For 12 weeks at the end of 2025, CSCCE hosted a pilot cohort of a new online training program for leaders in scientific open source projects. The Birdaro training program, funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, set out to address some of the human challenges related to the sustainability of OS projects and how they scale; interpersonal dynamics, documentation debt, governance, and more.
As we worked to recruit an initial cohort of OS leaders, we asked them what their most pressing needs were, and responsively designed a pilot training module that focused on governance and documentation.
We received applications to participate from twice as many projects than we could accept in just a short period of time. We take this as a sign that there is a large appetite for this kind of training in the STEM OS ecosystem – and in a future blog post we plan on sharing more about our vision for Birdaro as a series of related training modules and collaborations that result in new resources to benefit the community at large.
But, for now, we wanted to share how the pilot cohort went, and in what ways participants found value in the program. If you would like to talk to us about Birdaro, including suggestions for future sponsors of the program, please reach out to info@birdaro.org.
“This training helps build an understanding of the important social aspects to technical work. The specific regard to distributed team work and coordination in open source technical projects is unique.” – Birdaro 2025 participant
This post originally appeared on the Birdaro blog. Birdaro, which is powered by CSCCE, offers leadership development for open source projects. In 2025, we ran a pilot cohort of the Birdaro training program that focused on governance and documentation in open source. This post is one of several reflecting on the outcomes of the pilot cohort.
From September-December 2025, we worked with 24 scientific open source projects through the pilot cohort of the Birdaro training program. This multi-week training module, funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, focused on governance and documentation in open source (OS), and included training sessions facilitated by CSCCE staff and discussion forums for participants to learn from each other.
This post is the second in a 2-part series (read part 1) focusing on how the Birdaro training program supported participants in creating community playbooks – a proactive formula for curating documentation and making it available (and usable!) to the audiences who need it. If you haven’t read the first post already, we suggest you take a read to gain some more context about Birdaro, playbooks, and the different ways they can positively impact OS projects.
This post originally appeared on the Birdaro blog. Birdaro, which is powered by CSCCE, offers leadership development for open source projects. In 2025, we ran a pilot cohort of the Birdaro training program that focused on governance and documentation in open source. This post is one of several reflecting on the outcomes of the pilot cohort.
Addressing documentation debt through playbook creation
From September-December 2025, we worked with 24 scientific open source projects through the pilot cohort of the Birdaro training program. This multi-week training module, funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, focused on governance and documentation in open source (OS), and included training sessions facilitated by CSCCE staff and discussion forums for participants to learn from each other.
The choice to focus on governance and documentation for this pilot cohort was informed by our understanding of participant needs (60% of applicants identified creating contributor guides and team playbooks as a priority training area), as well as a broader appreciation of the challenges facing the scientific open-source ecosystem.
In this blog post you can find out more about each training (but please reach out to training@cscce.org if you have any questions), including various resources to support your participation.
In service of our ongoing commitment to “shining a light on the less visible,” we’ve also included some information about what it means for us to run live, cohort-based online trainings like these, and why it’s so important that we fill each cohort we offer.
Content Design (CODE) is a six-week course that introduces a strategic approach to designing and creating community-engaged content that energizes and inspires your community members. During the course, we cover the fundamentals of writing clear and actionable prose. However, this course should not be thought of as a “writing 101” course – instead, it’s a design approach that can impact how you create a range of different content types for your community.
Our Spring offering of Content Design (CODE26Sp) will run on Tuesdays and Fridays beginning Tuesday, 21 April until Friday, 29 May 2026.
The key dates are:
Tuesday lessons: 21, 28 April; 5, 12, 19, 26 May at 10am – 11:30am EDT / 2pm – 3:30pm UTC
Friday Co-Labs: 24 April; 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 May at 10am – 11:30am EDT / 2pm – 3:30pm UTC
This eight-week course is designed to offer new and existing community managers a core set of actionable skills and strategies. Participants meet twice a week, with lecture-style content interspersed with discussion and project work.
Our winter offering of Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals (CEF26W) will run on Mondays and Thursdays beginning Thursday, 19 March until Thursday, 7 May.
The key dates are:
Social hour: Thursday, 19 March at 12pm – 1pm EDT / 4pm – 5pm UTC
Monday lessons: 23, 30 March; 6,13, 20, 27 April; 4 May at 12pm – 1:30pm EDT / 4pm – 5:30pm UTC
Thursday Co-Labs: 26 March; 2, 9,16, 23, 30 April at 12pm – 1:30pm EDT / 4pm – 5:30pm UTC
Graduation: Thursday, 7 May at 12pm – 2pm EDT / 4pm – 6pm UTC
As of January 2026, we’re pausing our use of Eventbrite for handling registration and payment processing for our trainings and switching to Zeffy. We began using Eventbrite several years ago as a simple solution for course and Mini-workshop registrations made using a credit card. Over the years, Eventbrite’s functionality has changed, and so with the transition to a new year, we’re giving a new platform a shot!
This blog post is intended to walk you through the new registration interface in Zeffy, including a couple of nuances that make it slightly different from Eventbrite. If you have any questions about Zeffy, or you’re having any difficulty registering for a course or Mini-workshop, please contact training@cscce.org. We will continue offering registration via invoice if that works best for your organization.
In 2025, we launched a new general registration project management training designed specifically for STEM (and STEM-adjacent) professionals. The training debuted in two parts: an introductory Mini-workshop (also known as PMI) and a three-week, six-module bootcamp (aka PMB). In 2026, based on feedback from participants, we’re combining these two parts (PMI + PMB) into a single training offering (that also includes a new orientation option – see below for more).
In this blog post, you’ll find an overview of the training, as well as what these recent changes mean for individual registrants, private cohorts, and participants in the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program. If you have any questions at all, please reach out to training@cscce.org.
Next week, we’ll be hosting our final Quarterly Skills Share (QSS) session of 2025! These sessions are a regular part of the CSCCE Community Manager Certification Program that are both an opportunity for knowledge-sharing among peers, and a regular check-in at which we share news and updates.
One of those updates is that we have SEVEN more CSCCE-certified community managers to celebrate!
Rieley Auger (Global Land Programme), Sophie Bui (National Center for Supercomputing Applications), Yan-Kay Ho (Open Bioeconomy Lab & Reclone – Reagent Collaboration Network), Allie Lau (American Physical Society), Zoë Leanza (Sage Bionetworks), Johanssen Obanda (Crossref), and Curtis Sharma (Research Data Alliance) all completed their program requirements, and at next month’s QSS we’ll all get to celebrate their graduation!
This blog post highlights our newest grads’ paths through the program, as well as some reflections on what they learned during their time with us. And, for those less familiar with the program, we’ve also included a brief summary of what it involves.
As part of our mission to professionalize the role of the community manager in STEM, we’ve developed a comprehensive catalogue of online professional development trainings.
These Multi-week courses and Mini-workshops are designed in such a way that learners can pick and choose those most relevant to their needs, but with a throughline of vocabulary and frameworks that connect into a bigger picture.
While we know that these trainings are making a real difference to our learners and the communities they support (see our recent evaluation of Scientific Community Engagement Fundamentals), we’re also aware that many STEM professionals are feeling the pressures of budget cuts, making it harder to prioritize taking our trainings.
As we look ahead to 2026, we’re reaching out to our community to ask:
What CSCCE trainings would you like to take in 2026?
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