We completed MacroData's first two workshops in the first half of 2026, at Universidad de La Salle in Bogotá (part of the Colombian Symposium on Evolutionary Biology) and at Universidad del Atlántico. Over 40 students took part across these two dates, in two-day sessions each, many learning R from scratch and applying it directly to real examples of phylogenetic comparative methods.
What's stayed with me most isn't just the numbers. It's watching someone who had never written a line of code finish the workshop with their own phylogenetic tree and analyses ready to go. Each session starts from a simple project, but, for me, that's where the real payoff is: watching someone check their code, follow an explanation, raise a hand, confirm that yep, it makes sense. The rewarding part is the question that lingers after the session, when we should already be packing up the computers. It's the Colombia that shows up at each site: Bogotá and Barranquilla so far, Pasto and Quibdó in the next few months.
This project is tries to slightly change how we do research in Colombia about our own diversity. The goal isn't just to train people who know R, but people who eventually build their own tools, publish their own phylogenies, and think about open science from here. To connect people.
There's still a long way to go. But if this was just the start, we're looking forward to what's next :)
If you want to know more about the project, the sites, or how to apply for future workshops, check out our website: datadiversitylab.github.io/macrodata.