research data

Daniel S. Katz from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois

This talk will discuss the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS), a diamond OA journal for open source research software. JOSS depends on volunteers for almost all of its functions, and most of these volunteers are those who do research software engineering (RSEng) as part of their job, and many of these people who do it for more than half of their job consider themselves research software engineers (RSEs). The talk will discuss how JOSS is run as an open-source community project, and how it interacts with the RSEng community. This includes that JOSS: runs on GitHub using a helpful bot to automate actions; has reviews that are open, collaborative, and constructive; and uses typical open-source mechanisms for communication. While JOSS reviews are checklist-driven, some of the checklist items are not purely binary; instead, they have values of bad, ok, and good, where ok and good are both sufficient to pass, but good is used to push the community to better
practices that those that are merely ok. JOSS communication using GitHub issues for discussion of reviews, Slack for internal team discussions, and traditional software project mechanisms including social media to announce publications and news, and the new JOSSCast to provide interviews with some paper authors. JOSS has been demonstrated to scale successfully in terms of both people and costs, and we look forward to continuing to support the research software community move towards more recognition and better practices.

You can find the slides from all the previous talks from the HiRSE Seminar series on zenodo and there’s a feedback form for you to tell us what you think about the seminar series and what other topics we should cover.

Institutions

• National Center for Supercomputing Applications

Oliver Knodel, Stefan Müller and David Pape from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) will continue the HiRSE Seminar with their talk on Facilitating Research Data Management with HELIPORT.

Researchers rely on a variety of systems and tools when it comes to administering their research data. Processes involving research data management include proposal submission, data management planning, simulation campaigns, documentation during the experiment, and the creation and submission of journal and data publications. HELIPORT is a data management solution that aims at making all steps of the research experiment’s life cycle discoverable, accessible, interoperable and reusable according to the FAIR principles. This is done by linking to and interfacing with established tools and solutions, and exchanging metadata between systems involved in a project. The metadata are presented to the researchers through a web interface, but they are also accessible to computational agents via API and machine-readable landing pages. In this presentation, we will introduce the metadata project HELIPORT and what provided the impulse for the project, discuss the documentation of a real experiment in HELIPORT, and outline current developments and challenges.

The meeting will be held via Zoom. Meeting ID: 663 9759 7271 / Passcode: 442377

You can find the slides from all the previous talks from the HiRSE Seminar series on zenodo and there’s a feedback form for you to tell us what you think about the seminar series and what other topics we should cover.

Institutions

• National Center for Supercomputing Applications

Jan Linxweiler from the Technische Universität Braunschweig will talk about “Learnings from SURESOFT - Research Software Engineering Beyond Tooling”.

Abstract: “Research software plays a crucial role in advancing various disciplines and driving scientific progress. Typically developed by scientists with a focus on short-term objectives, due to the pressure to publish results as fast as possible. Therefore, such software often faces challenges in regard to software quality and suffers from reproducibility issues caused by the rushed implementation and the developers’ limited training in software engineering. This hampers its widespread and enduring usage, thereby impeding the quality and pace of scientific research.

The SURESOFT project aims to tackle these issues by establishing a cohesive methodology and infrastructure applicable to most research software projects. While leveraging tools and principles from the discipline of software engineering like version control, continuous integration, containerization, software design principles and patterns as well as testing and Test Driven Development, SURESOFT seeks to enable researchers to enhance the quality of research software to ensure its long-term sustainability and availability.”

Institutions

• National Center for Supercomputing Applications

Neil Chue Hong from the Software Sustainability Institute and The University of Edinburgh

Abstract: “Since the coining of the term Research Software Engineer in 2012, the RSE community have focussed on understanding how to define what an RSE is, where they sit, and what they do. After a decade, we’ve realised that there isn’t a single job profile for an RSE, and there are multiple pathways to becoming an RSE. So what comes next for the profession as it continues to mature? In this talk, I’ll consider whether the RSE profession is defined not by what we do, but how and why we do things. How can research software engineering be meaningful and relevant to society, how can it continue to grow, and how can we make it easier to explain our job to others? I’ll also consider where RSE is going in the future, and how the role of an RSE may be changing.”

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

We invite you to join us for the 31^st HiRSE Seminar on the 20^th June at 11am where Professor Caroline Jay from the Software Sustainability Institute and the University of Manchester will talk about ‘*Research Software Engineering and Software Engineering Research: Bridging Knowledge Gaps*’.

