Post summary image

Post summary image

The UKRI Digital Research Skills Catalyst has officially launched, bringing together a national catalogue of digital research training and one-to-one expert support for researchers across the UK. Funded by UKRI and led by Professor Emma Rand at the University of York, the project unites expertise from seven university partners to help researchers apply digital skills to their own work — from foundational level through to advanced.

A quick look at what the Catalyst offers, and how you can get involved.

What the Catalyst offers

Whether you need training materials or a consultation to solve a specific problem, the Catalyst is here to help you apply digital research skills in your own work. The platform brings together three main strands of support:

  • The Learning Portal: A searchable hub of 50+ UKRI-funded resources spanning programming, statistics, machine learning, data stewardship, and more, ranging from foundation to advanced level.
  • 1-to-1 Expert Help: Book free online sessions with research software engineers and data scientists to troubleshoot code, talk through experimental design, or just get unstuck.
  • Events & Bespoke Training: Custom workshops for teams or cohorts, alongside discounted networking and training events.

Training covers areas relevant to the BBSRC, MRC, EPSRC and NERC remits, making it broadly applicable across the UK research landscape. Please do share these resources with your doctoral cohorts and wider networks — the more researchers who know the Catalyst exists, the better.

Upcoming events and resources

The Catalyst team has a packed calendar of events coming up, all of which are open to researchers across the UK:

  • Metatranscriptomics Workshop (Online) — 11–22 May 2026 (FREE) — More info
  • Intro to Quarto Workshop (Online) — 22 July 2026 (£50) — More info
  • AICatalyst2026: AI in the Biosciences Training Conference (York) — 4 September 2026 (FREE) — More info
  • Learning Portal — Explore 50+ digital skills resources today — Visit the portal

Get involved

You can explore everything the Catalyst offers at www.digitalskillscatalyst.ac.uk, and the team have shared a LinkedIn post. For questions or to arrange bespoke training for a cohort, you can reach the team directly at research-digital-skills@york.ac.uk.

This is a great addition to the UK’s digital research training landscape, and a natural fit alongside CAKE’s mission of strengthening community and capability across the DRI ecosystem. Do take a look, share it on, and get in touch with the Catalyst team if there’s a way they can support your research.