and synthesis, facilitated by data-intensive research approaches. However, the rapidity of technological change has been such that the skills needed for data-intensive research are lacking among environmental scientists, who more than ever need access to training in computational skills. Experience of successful data-intensive researchers suggests the need for five key skills: (1) data management and processing, (2) analysis, (3) software skills for science, (4) visualization, and (5) communication methods for collaboration and dissemination. New models of networked training are needed for closing the skill-transfer gap.