Abstract: Research software underpins computational research across many academic disciplines, and we might therefore assume that software engineering researchers (SERs), who investigate and develop methods to improve the quality of software and its lifecycle processes, have a strong interest in this growing area. Conversely, we might assume that research software engineers (RSEs) who must select, customize, and apply software engineering methods to create research software have an interest in the production and adoption of novel methods. Whilst there is strong theoretical overlap between these communities, in reality they interact very little. This talk will provide an overview of and personal reflection on a recent Dagstuhl seminar bringing RSEs and SERs together, covering the challenges of tribalism and terminology, and the opportunities of a new interdisciplinary research area.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

We invite you to join us on Monday 23^rd September at 13:15 CEST for a special HiRSE seminar where we are honoured to host all three award winners! They will present their software and their road to becoming an awardee of the 2023 Helmholtz Software Award.

In 2023 the Helmholtz Association opened the call for the first Helmholtz Software Award. The award aims to promote the development of professional and high-quality research software and to recognize the commitment to software as the basis of modern science. It puts the spotlight on sustainable development and operation of research software and recognises the importance of collaboration between research software engineers and will help making research software available for re-use.

After evaluation of the submissions by international experts and a final selection by a committee, the winners in the three categories Scientific Originality, Sustainability and Newcomer were selected and the centers of the winners were informed by the Helmholtz President, Prof. Dr. Otmar D. Wiestler.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

Wilhelm Hasselbring from Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel 

For large, complex software systems, the design of the overall system structure, known as software architecture, presents a critical challenge. Software architecture outlines the system in terms of components and their interconnections, distinguishing itself from the details of a fine-grained system description. It establishes a link between requirements and the final system, providing a rationale for design decisions and encompassing decisions about quality attributes, which can then be evaluated early in the development process. For instance, system performance is heavily impacted by the complexity of coordination and communication, especially when components are distributed across a network.

The reusability of components and services is significantly influenced by their coupling within the software architecture. When a new research software engineer begins work on an existing software system, the architecture is typically the first element they review. This can be challenging if the architecture is undocumented. In such cases, reverse engineering the architecture from the code can aid in understanding the program.

As the embodiment of initial design decisions, software architecture includes choices that are difficult to alter later, making them crucial for careful consideration. Research software is often developed with limited resources and without a long-term maintenance vision, which can lead to architectural decay.

The research software engineering community holds the belief that better software fosters better research. Similarly, the software engineering research community asserts that better architecture results in better software. Therefore, I advocate for enhanced consideration of architectures in research software to enhance the quality of research.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

Mihaela Jarema from Mathworks will talk in the HiRSE Seminar about Journey to FAIR Research Software with MATLAB

Abstract

Research software must be sustainable to enable scientists to build on the work of their peers effectively. This talk explores key capabilities, tools and services for researchers using MATLAB to develop FAIR research software. Additionally, the talk will describe complimentary collaboration opportunities with MathWorks aimed at facilitating sustainable research.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

Ann Gledson from University of Manchester will talk in the HiRSE Seminar about Agile Methods for RSEs. 

Abstract

The University of Manchester RSE department currently services around 70 research projects with the collective pipeline of projects just short of 100. Our department of 48 engineers is built to support research and academics; however, the scale of the operation brings with it complex managerial challenges around managing workloads, maintaining relationships with researchers and ensuring successful, collaborative project delivery. We need to ensure that our RSE developers and senior RSEs (in their capacity as project managers) are prepared and supported with adequate tooling and processes to deliver these projects both flexibly and consistently.

Consequently, we have implemented our own flavour of “Scrum” within GitHub projects. Scrum is a popular implementation of the principles of agile project management and software development. According to the Scrum Guide (https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide), Scrum is a lightweight agile framework that helps people, teams and organisations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. This, to us, sounds an awful lot like research!

In this presentation, we will explain how agile working methods encourage a mindset where changes in requirements are the norm and where the solution development process embraces that change. In Scrum, this is achieved by continuously updating the requirements, working in “timeboxes”, and continuously engaging our academic customers. We have rolled our adaptation out across the department via a practical 2-day course for all RSEs and successfully tested it on an increasing number of research projects.

Attendees will learn how a Scrum Team works, and two of the available project management tools (Jira and GitHub Projects) with a focus on the latter. They will have a theoretical understanding of Scrum ‘Roles’, ‘Artefacts’ and ‘Ceremonies’. It will increase their understanding of how agile and scrum has been adapted within an RSE team and increase their ability to decide whether this process would be useful in their own workplaces/teams.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

Florian Goth from Univeristät Würzburg will talk in the HiRSE Seminar about 'The teachingRSE project - Towards a professionalization of RSE education'.

