R Dev Days are an opportunity for novice and experienced contributors to collaborate on contributions to base R. The R Dev Days page on the R Contributors site has more information on this series of events.
R Dev Day @ useR! 2025 will be held on August 11, 2025, the day after useR! 2025 concludes. We anticipate in-person and online participation from the R Core Team at this event.
What will happen at the R Dev Day?
Tasks will be prepared in the run-up to the event, but are likely to include:
Who can take part?
The sprint will involve a mixture of invited and self-nominated participants, so that we have contributors at all experience levels.
The main criteria for participation is a good knowledge of R programming and a keen interest in contributing, as we hope participants continue to contribute after the event. The table below shows the type of knowledge/skills we expect participants to have
| Skills most will have | Skills some will have |
|---|---|
| Writing R functions | Programming in C |
| Debugging R functions | Knowledge of S3/S4 classes and methods |
| Writing R help files | Expertise in statistical methods in stats, splines |
| Using git/Subversion | Able to build R from source |
Other specialist skills e.g. expertise in building Windows/MacOS GUIs or fluency in a language with a low percentage of translated messages on Weblate, would of course be welcome!
It will help if you have some experience in contributing to base R, but novice contributors will be mentored in the run-up to the event.
We are keen to foster a diverse community of contributors. If you are a member of the R-Ladies, MiR, rainbowR, AfricaR, ArabR, AsiaR, or LatinR communities, or otherwise identify as part of an underrepresented group among R contributors, then we especially encourage you to self-nominate! To ensure a welcoming environment, we have a code of conduct in place.
Apply for a place
Anyone one interested to attend the sprint is encouraged to self-nominate via the application form by Tuesday, April 15 (midnight anywhere on earth). You will be asked about your experience, skills and background to help us balance participation overall.
Participants can attend the R Dev Day free of charge. We regret that support is not available for travel or accommodation.
We encourage people to self-nominate even if their attendance depends on other applications being successful (e.g. for useR! presentation or visa). Participation in the main useR! conference is not required to attend the R Dev Day.
Participation is in person by default. If you are an established contributor and wish to support the event remotely, please contact the organizing team.
Venue
The sprint will be held in The Edge in the first floor of Bostock Library on the Duke University campus where useR! 2025 is held. See the travel information for detail of how to reach the campus.
Schedule
The rooms are available from 09:00 to 18:00. A rough schedule is:
| 09:00 | Arrive at the venue |
| 09:15 | Whole group kick-off session, starting to form small groups around the dev day issues |
| 10:00 | Coffee break |
| 10:30 | Work in small groups |
| 12:30 | Lunch in The Edge |
| 13:30 | Work in small groups |
| 14:30 | Coffee break |
| 15:00 | Continue work |
| 17:00 | Wrap up within your group |
| 19:00 | Option to join group for dinner (self-funded, location TBD) |
It is understood that people may need to leave early, so we will not have a full group report back at the end of the day. Coffee and lunch breaks are covered for participants.
Organizing team
This event is being organized by members of R Contribution Working Group in coordination with the R Core Team.
Heather Turner - University of Warwick
Shannon Pileggi - The Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium
Contact
For queries about this event, please contact r-dev-day-user2025@gaggle.email.
Sponsors
As this is a satellite event to useR! 2025, we encourage any companies interested in providing sponsorship to sponsor useR! 2025. Alternatively, anyone can donate to the R Foundation online.