nutriverse develops open source technical tools and systems along with a community of practice infrastructure that actively participates in, leverages, and stewards the use of these tools and systems for the purpose of open and reproducible nutrition data analytics and research. Our core team and community cultivate an inclusive and welcoming space where people with diverse backgrounds and experience levels can learn, exchange ideas, and collaborate openly through shared norms and open-source software. All participation in nutriverse activities is guided by our Code of Conduct.
We encourage contributions from people of all backgrounds and skill levels, whether in coding, documentation, mentoring, localisation, or other forms of participation. Your perspective matters, whether you’re an experienced programmer or just getting started. You don’t have to identify as a developer to make a meaningful impact. You might spend 30 minutes sharing how you use a package in our Zulip chat forum or reporting a bug, an hour attending a Community Call to learn something new, or take on a longer-term role helping to maintain a package.
What are some benefits of contributing?
- Build connections with a community committed to advancing open science in the nutrition field
- Learn from people in other fields who use R and face challenges similar to your own
- Explore and address new research questions by discovering new tools and collaborators
- Develop confidence in writing code and creating software within a supportive environment
- Increase the visibility of your open source contributions
- Enhance the software you use or develop
- Strengthen your R and other technical skills while helping others grow theirs
- Sharpen your writing abilities
- Grow your mentoring experience
- Raise the profile of your research
Our community
Our community is our greatest asset, and we believe our diversity is our strength. Our community is both tangible and intangible, everywhere and nowhere at once. It’s made up of people who believe in our collective mission, share our values, and are committed to learning, improving, and innovating together. It’s people who care about building open, reusable, and reproducible research software, while also fostering inclusive spaces grounded in empathy and trust. At nutriverse, there are no silly questions; we value the many paths, perspectives, and levels of experience that bring people to coding in R.
The nutriverse community is a self-identifying network of R users and developers who collectively support the technical and social infrastructure for open and reproducible research. We focus especially on software and best practices that reduce barriers to working with health and nutrition data. Community members include those who use, cite, and share use cases for nutriverse packages; attend or speak at Community Calls; contribute blog posts; participate in events or domain-focused groups; answer questions in our Zulip chat forum and our other discussions fora; engage in project discussions by reporting issues and suggesting or implementing improvements; contribute to or maintain packages; serve as mentors, or trainers; or help localise materials.
Diversity is central to our values. We welcome anyone committed to making their approach to health and nutrition data more open and to supporting others in doing the same, regardless of technical background, career stage, or professional sector. We embrace people of all backgrounds, including but not limited to all sexual orientations, gender identities, and races. We are anti-racist and recognise that inclusion does not happen automatically, especially as communities grow, that it requires intention and care. Through various initiatives and localisation efforts, we strive to ensure that our research software serves and reflects the full breadth of our community. Our work is supported by nutriverse’s Community Director and guided by a Code of Conduct with clear behavioural expectations and reporting processes, upheld by a committee that includes core team and independent community member/s.
Explore
Improving the discoverability of health and nutrition data, tools, and best practices is central to our aims. For many people, using our package/s is their first introduction to nutriverse. It often serves as a starting point for deeper engagement whether by connecting with other users or sharing their own use cases.
Browse the “I want to” statements below to find opportunities that spark your interest. Click on any action listed under a statement to learn more about the related nutriverse resource and how you can get involved.
I want to …
Explore and discover packages I can use to facilitate my research and access open health and nutrition data
Read blog posts or tech notes about specific nutriverse packages, about creative use cases for multiple nutriverse packages, or about open data accessible through our packages
Subscribe to our newsletter by email or via RSS
Follow nutriverse on Mastodon, Bluesky, and/or LinkedIn.
Explore our R-Universe
Explore and discover resources on best practices for software development
Read or ask questions on our Zulip chat forum
Attend a Community Call
Link
An important benefit of participating in nutriverse is the opportunity to build connections with scientists, R users, developers, and research software engineers who are committed to conducting health and nutrition analysis and research in an open and reproducible way. The nutriverse community offers a welcoming space to engage with like-minded individuals who share similar interests and values, and who are motivated to grow their skills, methods, and practices together.
Browse the “I want to” statements below to find opportunities that spark your interest. Click on any action listed under a statement to learn more about the related nutriverse resource and how you can get involved.
I want to …
Belong to a supportive community
Read our Code of Conduct to ensure you’re prepared to participate
Attend a Community Call to get a feel for how we work and communicate with each other. See who else is interested in a topic, what questions they’re asking, ask your own questions in a collegial environment, share your expertise in a collaborative notes resource for the call
Ask or answer questions on our Zulip chat forum
Meet and work with other users and developers of nutriverse packages
Address an issue. Explore open issues in nutriverse packages and consider submitting a fix.