Abstract

At the deRSE23, a group of people came together for a small workshop to discuss how to deal with questions revolving around RSE education. Overwhelmed by the immense resonance to that workshop we took home a tremendous amount of feedback that made obvious that a short blog post will not suffice to adequately represent it. Now it is two years later, and the project produced its first output, the second position paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.11457 of de-RSE e.V. and it has sprawled out into a multitude of follow-up projects. In this talk, I will give an overview over the original ideas that we tried to convey in the position paper, and detail our future work plan as well as possibilities for contributing.

Institutions

• Helmholtz Platform for Research Software Engineering - Preparatory Study

What is AI Perspectives?

AI Perspectives is a new series of events that explores important questions in the field of AI addressing specialists of various disciplines from the natural sciences, the humanities and the arts.

Overview

AI is everywhere. Also at DESY. High time to launch its interdisciplinary research forum AI Perspectives focusing on AI and reflecting the trans- and interdisciplinary field that is Artificial Intelligence. We at DESY are interested in looking at the innovative field from a variety of different angles and discuss them with the public. This is why DESY sets up an interdisciplinary research forum on AI.

The research forum will be divided into two different events: an academic workshop seminar as well as a public panel discussion in the evening with the invited public. Participants are primarily young academics and artists, scientists and philosophers working in the field of AI. For the evening event the public is invited to join in the conclusions and preliminary results of the workshop session earlier in the day and pose their own pressing questions to the interdisciplinary group. The workshop seminar will be conducted in English, while the evening event will be in German.

Institutions

• DDLitLab, ISA-Zentrum

In der Gesprächsreihe DDLitLab im Dialog gehen wir gemeinsam mit Expertinnen und Experten aktuellen Perspektiven, Projekten und Debatten über Daten- und Digitalkompetenzen im Zeichen innovativer Hochschullehre auf den Grund. Ziel ist es, eine offenen Raum zu schaffen, in dem die Teilnehmenden sich über ihre Erfahrungen und Gedanken mit ausgewählten Referent:innen zu aktuellen Entwicklungen austauschen können.   

In diesem Semester starten wir mit Prof. Dr. Christopher Buschow (Hamburg Media School) und Dr. Daniel Possler (Universität Würzburg) mit ihrem Seminarkonzept zum Thema „Data Driven Business Models“. Im Rahmen eines Seminars „Data Driven Business Model Generation“ und einer entsprechenden Ringvorlesung am Institut für Journalistik und Kommunikationsforschung (IJK) der Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover haben sie die veränderten Anforderungen an Medienunternehmen und die Grundlagen datengetriebener Geschäftsmodellen vertieft. Welche Datensätze werden in (Medien)Unternehmen gesammelt und wie werden sie aufbereitet? Wie werden Geschäftsmodelle rund um diese Daten entwickelt? Welche technologischen, ethischen und gesamtgesellschaftlichen Aspekte werden bei datenbasierten Geschäftsmodellen beleuchtet?

Sowohl Mitglieder der UHH als auch externe Gäste sind herzlich dazu eingeladen, sich aktiv an unseren Gesprächsrunden zu beteiligen!

Präsenz und via Zoom. Die Zugangsdaten für die digitale Teilnahme via Zoom erhalten Sie nach Ihrer Anmeldung kurz vor dem Termin per E-Mail.

Institutions

• DDLitLab, ISA-Zentrum

Die Veranstaltungsreihe beschäftigt sich in diesem Herbst unter dem Titel KI und Wir mit den rasanten und grundlegenden Veränderungen unserer Gesellschaft durch künstliche Intelligenz.

Vom 9. Oktober bis zum 14. November diskutieren Expert:innen aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Praxis mit dem Hamburger Publikum über das Potenzial von ChatGPT und Co. Wie können die neuen Technologien Medizin und Klimaschutz voranbringen oder auch in der Kunst genutzt werden? Wo kann KI beim Lernen in Schule, Hochschule und darüber hinaus unterstützen? Welche Regulierungen oder Transparenzvorschriften brauchen wir dabei? Um diese und andere Fragen geht es in vielfältigen Formaten von Podiumsdiskussionen über Ausstellungen bis hin zu interaktiven Workshops, die zum

Mitdiskutieren, Dazulernen und Ausprobieren einladen. Die Veranstaltungen finden u.a. an der Uni Hamburg statt. Viele UHH-Mitglieder tragen aktiv zum Programm bei.

Institutions

• UHH
• HIAS
• Körber Stiftung

Um Methoden aus dem Bereich der Künstlichen Intelligenz adäquat in der Forschung anwenden zu können, ist es erforderlich, sie in ihren Grundzügen zu verstehen und idealerweise aktiv (spielerisch) zu erproben.

