About the event

Data in the form of numbers and figures, text, photos and other formats are abundant in the media, internet, social networks, scientific documents, etc. and help us to be aware of our surroundings. Such knowledge helps organizations, business owners and researchers to achieve their goals with more quality and precision. In the event on play with real data, teams interested in working with data receive a real data set and use any analytical method to work on this data in a competitive environment alongside other teams. The committee of judges of the event will check the output of the teams and at the end the winning teams will be announced. The information on how to participate in this event, schedule and evaluation criteria are on this page. We hope that by participating in this event, you will experience a pleasant scientific competition.

History of the event

The first Event on Play with Real Data was organized by Bu-Ali Sina University, jointly with the Scientific Data Analysis Team as one of the capacity-building programs for statistics in 2021. The event was sponsored by the International Institute of Statistics, the World Bank, the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics, Day Insurance Company, the National Laboratory Brain mapping, Lund University and the Actuarial Society of Iran. About 350 people registered in this event and more than 150 people participated in the competition section of the event. The data considered in the first event included four data sets in the fields of insurance, medicine, protein structures and time series, and after the competition, four teams were awarded a certificate and cash prizes.

  • Opening webinar:

    • Introducing event details and answering questions;
    • Introducing data owner and speech.

  • Contest section:

    • Teams arrangement;
    • Choosing data set;
    • Conduct the competition;
    • Judging contest;
    • Results announcement.

How to attend competition?

  • Register for the event and participate in the opening webinar;
  • Forming a team and filling out the related form in website;
  • Receiving the data set by email;
  • Preparation of reports according to the guidelines;
  • Compliance with the schedule;
  • Compliance with professional ethics.

Criteria for success in this competition

  • The external quality of the report in terms of fonts, structuring and the way the content is arranged;
  • The quality of the content of the report in terms of the way of writing, phrasing, correctness of the content in terms of meaning;
  • The correctness of the methodology and how to use it in solving the problem;
  • The quality of the oral presentation and compliance with the timing and the level of readiness to answer.

This event consider three data sets in the following areas:

  1. Water usage;
  2. Health insurance;
  3. U.S Transportation.

Further information about the data sets will be given in this webpage and also in the opening webinar

Important points

  • To participate in the contest, the registration form must be completed and submitted by 23:59 on 2 March. After receiving the form, the selected dataset is sent to the team leader via email.
  • All team members must be registered for this event. Otherwise, the selected data will not be sent.
  • It is necessary to respect the principles of professional ethics in conducting the competition.
  • Team members are committed to use the received data only for this event.

Registration form

Registration is closed. Thank you for your interest in registering our event.

Scientific committee

  • David Banks, Duke University, USA
  • Paulo Rodrigues, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil
  • Rahim  Mahmoudvand, Bu-Ali Sina University, Iran
  • Teresa A. Oliveira, Universidade Aberta, Portugal
  • Javad Faradmal, Medical University of Hamedan, Iran
  • Pang Du, Virginia Tech, USA
  • Seyed Yaser Samadi, Southern Illinois University, USA

Organizing Committee

  • Rahim Mahmoudvand, Bu-Ali Sina University, Iran
  • Fatemeh Moameri, Bu-Ali Sina University, Iran
  • Zahra Seifi, AGNA, Iran
  • Mahlagha Moameri, AGNA, Iran
Activity Deadline
Registration 28 Feb
Opening webinar 1 March
Team arrangement 1-2 March
Receive data set file 1-2 March
Data contest and submitting report 1-8 March
Review and choosing top teams 2-11 March
Preparing video for oral presentation 11-12 March
Presentation webinar 12 March
Announcing winners 13 March

Prizes

First place

250 USD

Second place

150 USD

Third place

100 USD

Our Sponsors