Our friends at Digital Science love to nurture innovative research software ideas and are looking for ideas for software or apps that could help benefit scientific research or make life easier for researchers themselves. Past ideas have included software to look for patterns in vast data sets without human intervention, software to speed up the processing of neurological test results, and a tool that allows scientists to interact with the data in scientific papers.

If, as a researcher, you’re frustrated by a problem that you know you could fix with an app or software, or if you’re a software developer with friends in science who keep mentioning a problem that you think you could solve if only you had the cash to develop it, then the Catalyst Grant is for you. Ada Lovelace Day was awarded this very grant in 2015, which then allowed us to develop our resources database for women in STEM! So we can say from first-hand experience that you won’t just get cash from this grant, you’ll also get support and advice if you need it.

So, if you’ve got an idea then Digital Science have got the funding and friendly advice to bring it to life. You can learn more about the sorts of things to include in your application on their website.

The next application deadline is 30th June 2017 so there’s no time to lose. (Though if you do miss this one, they give out two grants a year and the next deadline is in December).

You can find out more about the Catalyst Grant on the Digital Science site, and if you have any questions about submitting then don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Catalyst Grant team via catalyst@digital-science.com.

We are always happy when we get to announce new sponsors, but I’m particularly happy when those sponsors choose also to support schools by sponsoring our Ada Lovelace Day Live Scholarships, providing free tickets for school parties that wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend. This year, Mendeley is providing the support for several school groups to attend our science cabaret at The IET on 11 October.

Mendeley is a productivity tool for researchers that combines a reference manager and academic social network. It helps you build and manage a fully searchable library, find new and relevant articles, monitor and showcase your publications, and annotate, share and cite documents. By providing a secure, fast and simple way to stay up to date on literature and share information with other researchers, Mendeley enables easy collaboration and greater productivity. It will also support the search for potential collaborators and new research positions.

You can follow Mendeley on Twitter: @mendeley_com

We depend on our sponsors to fund not just Ada Lovelace Day Live!, but all of our work including our resources database, free education pack for teachers, podcast, and free monthly newsletter. If you would like to join them and help us to expand our work, please take a look at our current sponsorship packages!

I am delighted to announce our second Gold sponsor, Siemens Rail Automation, who join ARM, the Royal Astronomical Society, UCL Engineering, figshare, Digital Science, Ada Diamonds and Meromorf Press in supporting this year’s Ada Lovelace Day. In their own words:

Siemens Rail Automation is a global leader in the design, supply, installation and commissioning of track-side and train-borne signalling and train control solutions. Its portfolio includes train control, interlocking systems, operations control systems, components, track vacancy detection, level-crossing protection, rail communications, cab radios, station systems and cargo automation for both passenger and freight rail operators. Siemens employs over 14,000 people in the UK, with 1,650 people working in the Rail Automation division from offices in Chippenham, London, Croydon, Poole, Birmingham, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Manchester, York, Glasgow, Newport and Derby.

You can follow Siemens Rail Automation on Twitter: @siemensuknews.

We depend on our sponsors to fund not just Ada Lovelace Day Live!, but all of our work including our resources database, free education pack for teachers, podcast, and free monthly newsletter. If you would like to join them and help us to expand our work, please take a look at our current sponsorship packages!

We are very happy to announce that we are partnering with Figshare, another Digital Science Catalyst Award winner, to provide a central hub for all Ada Lovelace Day event organisers to share their photos, video, presentations, posters and any other media they produce. We will also be hosting materials from the last few Ada Lovelace Day Live! events on Figshare, along with our new indie event organisers pack (coming soon!), and our education pack. 

Mark Hahnel, Figshare CEO and founder, said, “Here at Figshare we are thrilled to partner with ALD, as we too want to mark women’s achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. What better way to do this than power the technology to showcase the valuable outputs for such a flourishing initiative like Ada Lovelace Day”

Media on Figshare can be shared and embedded anywhere around the web, and Figshare provide viewing and other statistics, allowing us to know where and when our materials are viewed. Being a part of the wider Figshare community will also allow us to reach more people, and to make sure that ALD events organisers’ hard work is recognised and appreciated more widely. 

How to upload

If you have organised an independent Ada Lovelace Day event at any time and have some photos, video, presentations or other resources you’d like to share, uploading them is easy.

• Create an account on Figshare
• Go to My Data
• Click ‘Create a new item’
• Add your content and fill in the form. The more metadata you can add, the better.
• You MUST use the tag “Ada Lovelace Day” and the appropriate year tag, “ALD15”, “ALD14” etc, in order for your content to be pulled into our main page and the year pages. If you do not use these tags, your content will not be attached to our portal.
• Publish only when you are ready — published items can be edited but not deleted. Use the Preview function to make sure that your page looks the way you want it to.
• If you get stuck, take a look at Figshare support.

You can upload photos, video, audio, presentations, PDFs, images, datasets and more! And the more materials we gather together, the more we will draw attention to the amazing work done by women in STEM.