• Welche Verfahren gibt es überhaupt und wie funktionieren sie technisch?
• Wo kommen sie im Akademienprogramm bereits zum Einsatz, wie können Forschende voneinander lernen und Synergien nutzen?
• Profitieren die Geisteswissenschaften nur von den neueren Entwicklungen im Bereich Generativer KI oder leisten sie auch einen Beitrag zur KI-Entwicklung?

Die Themenkonferenz, die von der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg und der Niedersächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen ausgerichtet wird, möchte sich diesem Spannungsfeld widmen. Teilnehmende haben die Möglichkeit, die Potenziale neuer Methoden für die Analyse und Aufbereitung digitaler Ressourcen, speziell im Akademienprogramm, gemeinsam zu erörtern und zu erproben.

Um einen Überblick zur (auch geplanten) Verwendung von KI-Methoden zu geben, laden wir Angehörige der Unionsakademien und Langzeitvorhaben im Akademienprogramm herzlich ein, einen Impuls-/Kurzvortrag oder einen Vorschlag für eine Hands-On-Session oder Systemdemonstration beizusteuern (s. vorläufiges Programm).

Vorschläge (i.d.R. nicht mehr als zwei pro Akademie) können bis zum 30. Juni 2024 formlos an ki@akademie-der-wissenschaften-in-hamburg.de gesendet werden. Es ist vorgesehen, die Foliensätze der Beiträge auf Zenodo zu veröffentlichen.

Vorläufiges Programm hier

On September, 25th to 27th, 2023 the third MLE Days on machine learning in engineering will take place on the campus of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). This year, it combines a summer school with a one-day startup-challenge. Participation is free of charge.

The Summer School teaches insights into the world of machine learning with a focus on engineering. It provides sessions about fundamentals of machine learning, concrete application examples, as well as hands-on sessions to try out and consolidate lessons learned. Keynote talks complete the program. Three parallel tracks are provided to allow participants to choose contributions adapted to their interest and machine learning experience. The use cases range from sensor and image processing, to electrical engineering and materials science, to aviation and maritime logistics. A poster session and an elevator pitch event allow participants to present their own work on machine learning topics. The best posters and pitches will be selected by a jury and awarded prizes. A networking event allows attendees to establish contacts with selected corporate partners and sponsors from start-ups and medium-sized businesses to large corporations. In the startup-challenge attendees learn how to turn machine learning ideas into a business.

The MLE Days are organized by the Machine Learning in Engineering research initiative of the TUHH (MLE@TUHH) in collaboration with the Helmholtz Center Hereon, DASHH, and the Career Center of TUHH, the AI.Startup.Hub, and AI.HAMBURG. The MLE initiative joins the competencies in the field of machine learning at the Hamburg University of Technology with the goal of transferring knowledge towards business and industry. Students, PhD students, postdocs, and professors from all disciplines of the TUHH are engaged together with colleagues from the Helmholtz Center Hereon to make methods and applications of machine learning known, to network, and to foster scientific exchange.

Join us to discover the new applications of machine learning in engineering practice!

Institutions

• Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) 

The event will feature presentations MLE members and partners, as well as networking opportunities. Its primary objective is to foster stronger connections and collaborations within the MLE network and with strategic partners.
Further details will be provided in due course.

Join us to discover the new applications of machine learning in engineering practice!

Institutions

• Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) 

Professor Bast completed her Ph.D. and Habilitation at the MPI for Informatics in Saarbrücken. She is a professor for computer science at the University of Freiburg since 2009. Her research focus is on all kinds of intelligent search in large data sets, with and without AI. The search technology developed in her group is used worldwide on a daily basis. During an extended research stay at Google, she developed a new public transport route planner for Google Maps. She has served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and is still serving as Dean of Studies and Senator of the university. She was a member of the German Bundestag's Enquete Commission on Artificial Intelligence. She is a member of the committee that is responsible for the evaluation of the German Leibniz Institutes. She has received various research and teaching awards.

She is going to talk about QLever, which is a new SPARQL engine and triple store developed by her group, with several unique features. Notably, QLever is very fast, can handle hundreds of billions of triples on a standard PC, supports the incremental construction of SPARQL queries via context-sensitive autocompletion, supports SPARQL+Text queries on text linked to a knowledge graph, and supports very fast spatial joins on very large numbers of geometric objects as well as the visualization of very many such objects on a map. She will show many examples and demos, some performance comparisons with other engines, and will also take a look at what's under the hood. If time permits, she might also talk about the automatic translation of natural language questions to SPARQL queries via large language models, and about entity linking . Also a word or two about the rewards and challenges of writing and maintaining software that actually works in academia.

Institutions

• Leuphana Universität Lüneburg