By Cecilia Baldoni & Corné de Groot | September 23, 2025
SORTEE Code Club debrief: Version control: a researcher’s guide to Git and Github - September, 17th 2025
Author: Cecilia Baldoni, Corné de Groot
The Member Engagement Committee runs Code Club every third Tuesday of the month. Time can vary depending on the host and will be announced at least two weeks in advance on SORTEE’s Slack. For more information, see SORTEE’s Code Club page.
On Tuesday, the 17th of September, we hosted a training session on version control using [Git](<https://git-scm.com/) and [GitHub](https://github.com/), tailored for researchers who want to make their work more reproducible and collaborative. Version control provides a systematic way of tracking changes in code, manuscripts, or data, so you never have to rely on confusing filenames like “script_final_v2_final.R” again. Instead, Git helps you keep a clear history of your project’s development and makes collaboration much easier.
We had 12 participants join us for this 60-minute, beginner-friendly session conducted by Cecilia Baldoni. We started by exploring the basics of version control and why it is such a powerful tool for research workflows. Participants then learned how to use Git from both the command line and directly within the RStudio IDE, giving them multiple ways to get started.
From there, we introduced GitHub as a platform for backing up research projects online and collaborating with others. GitHub makes it easy to share code, manuscripts, or data, whether you are working with colleagues in the same lab or collaborating internationally. Many researchers also use it to showcase their work and improve transparency in their field.
Throughout the session, we demonstrated practical examples of creating repositories, committing changes, and pushing projects to GitHub. These hands-on activities built confidence in using Git and showed how version control can integrate seamlessly into day-to-day research.
Click here to take a look at the supporting slides for this Code Club session!
As a reminder, there will be no Code Club meeting next month, since SORTEE annual conference will be running. We will host an event titled “How to start your own Code Club”. You can find the full schedule of conference events here, and more information about the conference here.
What’s next?
There will be no individual SORTEE Code Club session in October; instead, we will host a session during the SORTEE conference on Thursday October 16th at 6:00 UTC about how to start your own code club. We will be back with the next Code Club meeting on Tuesday, November 18th (the zoom link will be posted on SORTEE’s Slack).
You can check the Code Club schedule here for upcoming meetings. To receive calendar invites in your local time zone, sign up here.
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To propose a Code Club meeting topic, please use this form.