About Study Groups

A Mozilla Study Group is a regular, in-person, informal meet-up where people get together to learn to code and to explore open research practice-- strategies for maximizing the quality and impact of research in any field, from astrophysics to sociology. Coding skills in particular are increasingly important in data-rich research environments, but many of us don’t have formal training in computer science... and the tools and technologies we need are all constantly changing. Mozilla Study Groups are peer-to-peer learning environments for skill-sharing, idea discovery, community support, and collaboration.

Here’s what a few different study groups look like in real life:

From Sara, at the University of Wisconsin Study Group in Madison, Wisconsin, in the USA:

From Tom, at Boston University's Study Group in Boston, Massachusetts in the USA:

Why join a Study group?

• Learn and share new coding skills you need, learn and problem-solve faster with others
• Super-power your research through collaboration and open science best practices
• Be part of the discussion around transforming research practice
• Connect to a network of research leaders across disciplines
• Make friends and become part of a supportive learning community

Why start a Study Group?

• Learn teaching and facilitation skills, community building skills
• Get support and mentoring from Mozilla Science Lab and the Mozilla network
• Show leadership in your community, gain skills to advance your career
• Access resources like our beautiful website template and library of coding lessons
• Add some open source sparkle to your work by association with the Mozilla brand

There are Mozilla Study Groups all around the world, many at academic institutions and research organizations. Anyone can start a group. The format and schedule for study groups is flexible: you can modify it to fit the needs of your members. It’s all up to you!

Mozilla Science Lab helps out by providing this training, an easy-to-use template for a website, templates for advertising materials, and by managing an awesome collection of lessons created by Study Group members from around the world. We organize regular calls where study group members can connect and share what they’ve been doing with others. MSL also supports other community events and gatherings (you’ll learn more about these in Section 6).

Continue to the next section to learn more about the Study Group Lead.