Volunteer to maintain or co-maintain a package
Gain exposure in the open science R community
Share a use case for a nutriverse package
Address an issue. Explore open issues in nutriverse packages and consider submitting a fix.
Write a blog post or tech note to share your experiences
Learn
nutriverse offers opportunities for both new and experienced R users and developers to grow, whether by reading and listening, or by learning through hands-on experience. All of this takes place in a culture grounded in trust, generosity, proper attribution, and appreciation.
Our focus is on using, developing, and documenting code, as well as strengthening the community as these are areas that directly support our aims. Those seeking more general R training may wish to explore resources such as RStudio Education and The Carpentries.
We will be offering fee-based training services for use of R specifically for open and reproducible health and nutrition data analysis and reporting workflows starting in April 2026.
Browse the “I want to” statements below to find opportunities that spark your interest. Click on any action listed under a statement to learn more about the related nutriverse resource and how you can get involved.
I want to …
Be informed by reading and listening
Follow nutriverse on Mastodon, Bluesky, and/or LinkedIn
Subscribe to the nutriverse newsletter
Read the R-universe discussion
Attend a Community Call
- Explore use cases shared by community members
Follow discussions about open science, open source software, best practices, and Q & A in our Zulip chat forum
Improve the reproducibility of my research and apply best practices in my work
Use a nutriverse package if it does something you need instead of writing new code yourself
Attend a Community Call
Ask or answer questions on our Zulip chat forum
Improve my R and software development skills
Find new packages to try: Browse nutriverse packages, explore use cases, read blog posts or tech notes
Review package documentation
Address an issue. Explore open issues in nutriverse packages and consider submitting a fix.
Make a pull request to add/fix examples or clarify package documentation
Write a vignette/article for a package
Share a use case
Write a post about using nutriverse packages on your own blog and/or of something new that you have learned about R or about nutriverse packages
Ask or answer questions on our Zulip chat forum
Create
People often think of contributing to nutriverse in terms of shaping and advancing the research software ecosystem for health and nutrition in R. This can include participating in package development and documentation, joining discussions around new initiatives such as helping promote more open and reproducible research practices within your department, institution, or broader field.
Browse the “I want to” statements below to find opportunities that spark your interest. Click on any action listed under a statement to learn more about the related nutriverse resource and how you can get involved.
I want to …
Improve and promote open science in my field
Recommend topics or speakers for Community Calls
Help organize a Community Call
Write a post about using nutriverse packages on your own blog
Cite nutriverse packages in manuscripts and presentations
Influence package development
Report a bug in a nutriverse package
Make a feature request
Address an issue. Explore open issues in nutriverse packages and consider submitting a fix.
Make a pull request to fix a bug or add a feature
Improve package documentation and examples
Review documentation and help the author by letting them know what’s unclear or make a pull request to add/fix examples or to add/clarify documentation
Write a vignette/article for a package
Share a use case or encourage your peers to do the same
Promote best practices for R development
Engage with us on Mastodon, Bluesky, and/or LinkedIn. Amplify best practices from our social media to your networks
Ask or answer questions on our Zulip chat forum
Recommend topics or speakers for Community Calls
Help organize a Community Call
Support
A key reason many people contribute to nutriverse is a desire to give back in gratitude for the high-quality software, strong infrastructure, and supportive community where appreciation is shared openly and often. There are countless ways to contribute. We encourage everyone to support others by sharing their knowledge and experiences. Even describing your first time trying something can be incredibly valuable; it can help others see that their own early experiences and contributions matter too.
Browse the “I want to” statements below to find opportunities that spark your interest. Click on any action listed under a statement to learn more about the related nutriverse resource and how you can get involved.
I want to …
Support nutriverse or give back to open source
Read about nutriverse and its aims
Tell a friend about a nutriverse package that may be useful for their work
Cite nutriverse packages in manuscripts and presentations and encourage your colleagues to cite software
Submit a use case for a nutriverse package
Address an issue. Explore open issues in nutriverse packages and consider submitting a fix.
Engage with us on Mastodon, Bluesky, and/or LinkedIn. Amplify best practices from our social media to your networks. Reply to a post to share your experience or expertise on a topic.
Donate to nutriverse
Help other community members
Answer questions on our Zulip chat forum
Support fellow community members (e.g., by welcoming newcomers, giving credit, connecting members with people or resources)