Statistics, Department of

 

The R Journal

Date of this Version

12-2017

Document Type

Article

Citation

The R Journal (December 2017) 9(2); Editor: Roger Bivand

Comments

Copyright 2017, The R Foundation. Open access material. License: CC BY 4.0

Abstract

After a very successful 2016 edition in Stanford (US), the useR conference invited the R communitytomeetfromJuly4toJuly7inBrussels(Belgium), heart of Europe. The response was extraordinary: 1175 people (of 54 nationalities) travelled the globe to join for a week of intense exchange and discussion. The conference was held in the Wild Gallery which was– for the occasion– the exclusive territory of R aficionados with many co-hosted events including DSC 2017, RIOT 2017 and an R Foundation meeting.

An important theme throughout the conference was to be welcoming and inclusive. In this respect 25 diversity scholarships were awarded and newbies were welcomed at a newbies session the evening before the tutorial day. Dedicated childcare was organized for the youngest R enthusiasts and besides the regular hacking and relaxing space, a breast feeding area and quiet zone were foreseen.

The program consisted of 16 pre-conference tutorials, 6 invited talks, 147 oral presentations, 70 lightning talks and 70 poster sessions. The social program included a welcome reception, poster reception and conference dinner where a stand-up comedian offered an introduction to Belgium and a well known beer sommelier revealed the secrets of Belgian beers to a very receptive audience (914 liters to be precise).

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